G.B. Kondrakov
Professor, Dr.Hab. L.B. Andryushchenko
Associate Professor, PhD Z.V. Bezvesel'naya
PhD Y.V. Podoruev
Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow

Keywords: integrated methodological approach, students’ recreational physical culture, recreation zones, model, self-reliant training.

Background. The need for the theoretical, institutional and practical aspects of the students’ recreational physical culture formation process within the economic academic curriculum being developed is due to a variety of the existing contradictions in the system. They include, among other things: the social demand for the modern specialists competent in general cultural matters including the physical/ mental health self-control by modern physical education methods – coming in conflict with the imperfect traditional competence-formation system within the vocational education curricula, as verified by the university morbidity statistics dominated by cardiovascular system diseases (mostly vegetative-vascular dystonia of hypertonic type), musculoskeletal system diseases (scoliosis and platypodia), respiratory system diseases, visual system diseases (moderate severe and high-degree myopias), nervous system diseases (mental/ emotional imbalance/ lack-of-confidence/ inadequate self-assessment/ poor mental workability syndromes etc.). And this is why it is so important for the educational theory and practice to provide the means for the students’ recreational competence build-up in the economic academic education process. The theoretical and practical criticality of the existing contradictions and the need for the relevant solutions was emphasised in the Federal Laws “Concerning Education in the Russian Federation” and “Concerning Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation”; the governmental “Concept of Demographic Policies of the Russian Federation in the Period up to 2025”; the regulation “Concerning All-Russian Physical Culture and Sports Complex “Ready for Labour and Defence (GTO)”; and commissions of the President of the Russian Federation on the university sports development, public health (including student’s health) protection initiatives ranked among the top priority government policies.

In the context of the modern physical education theory and practice in application to the national higher education system, a personal physical culture formation process may be viewed as composed of a few interrelated domains, as follows: student’s background physical culture; sport-driven physical culture; health-centred physical culture; applied vocational physical culture; and recreational physical culture [2, 3]. Each of the above domains is supported by the available fundamental and application studies including the ones designed to improve the traditional academic physical education curricula – by L.B. Andryushchenko (2002, 2003, 2006), V.K. Bal’sevich (1997, 2004), V.I. Grigor'ev (1998), V.A. Grekhovodov (2006), L.S. Dvorkin, O.Y. Davydov (2006), V.I. Il’inych (2006), L.I. Lubysheva (2004), P.K. Lysov (2001), R.R Magomedov (2008), S.N. Pozhidayev (2006), L.V. Rubtsov (2006), G.M. Solov'ev (2004), S.I. Filimonova (2004) et al. However, the studies have given insufficient accounts of the applicable academic process models based on recreational physical education lessons.

Objective of the study was to provide a theoretical basis for, develop and test a recreational physical education model for students of university of economics.

Methodology and structure of the study. The experimental work under the study was performed in the period of 2014-16 at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Moscow. The study was based on the following theoretical and practical findings of the authors: integrated approach as a research methodology to consider, on an integrated basis, the student’s personality development processes and primary conditions for the latter, with the following modern approaches being integrated: personality-centred, system, performance-focused, synergic, cultural; and competency-building approaches – to shape up the personal physical culture (V.K. Bal’sevich, V.A. Panamarchuk,  L.I. Lubysheva, A.P. Matveyev, V.I. Stolyarov, I.M. Bykhovskaya, Y.M. Nikolaev, Y.F. Kuramshin); with the recreational physical education competence viewed as an integral element of the personal physical culture geared to format the leisure-time activity in a nature-harmonized format based on a variety of physical practices dominated by games and entertainments to rehabilitate the trainees’ spiritual and physical powers and improve their health (G.L. Vinogradov, V.M. Vydrin, L.P. Matveyev, N.I. Ponomarev, L.I. Lubysheva, A.V. Lotonenko, Y.Y. Ryzhkin).

The present study considers the student’s recreational physical culture as a form of physical culture designed to employ a variety of simplified/ adapted sport disciplines, modern motor activity and health improvement systems to: help restore the mental and emotional capacities of students in the educational process with an emphasis on the concepts of the students’ active recreation and due fulfilment of the physiologically necessary weekly activity norms based on the relevant sport training concepts and active participation in the mass sport movement.

Based on the above concepts, the study offered a newly developed functional model of recreational physical education for university students including the following components: motivational component to encourage self-reliant training activity at the university recreation/ sport facilities in the off-class time; increase participation in the mass sport events; and help apply the popular information systems for the athletic physical fitness self-rating; cognitive/ knowledge component designed to help the students accumulate the knowledge of methods, tools and basic forms of self-reliant recreational activity based on master-classes in vocational sport disciplines, modern motor activity and health improvement systems; functional component geared to develop the key motor skills and qualities in a variety of mini-sports including mini table tennis, futsal, beach volleyball, beach football; and darts, billiards, arm-wrestling, jogging, Nordic walking, fitness, workouts, skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, skating etc.; and the reflexive component focused on the students’ cognitive ability, self-improvement and self-development abilities self-rating in the recreation activity domain.

In the above recreational physical education model practical implementation process, we created recreation zones that mean the designated areas including academic buildings, sport facilities, university hostels, preventive care centres/ sanatoria (collectively referred to as the university campus) subject to the active sport-centred recreation process. Natural recreation zone of the university refers to the sports-and-health-improvement centre owned by the university in the town of Anapa.

Study results and discussion. Efficiency of the new model was tested in the real academic process at the university. Analysis of the preliminary study data identified a few low-rated parameters that are of hampering effect on the students’ self-development activity in the recreational physical education domain, including: recreation zone attendance rate of 17.0%; contribution to the recreation-zone-based competitions rated at 3.8%; participation in the academic research process rated at 1,0%; knowledge base formed by the recreation-zone-based sessions rated at 29.0%; and the determination for self-development in the recreational physical education domain rated at 32.5%.

Knowing the “bottlenecks” of the process, we have developed and implemented the following projects at the University: the Students’ Science Project; and the All-Russian Human Reserve for the University Sport Project; master-classes of modern motor activity and health-improvement systems; plus master classes of the most popular university sports. Furthermore, we contributed the following special courses to the current academic curriculum: “Student’s recreational physical education”; “Forming core personal physical and mental qualities for economists”; and “Physical health self-control based on popular sport information technologies”. We promoted the recreation zone sessions by implementing special quotas to encourage the demand by the seeming time deficit; and secured a broad public awareness campaign for the sports and health-improvement initiatives in the zones.

As a result of the above authors’ model being implemented, the University reported notable benefits for the academic year of 2015-16. It should be noted that the academic year of 2014-15 was beyond the project efficiency rating analysis for the reason that the above projects were just being unfolded at that time. The objective scoring revealed statistically significant variation rates of the process efficiency.

Motivational component progress rates: As a result of the initiatives, the recreation zone attendance rate was found to grow up by 58.0%; rate of contribution to the recreation-zone-based competitions grew by 36.7%; rate of participation in the academic research process soured by a factor of six, with more than 150 students joining the process.

Cognitive component progress rates: More than 40.0% of the students joined the master classes under leadership of highly skilled educators and popular athletes.

Functional component progress rates: The mental and physiological test data of the students were processed using OKO [Real-time Process Control] software toolkit by A.V. Vinogradov et al., 1994, with the test data being generated by the following tests: WAM (wellbeing, activity, mood and willingness to work tests (normal rate > 2). The academic progress monitoring rated the surveyed young women and men with the “high” activity rates of 4.8 points; mood rates of 3.8 points; “above average” wellbeing rates of 3.4 points; and the willingness to work rates of 5.0 points. Hence, the WAM rates showed progress of the trainees. The Lusher test gave the state anxiety rate of 4.8 points; emotional tension rate of 9.1; mental fatigue rate of 6.4; mental tension rate of 9.2; and the anxiety rate of 5.5 points that fall within the norm. The RMO (Response to a Moving Object) test gave the accurate response rate of 68.0; late response rate of 8.8; and the early response rate of 7.1. The CNS Functionality Diagnostic test yielded the average response time rate of 0.51; response modal time rate of 0.32; maximal frequency rate of 27.4; response stability rate of 0.4; functional capacity rate of 3.0; and the CNC functionality rate of 5.1. Hence, the CNC readiness for timely response was found well developed.

Reflexive component progress rates: Our analysis of the students’ reflexivity rating data showed that 70.5% of the students actively involved in the recreational physical education program were willing to control own functionality, know more about themselves and excel in the recreational physical education domain; and only 20.5% were found unwilling to change their attitudes to the physical self-development agenda. Questionnaire survey data obtained under the study showed the following readiness-for-self-development rates: 14.5% of the students were tested with the “high” rates”; 25.4 % with the “above average” rates; 29.6% with the “average” rates; 11.4% with the “below-average” rates; and 16.8% with the “low” rates. Therefore, only 20.2% of the students were rated “low” and “below-average” on the readiness-for-self-development scale, and these rates may be interpreted as indicative of the relatively high standards of the recreational physical education attained at the university.

Conclusion. The study reports positive experience of an operable model of the university recreational physical education being developed and tested. The new authors’ model implemented in the academic curriculum was found beneficial as verified by the students’ academic progress tests as of the academic year of 2015-16.

References

1. Averyasova J.O. Formirovanie imidzha zdorovya sredstvami massovoy informatsii (Formation of health image through media) / J.O. Averyasova, E.L. Panova // Sovremennyie problemyi formirovaniya i ukrepleniya zdorovya // Sb. nauch. statey Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. (Modern issues of formation and promotion of health" // Col. scientific articles of Intern. res-pract. conf.) Brest, 24-26 oktyabrya 2013 goda. Al'ternativa. – Brest, 2013. – P. 173–175.
2. Andryushchenko L.B. Pedagogicheskaya sistema formirovaniya fizicheskoy kulturyi studencheskoy molodezhi: monografiya (Pedagogical system of formation of students' physical culture: monograph) / L.B. Andryushchenko. – Volgograd: Niva, 2006. – 176 p.
3. Andryuschenko L.B. Formirovanie prostranstva fizicheskoy kulturyi v sisteme professionalnoy podgotovki studentov: monografiya (Formation of physical education space in students' vocational training system: monograph) / L.B. Andryushchenko, T.D. Aliev, J.O. Averyasova. – Moscow: TR-print, 2015. – 170 p.
4. Vydrin V.M. Fizicheskaya rekreatsiya – vid fizicheskoy kultury (Physical recreation - type of physical education) / V.M. Vydrin // Kul'tura fizicheskaya i zdorov'e. – 2004. – № 2. – P. 18–21.
5. Zaytsev V.P. Rekreatsiya: problema, ponyatiynaya metodologiya, vospitanie i obrazovanie studentov (Recreation: problem, conceptual methodology, training and education of students) / V.P. Zaytsev, S.I. Kramskoy, S.V. Manucharyan // Kul'tura fizicheskaya i zdorov'e. – 2007. – № 2 (12). – P. 22–25.
6. Kalinkin L.A., Matov V.V. Fizkulturno-rekreatsionnaya strategiya razvitiya sovremennogo obschestva (Sports recreational strategy of development of modern society) / L.A. Kalinkin, V.V. Matov // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 1990. – № 1. – P. 8–11.
7. Kondrakov G.B. Professionalno-lichnostnoe razvitie spetsialistov po fizicheskoy kulture i sportu v period modernizatsii vyisshego obrazovaniya (Professional-personal development of physical education and sport specialists during modernization of higher education) / G.B. Kondrakov, J.O. Averyasova, S.Yu. Vitko // Fizicheskaya kultura: vospitanie, obrazovanie, trenirovka. – Moscow: Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kul'tury i sporta. – 2016. – № 3. – P. 73–75.
8. Lotonenko A.V. Fizicheskaya rekreatsiya dlya zdorovya cheloveka i vosstanovleniya rabotosposobnosti sportsmenov (Physical recreation for human health and athletes' performance resoration) / A.V. Lotonenko, V.V. Trunin, A.V. Kozlov, G.R. Gostev et al. // Kul'tura fizicheskaya i zdorov'e. – 2005. – № 2 (4). – P. 7–10.
9. Lubysheva L.I. Kontseptsiya formirovaniya fizicheskoy kulturyi cheloveka (Man's physical culture formation concept) / L.I. Lubysheva. – Moscow: GTsOLIFK, 1992. – 120 p.
10. Ryzhkin Yu.E. Sotsialno-psihologicheskie osnovyi fizicheskoy rekreatsii (Socio-psychological grounds of physical recreation) / Yu.E. Ryzhkin // Izvestiya Rossiyskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. A.I. Gertsena (Bulleten of Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University). –  2007. – Is. 30. – V. 8.
11. Furmanov A.G. Ozdorovitelno-rekreativnaya fizicheskaya kultura: ucheb. posobie (Health and recreational physical culture: study guide) / A.G. Furmanov, V.Yu. Sokolov, L.N. Krivtsun-Levshina, V.P. Krivtsun. – Minsk: UMU FV, 1994. – 518 p.

Corresponding author: kgb-sport@mail.ru

Abstract
The study considers the students’ recreational physical culture as a form of physical culture designed to employ a variety of simplified/ adapted sport disciplines, modern motor activity and health improvement systems to: help restore the mental and emotional capacities of students in the educational process with an emphasis on the concepts of the students’ active recreation and due fulfilment of the physiologically nec-essary weekly activity norms based on the relevant sport training concepts and active involvement in the mass sport movement. Based on the above concepts, the study offered a newly developed operable model of recreational physical education for university students including the following components: motiva-tional component to encourage self-reliant training activity at the university recreation/ sport facilities in the off-class time; increase participation in the mass sport events; and help apply the popular information systems for the athletic physical fitness self-rating; cognitive/ knowledge component designed to help the students accumulate the knowledge of methods, tools and basic forms of self-reliant recreational activity based on master-classes in the vocational sport disciplines, modern motor activity and health improvement systems; functional component geared to develop the key motor skills and qualities in a variety of mini-sports including mini table tennis, futsal, beach volleyball, beach football; and darts, billiards, arm-wrestling, jogging, Nordic walking, fitness, workouts, skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, skating etc.; and the reflexive component focused on the students’ cognitive ability, self-improvement and self-development abilities self-rating in the recreation activity domain.