Ph.D., Associate Professor N.P. Olesov¹
E.S. Borisov¹
M.A. Okoneshnikova^1
1Institute of Physical Culture and Sport of North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov, Yakutsk

Keywords: university sport, track and field athletics, large-scale involvement, sports results, development prospects.

Introduction. Nowadays, special attention is devoted to the development of university sport in our country. No wonder that the government regards university sport as one of the most significant areas of domestic social policy.

Track and field athletics is rightfully considered to be one of the mass kinds of physical culture and sports activities of students and has a leading position in the domestic physical education system. Athletics acts as a constant application tool for physical training of young people, ensuring their physical perfection and healthy lifestyle.

In view of the renewed requirements to pass the GTO (Ready for Labour and Defence) Complex tests, the challenge of physical culture and sport specialists is to level up students’ level of physical conditioning.

Due to the variety of athletic exercises, easiness of performance and versatile influence on the functional systems of the human body, athletics becomes one of the key and most effective ways to protect and strengthen health, to increase the level of physical conditioning and sports mastery of students.

Being aware of the state policy and supporting it, the government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and North-Eastern Federal University authorities pay proper attention to the development of university sport.

The purpose of the paper was to analyze the state of track and field athletics in North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov and allocate its development prospects.

Results and discussion. North-Eastern Federal University includes 13 institutes and 5 faculties. 8966 students from the 1^st till 3^rd years of study attend physical education lessons. Except for these lessons, extensive propaganda of sport and healthy lifestyle is being conducted within the university.

In 2004, a special (track and field) athletics department was established in the Institute of Physical Culture and Sport under North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) geared to train highly skilled specialists in this sphere. Currently, the department is staffed by two PhDs, two senior teachers and one assistant. In order to enhance students’ sports skills two athletics trainers from the affiliate of ESS RS(Y) Elite Sportsmanship School of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) joined the staff. The teachers of the department carry out targeted work on educational and methodological, scientific and sports directions aimed at training of competitive specialists in the field of physical culture and sport.

Large-scale athletics events have become traditional among students of our university:

1. Summer and winter competitions of North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov, in which students from all institutes and faculties of the university and other educational establishments of Yakutsk, as well as track and field athletes from different regions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) participate. The number of participants in these competitions increases every year;
2. Relay race among 12 institutes and 5 university faculties and among the courses of the institute of physical culture and sport;
3. Traditional cross-country race of first-year students of North-Eastern Federal University with the mission to identify the most talented and skilled students to join athletics leagues;
4. The Russian Running Day “Cross of Nations” which includes sports and public races;
5. Republican Recreational Run and Walking Day, held at the end of May. Mainly students take part in this event;
6. Universiades of educational institutions and championships of Sakha Student Sport Union, which unites around 60 specialized secondary and higher educational institutions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);
7. Winter and summer republican athletic races.

Analysis and observations indicate annual increase of participants in the events, which proves the efficiency of this system.

 Among the criteria of development of athletics in North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) is improvement of sports skills of university students. Analysis of sports achievements of NEFU students in the recent years shows that the targeted effective work is being carried out, which is confirmed by the quantity of away events among students, resulting in positive dynamics of sports results.

Table 1. Participation of NEFU students in republican tournaments, championships of the Republic and Far Eastern Federal District (FEFD) and Russian tournaments

Comparative analysis reveals positive dynamics of sports skill level of student-athletes. In recent years, they have been taking part in Russian competitions on a regular basis. The positive dynamics is promoted by annual training camps arranged in Kislovodsk and Kyrgyzstan for student middle and long-distance runners participating in Russian competitions.

Constant monitoring of competitive sports results based on overall rankings and qualification tests of the Unified Sports Classification System of Russia (USCS) reveal the positive dynamics, which is also observed in the progress in qualifying tests. However, despite the increased level of students’ sports skills in particular kinds of track and field athletics, the level of large-scale involvement of students in athletics remains low, which is confirmed by statistical data.

We see the following prospects for the development of track and field athletics in North-Eastern Federal University:

1. Indicating the university sport development trends, President of the Russian Students Sports Union O.V. Matytsin suggests creating interuniversity centers and sports associations. In connection with this development options we are considering the idea of establishing a student athletics union that could unite students doing athletics in all educational institutions of Yakutsk, where 3 higher education institutions and affiliates of educational institutions in other regions of our country are operating, along with 11 specialized secondary educational institutions. The advantages of considering the union are as follows:

- involving students from other educational institutions in systematic athletics sessions under athletics trainers' supervision;

- conducting contests, both individual and team, at educational institutions throughout the year;

- organizing training camps and summer sports camps;

- organizing trips to training camps and competitions.

2. Organizing an alternative form of physical education classes for students of North-Eastern Federal University means their distribution among selected mass sports. The positive outcome is to be an increase of the large-scale involvement of students in systematic athletics training sessions;

3. Organizing and holding the Students Athletics League during the calendar year with the winner announced based on the competition results;

4. Comprehensive development of all kinds of athletics;

5. Working on qualification and assistance provided to talented young athletes, so that they could fully realize their capabilities in sport;

6. Strengthening of the material and technical base for the full-value development of all kinds of athletics;

7. Actively promotion of athletics in the media: television, radio and in print.

Conclusion. Implementation of promising directions of work will help not only increase the popularity of track and field athletics among university students and engage many students in sports activities, but also pave the way for the talented athletes to realize their capabilities in elite sport.

References

1. Lubysheva L.I. Analiz razvitiya studencheskogo sporta: sostoyanie i perspektivy (Analysis of development of university sport: Status and Prospects) / L.I. Lubysheva, N.V. Peshkova // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2014. – № 1. – P. 39–41.

Corresponding author: kla105@mail.ru