T.E. Kazakova, applicant
Shuya Branch of Ivanovo State University, Shuya
A.S. Makhov, Dr.Hab, professor of the Faculty of Physical Culture and Sport of Russian State Social University, Moscow

Key words: Paralympic boccia, problems of development, athletes with musculoskeletal disorders.

Introduction. Boccia (bocce) is a ball sport for people with musculoskeletal disorders, which is included in the summer Paralympics program. As reported by the Interregional Public Organization for the Disabled "Boccia Federation for Persons with Musculoskeletal Disorders", athletes started to be trained in Russia in 2008. The Russian Championship has been held since 2009, since 2011 - the National Competition, the Russian Cup, the Russian Junior Cup, and nowadays Russian athletes take part in international competitions [7].

The present stage of development of the Russian adaptive and Paralympic sport is associated with many problems, which are specified in the works of S.P. Evseev and L.V. Shapkova [1], M.A. Korneva [2], A.S. Makhov and O.N. Stepanova [3, 4], P.A. Rozhkov and A.V. Tsarik [5], L.N. Seleznev [6], the major of which are:

- insufficient elaboration of the theory and methodology of sport for the disabled (what is meant here is not accumulation and integration of knowledge in physical culture, sport, medicine, correctional pedagogy, but creation of the essentially new knowledge which would present the result of diffusion of knowledge from one of the mentioned sciences and disciplines to another);

- insufficient development of the network of fitness clubs, specialized children's and youth sports schools and departments for the disabled in all kinds of  physical culture and sports institutions of extended education;

- insufficient provision of barrier-free access to sports venues for disabled people;

- lack of cooperation between institutions in the course of development of Paralympic sport;

- the lack of a well-defined system of government propaganda and promotion of physical culture and sport, primarily, among disabled people, which implies great difficulties in the involvement of individuals with disabilities in fitness and sports activities, etc.

This research deals with the central problems of development of boccia in Russia.

The objectives of this work are:

1. To identify a set of problems which boccia athletes face.

2. To single out the major problems encountered by boccia athletes.

3. To determine possible ways of solving the problems of development of Paralympic boccia in Russia.

Materials and methods.

The list of problems, evolving among individuals with musculoskeletal disorders involved in boccia, was compiled using an interview and a questionnaire survey of athletes and coaches of the health club for the disabled "Penguin" of the Shuya Branch of Ivanovo State University, the sports club for disabled people with musculoskeletal disorders "Nadezhda", Ivanovo town, the sports club for the disabled "Volya", Ivanovo town and the sports club for the disabled "Volga", Puchezh town.

Based on the questionnaire surveys we made a list of problems, which athletes encounter while doing boccia: 1) lack of special methodology of athletes’ training with due regard to their disease; 2) lack (insufficient number) of specially trained boccia coaches; 3) lack of sponsors; 4) low wages of coaches; 5) shortage of information on boccia in medical institutions; 6) lack of scientific and methodological literature on boccia; 7) shortage of information on boccia in social welfare institutions, municipal and regional committees on sport; 8) insufficient number of sports playgrounds for training; 9) insufficient number of municipal and regional competitions; 10) lack (insufficient number of medical staff (masseurs and others); 11) undersupply of special-purpose sport equipment for boccia; 12) parents' (foster parents') unwillingness to bring the disabled to classes; 13) indisposition of disabled people to do boccia; 14) lack of information on boccia in media; 15) Lack (insufficient number) of volunteers; 16) impossibility to transport athletes to training sites.

In order to determine the level of significance of the problems of development of boccia in Russia we elaborated a questionnaire, in which respondents were suggested to evaluate their level (points) of significance on a 10 point scale (with 1 point as minimum, 10 points as maximum). Herewith, depending on the degree of relevance of the problem, expressed in points, their answers were divided into groups: 9-10 points - "absolutely relevant", 7-8 points - "relevant", 5-6 points - "hard to say", 3-4 points - "irrelevant", 1-3 points - "absolutely irrelevant". The survey was conducted during the Boccia Russian Cup competitions in Aleksin town in October, 2014. The research involved boccia athletes and coaches from Moscow and the Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, the Perm Territory, Naberezhnye Chelny, Saratov, Kazan, Sevastopol, the Ivanovo Region. A total of 54 respondents were surveyed.

The obtained data were statistically processed by the mean-value method (calculations were made using the standard software package Microsoft Excel for Windows).

Results and discussion.

The results of the mathematical-statistical processing of the data on the level of significance of the problems of development of Paralympic boccia in Russia as viewed by athletes and coaches are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Results of mathematical-statistical processing of the data on the level of significance of problems of development of Paralympic boccia in Russia as viewed by athletes and coaches (based on questionnaire n=54)

The presented results prove that none of the problems at hand is classified by athletes as "irrelevant" (3-4 points) or "absolutely irrelevant" (1-2 points).

Problem № 16 - impossibility to transport athletes to training sites - is found in between "hard to say" (5-6 points) and "relevant" (7-8 points) (6.67±0.693). This problem is in line with the negative values of excess (Ex) and asymmetry (As), and with the high rate of variation coefficient (V=50%), which testifies to dissimilarity of the opinions expressed by the respondents. The mode value (Mo) amounted to 10 points, consequently, for the majority of athletes this problem was absolutely significant. Therefore, the issues of transportation of athletes are solved only in solitary instances.

The "relevant" group (7-8 points) included the problems № 9 through 15. The average point () ranged from 7.04±0.553 (lack (insufficient number) of volunteers) to 7.96±0.397 (insufficient number of municipal and regional competitions). The indicators № 9, 11 and 15 have the negative values of excess (Ex) and asymmetry (As), which testifies to the majority in number of indicators that surpass by far the arithmetical mean (). These data are almost completely verified by the median (Me) and mode (Mo) values. The variation coefficient of the indicators, included into this subgroup, is rather high - up to 40%, consequently, the respondents' opinions on the given questions divided. Problems № 10, 12, 13, 14 have the positive excess (Ex) and negative asymmetry (As). The variation coefficient (V) values for the questions from this subgroup range between 21% and 38%, the median (Me) and mode (Mo) values exceed the arithmetical mean (). So, the opinions of the majority of athletes on these questions are concurrent, with that, most points were above the arithmetic mean.

The "absolutely relevant" group (9-10 points) included the problems № 1-8. The average point in the evaluation of the relevance of the given questions ranged from 9.00±0.359 (insufficient number of sports grounds for training) to 9.46±0.170 (lack of special methodology of training of athletes with due regard to their disease). The negative values of excess (Ex) and asymmetry (As), high median (Me) and mode (Mo) values, rather low variation coefficient (V) values - from 9% to 21% prove that, in athletes' opinion, the most relevant problems are as follows: № 1 - lack of special methodology of training of athletes with due regard to their disease, № 2 - lack (insufficient number) of specially trained boccia coaches, № 3 - lack of sponsors, № 4 - low wages of coaches, № 6 - lack of scientific and methodological literature on boccia, and № 7 - shortage of information on boccia in social welfare institutions, municipal and regional sport committees. Problems № 5 and № 8 are characterized by the positive values of excess (Ex) and negative values of asymmetry (As), which is indicative of similarity of the respondents' opinions, moreover, most indicators were much higher that the arithmetic mean. The undivided opinion of the respondents when evaluating is proved by the proximity of median (Ме) = 10 and mode (Ме) = 10 to the arithmetical mean, the estimate indicator of the variation coefficient (V) - not exceeding 21%.

Conclusions.                                                               

Despite the fact that nowadays Paralympic boccia is growing rapidly in some regions of Russia, it must be acknowledged that the main reasons for poor development of this sport are:

- lack of specially trained boccia coaches who would be able to organize educational and training process for the disabled from the specified nosologic group;

- severe shortage of specialized scientific and methodological literature, recommendations, experimentally proved means and methods of training of boccia athletes with serious musculoskeletal disorders;

- lack of information on boccia as an effective method of physical and social rehabilitation of disabled people with serious musculoskeletal disorders in medical and social welfare institutions.

In order to develop Paralympic boccia more effectively, it is necessary to: promote this sport among individuals with musculoskeletal disorders; improve the material and technical base for boccia training in the regions, including barrier-free access to sporting venues for disabled people; involve more volunteers, patrons and sponsors into organization of training process and competitions; create and improve a science-based system of training of coaches and athletes in this sport.

References                   

1. Evseev, S.P., Shapkova, L.V. Adaptivnaya fizicheskaya kul’tura: Uchebnoe posobie (Adaptive physical culture: study guide). – Moscow: Sovetsky sport, 2000. – 240 P.
2. Korneva, M.A. Osobennosti motivatsii sportsmenov-invalidov s porazheniem oporno-dvigatel’nogo apparata k uchastiyu v trenirovochnom protsesse po russkomu zhimu (The specifics of Russian benchpress training motivation of disabled athletes with musculoskeletal disorders) / M.A. Korneva, A.S. Makhov, O.N. Stepanova // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul’tury. – 2014. – № 6. – P. 37–43.
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6. Seleznev, L.N. Fizicheskaya reabilitatsiya i sotsial’naya adaptatsiya invalidov (detey i molodyezhi) i lits s ogranichennymi vozmozhnostyami zdorov’ya sredstvami adaptivnoy fizicheskoy kultury i adaptivnogo sporta: Doklad na kruglom stole Obshchestvennoy palaty RF (25 maya 2010) (Physical rehabilitation and social adaptation of persons with disabilities (children and youth) and handicapped persons by means of adaptive physical culture and adaptive sport: Report on the round table of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation (May 25 2010). - Moscow: Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, 2010. – 8 P.
7. Federatsiya bochcha lits s porazheniem oporno-dvigatel’nogo apparata. (Boccia Federation for persons with musculoskeletal disorders) [Electronic resource]. – Available at: http:// http://bocciarus.ru/page/22/ (Date of access: 14.12.2014).

Corresponding author: ttattyana@list.ru; alexm-77@list.ru