PhD, Associate Professor E.N. Abramov¹
PhD, Professor S.M. Obukhov²
PhD, Associate Professor V.A. Rodionov²
PhD, Associate Professor A.A. Peshkov²
PhD, Associate Professor S.N. Murtazin^2
1Federal sports reserve training center, Moscow
²Surgut State University, Surgut

Keywords: sport school network, sport reserve training system reform, municipal districts.

Background. Stable competitive accomplishments in modern elite sports are secured by the government-build system designed to reproduce human resources for national elite sports by a variety of mechanisms including the facilitating conditions being created for the elite sport generations to follow one after another in a duly planned and painless manner. In this context, the national sport reserve training system may be considered a direct and long-term investment in the national sport competitiveness assurance and improvement system. It is based on this understanding that the national sport reserve training system was put high on the list of priorities of the national policies in the national physical culture and sports sector. Due credit needs to be given to the traditional long-term elite sport reserve training system that was highly successful during the relevant historic period in staffing the national teams with a high-quality human resource. However, the traditional system resources have been largely exhausted in the post-Soviet period, and the present situation of the system may be described is dominated by the following factors:

• The sport school network is disintegrated since the control responsibilities are dispersed among different government agencies;
• The multiple decision-making agencies are inconsistent in setting the missions and policies for the relevant athletic training institutions under their control and, hence, their operations are disharmonized in many aspects – from the names to duplication of responsibilities;
• The Russian Ministry of Sports is not independent enough in the sector policies setting aspect, particularly in the sport reserve training domain – since the relevant sport reserve training institutions are now reporting to the national education system agencies; and
• In view of the national sport school network being so disintegrated at present, an efficient regional-level sport reserve training system needs to be established for due coordination, organisation and practical support in the training process.

The above negative aspects and processes have resulted with time in the growing operational inefficiency of the relevant sport reserve training institutions, and the situation forced the relevant government agencies to take urgent corrective steps. The relevant Federal Government agencies have developed a set of action plans and policy-setting documents (including an “Action Plan to Develop Sport Reserve Training System in Russia”; and a “Draft Sport Reserve Training Concept for the Russian Federation for the Period up to 2025”); approved a set of the basic regulatory provisions; established a sector-level coordination and practical support system to serve the relevant sport reserve training institutions; and made many other positive steps. However, success of the efforts to reform the national sport reserve training system in the Russian Federation on the whole will largely depend on how efficient the relevant initiatives are on the regional and municipal levels.

As things now stand, the range of the relevant regional and municipal sport schools in the country is so wide and diverse that it would be beneficial to develop and offer a few developmental/ reform alternatives (scenarios) for the relevant sport reserve training institutions. It is only natural that the reform process management options will be different for a large-scale municipality and, for example, a rural district with a population under 10 thousand people.

Furthermore, due allowance is to be made for the fact that the valid federal legislation regulating the national physical culture and sports vests the local and regional government agencies with the responsibility to support the local children’s and youth sports and thereby provide a basis for the municipal picked sport teams being formed to contribute to the national sport reserve building process in the relevant subjects of the Russian Federation. It should also be noted that Federal Law #329 of December 4, 2007 “On Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation” defines the children’s and youth sports as the national sport domain for the underage people’s athletic training under control of the relevant institutions responsible for the athletic training process and sport competitive process support.

Objective of the study was to analyze the frame versions of the sport reserve training system reform for the poorly populated rural municipal districts.

Study results and discussion. The current typical national physical culture and sport system format for a poorly populated rural municipal district may be described as follows:

• At most one municipal-level Children and Youth Sport School (CYSS) and no other physical culture and sport institutions available within the district;
• No independent physical culture/ sport control office under the local government that could act as a CYSS founder;
• Shortage of management and instructional personnel (assistant managers, instructors, coaches) for the existing CYSS;
• The CYSS operations are served by the head-office accounting, operational and management offices of the relevant municipal educational bodies; and
• The CYSS financing, equipment and facilities are typically feeble being supported only by the local educational system resources (including sport facilities, school buses etc.).

Furthermore, rural CYSS are often staffed by part-time coaching/ educator personnel recruited from the local school physical education teachers – who are not always competent, motivated and determined enough for the CYSS services.

The first reform alternative implies the CYSS (as advanced physical education and sport establishments) being handed over to the relevant municipal physical education and sport management offices and at the same time given a status of the sport training institutions under the local physical culture and sport system. A prime condition in this case is that the relevant independent and self-reliant (in terms of full responsibility) municipal physical education and sport management body (department, committee, administration, office etc.) of the local government will act as a CYSS founder. Moreover, under the new system the district CYSS will have its own accounting, administrative and management units as distinct from the present system where the CYSS is served by the head-office accounting, operational and management offices under the municipal government. This alternative will help efficiently solve a variety of problems faced by the existing sport reserve training system and retain the human resource of the effective mass sports and health programs. The latter mission will be secured by the CYSS being made responsible (by the municipal government) for the local mass sport and health activity i.e. the physical culture and sport programs designed for different strata of the local population.

The second alternative is designed to develop a sort of a physical education and sport cluster in the form of a district sport school responsible both for the local physical education and sport activity coordination and management and for the sport training, mass sports and health programs and initiatives within the municipality. This design will be most appropriate for those municipal districts that still lack for some reasons an independent physical education and sport management office and, hence, may put together and vest all the relevant coordination and management responsibilities with a dedicated municipal office. A top manager of the latter will directly report to the deputy head of the municipal government for the social matters – as distinct from the present subordination to the relevant sector management office of the district government. This alternative will give the means to more efficiently engage people of 18+ years of age to the municipal sport training programs and mass sport and health initiatives designed for the local adult population.

The third alternative offers the municipal CYSS being handed over from the municipal education management office to the relevant municipal physical education and sport management office, with the CYSS still having a status of an advanced physical education and sport institution. Such an institution will be equally responsible both for the advanced general education (semi-professional and developmental) programs within the local physical education and sport sector and the local sport training programs. This alternative may be viable enough only if effectively controlled by a dedicated physical education and sport management office under the municipal government. It should be noted, however, that the drawback of this alternative is that the dedicated office may face problems in own physical education and sport policy setting and implementation process since the CYSS will still be limited by the status of an advanced physical education and sport institution staffed with mostly education specialists (coaching educators) providing their services to the CYSS trainees.

The forth alternative – which in our opinion could be the most beneficial for the poorly populated municipal districts – implies the CYSS being co-founded by the following two sector bodies: the municipal education management office and the municipal physical education and sport management office, both acting within their formal scopes of authority and interests. This alternative gives a high role to the deputy head of municipal government for the social matters who will coordinate activities of the above two offices acting as the CYSS co-founders. Under this alternative, the relevant municipal physical education and sport management body (department, committee, administration, office etc.) will coordinate the CYSS activities in the physical education and sport sector, whilst the relevant municipal education management office will supervise the CYSS educational activities. This format will be based on a joint responsibility of both municipal offices for the CYSS sport- and education-related activities driven by the understanding that the municipal education, physical training and sport activities under the CYSS will be interconnected and harmonized.

Conclusion. We believe that the sport reserve training system reform should be designed to protect the integrity of the existing Children and Youth Sport Schools (CYSC) network under control of the relevant different agencies and take due actions to their further integration within the national physical culture and sports sector. The reform will be geared to step up the role of the municipal-level CYSC in the sport reserve training system reform and at the same time retain and advance the efficiency of the mass sport movements and missions.

References

1. Abramov E.N., Antonov D.P. Organizatsiya metodicheskoy raboty v sisteme podgotovki sportivnogo rezerva na regionalnom urovne (opyt Kurganskoy oblasti) [Organization of methodical work in regional sports reserve training (Kurgan region experience)]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2015, no. 6, pp. 26-31.
2. Abramov E.N., Antonov D.P., Novikov A.O. Organizatsionno-metodicheskoe obespechenie munitsipalnykh detsko-yunosheskikh sportivnykh shkol na mezhvedomstvennoy osnove [Organizational and methodological support of municipal youth sport schools on interdepartmental basis]. Vestnik sportivnoy nauki, 2016, no. 5, pp. 19-22.
3. Abramov E.N. Mehanizmy integratsii seti sportivnykh shkol razlichnoy vedomstvennoy prinadlezhnosti na regionalnom urovne (opyt Kurganskoy oblasti): Pedagogicheskiy menedzhment v zdorovesberegayushchem obrazovanii. Sb. nauch. tr., Vyp. 9 [Mechanisms of regional integration of sport school network of different departments (Kurgan region experience): Pedagogical management in health-promoting education. Sb. nauch. tr. Vol. 9]. Chelyabinsk: Ural Academy publ., 2016, pp.13-17.

Corresponding author: abram-sport@mail.ru

Abstract

Success of the sport reserve training system reform in the Russian Federation on the whole will largely depend on how efficient the local reform processes are at the regional and municipal levels. Objective of the study was to analyze the frame versions of the sport reserve training system reform for the poorly populated rural municipal districts. At this juncture, four frame versions of the sport reserve training system reform for the poorly populated rural municipal districts may be offered to cater for the needs of these legally and communally specific entities. We believe that the sport reserve training system reform is to be designed to protect the integrity of the existing Children and Youth Sport Schools (CYSS) network under control of the relevant different agencies and take due actions to further their integration within the national physical culture and sports sector. The reform will be geared to step up the role of the municipal-level CYSS in the sport reserve training system reform and at the same time retain and advance the efficiency of the mass sport movements and missions.