Dr.Hab., Associate Professor A.S. Makhov
Postgraduate M.B. Zubenko
Russian State Social University, Moscow

Keywords: problems, sports, training methods, children with Down syndrome.

Background. Presently a special physical culture and sport system for people with Down syndrome (PDS) is lacking in our country. Down syndrome (DS), also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21, i.e. the kariotype is composed of 47 chromosomes instead of 46 normal ones. The extra chromosome is typically associated with physical growth delays, characteristic facial features and mild to moderate intellectual disability. Due to the growth delays, the sick child is slower in going through the same developmental stages than his/her peers. Education of such children is slower and more difficult, but they can walk, speak, read, write etc., and their practical abilities are often much the same as those of healthy children [4].

Their growth process, however, goes through many problems, and one of them is the present shortage of a special adapted sport system for children with Down syndrome (CDS). As things now stand, there are two main adaptive sport fields for people with Down syndrome: Special Olympics that are the socially adapted annual sport training program; and Sports Union for Athletes with Down Syndrome (SUDS) that is the movement designed specifically for competitive accomplishments. The SUDS competitive model is specific in the sense that its competitive system is designed on a mass participation basis i.e. without detailed categorization into classes and divisions, with the athletes being classified only into junior (under 16 years of age) and adult (16 plus) men’s and women’s classes. The SUDS includes 9 sport disciplines: track and field athletics, swimming, tennis, table tennis, judo, football, skiing, and rhythmic and artistic gymnastics. Presently Russian athletes are formally qualified for and compete in swimming and artistic gymnastics events [5].

In addition, athletes with Down syndrome may qualify for special events for the intellectually deficient people (IDP) within the frame of the Paralympic movement under the auspices of the Russian Sport Federation for Persons with Intellectual Impairment (RSFPII); albeit the present system does not qualify PDS with IDP category. This is the reason for the competitive events for people with DS still being largely beyond the RSFPII sport calendar. It means, among other things, that no financial support is provided to the national athletes with DS to cover their travel costs, equipment, outfits etc. [6]. Despite these challenges, practical experience and individual success stories show that permanent sport practices make it possible for the PDS to compete and be quite successful in the top-ranking events for mentally retarded people [1, 2, 3, 6].

Objective of the study was to overview the present situation in the Russian national physical culture and sport system services for children with Down syndrome (CDS) and identify the most critical problems hampering its progress.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was based on the questionnaire survey of CDS families across Russian regions. Subject to the study were 300 CDS families from Moscow, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Bryansk, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Kaliningrad, Belgorod, Amur, Tomsk, Aktyubinsk, Kirov, Penza, Kursk, Astrakhan, Irkutsk, Lipetsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, Volgograd, Tyumen, Voronezh, Tula, Kemerovo, Omsk, Kaluga, Samara, Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk, Rostov and Sakhalin regions; Perm, Altay, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol Territories; and Republics of Northern Ossetia, Komi, Adygeya, Bashkortostan, Chuvashia, Udmurtia, Chechnya, Mari-El and Nenetsk Autonomous District.

We developed a special questionnaire form to rate the problems of the present physical culture and sports system services for CDS in Russia. The respondents were offered to score the listed problems by importance on a 10-point scale followed by the scored problems being grouped by the following categories: highly critical problem: 9-10 points; critical: 7-8 points; difficult to say: 5-6 points; minor problem: 3-4 points; and no problem: 1-2 points. The questionnaire survey was performed in November 2016.

Study results and discussion. Given in Table 1 hereunder are the survey data processed by the standard mathematical statistics tools to rate the problems faced by the CDS’ physical culture and sports service system in Russia as they are viewed by the CDS families.

Table 1. Questionnaire survey data processed by the standard mathematical statistics tools to rate the problems of the CDS’ physical culture and sports service system in Russia as they are viewed by the CDS families (n=300)

The above data shows that none of the listed problems was ranked by the respondents as the “minor problem” (3-4 points) or “no problem” (1-2 points), but all of them were ranked as “highly critical” (9-10 points) and “critical” (7-8 points), with the average score varying from 7.97 (no governmental support for competitions of athletes with DS) to 9.08 (need for certified coaches to serve CDS). The low excess (Ех) and negative asymmetry (Аs) values versus the high and sub-mean median (Ме) and mode (Мо) values were indicative of the problem ratings by the CDS families being largely unanimous. The high agreement of the respondents’ opinions is also underlined by the positive excess (Ех) and negative asymmetry (Аs) values. It should also be noted that the maximal median (Ме) and mode (Мо) values clearly above the mean arithmetic value mean that most of the respondents across the Russian regions rated the subject problems with the highest score of 10 points. This fact is also indicative of the CDS’ sport services in the Russian Federation still being underdeveloped.

Problem one: need for certified coaches to serve CDS may be considered particularly acute in the context of problems three and four for the reason that it is the lack of due information on the sport services for PDS provided by the relevant social support centres and municipal/ regional sport committees (i.e. the empty databases) that largely creates the deficit of the relevant service specialists. It should also be mentioned that such specialists should be highly competent, trained by the relevant advanced courses and experienced in services to CDS, the service being provided by teams of psychologists, physicians and correction service specialists. As things now stand in Russia, the coaches and instructors willing to serve CDS have to master the practical basics of the process by a trial-and-error method and own experience, and such an awkward approach may even scare the children away from sports.

Problem two: need for governmental support for the CDS’ physical culture and sports service system – is interrelated with every other subject problem and directly depends on them. It is natural that a governmental support may be expected only when the relevant sport groups and clubs are formed and duly staffed with good coaches, and the relevant system of competitions is in place.

Problem three: need for due information on the sport services for PDS provided by the relevant social support centres and municipal/ regional sport committees. This is a problem of every region since no information may be found on the regional sport groups and training services for CDS. As demonstrated by the study data, even families striving to find sporting services for their CDS cannot do that for the lack of informational support from the local social protection centres.

Problem four: need for accessible and relevant information on the physical culture and sport services for children and adolescents with DS from media is partially due to the common stereotype on PDS being unsuccessful in competitions and, hence, poor if any coverage of their competitive accomplishments by mass media.

Problems five and six: needs for governmental support for competitions of athletes with DS and municipal/ regional/ federal sport events for CDS are closely interrelated with one another and problem one. No formal competition of CDS has been organised in Russia so far albeit both athletes and their families report a high demand for such competitions.

The above survey data have fallen in good correlation with our own situation monitoring data and practical experience in organising futsal competitions for CDS. Presently a team of academic staff members and students of Russian State Social University (Moscow) working in cooperation with “Downside Up” Charity Foundation staff trains a group of children with DS aged 6 to 16 years. Practical experience of this initiative showed the need for a special futsal training methodology customized for the mental and physical deficiencies of children with DS. It is not unusual in the training process that every simple exercise requires multiple repetitions and explanations with the child’s individual associations being mobilized to help the child master one or another technical skill. The coaches have to make due allowance for the poor coordination abilities of CDS since even stopping a rolling ball with a foot may often be problematic for them. Special communication skills and patience are also obligatory for the coach who needs to apply short and clear wording and simple phrases taking special efforts to focus the children’s attention on the task.

It should be mentioned that the short supply of the relevant information on and studies of the CDS sports largely hampers efforts of the coaches and families. Many families and children with DS cannot find a coaching service even when they are enthusiastic about sports. The relevant coaching specialists, in their turn, cannot obtain guiding information on how the training process should be designed in a most efficient format and, hence, have to rely on their own intuition.

Conclusion. Special physical culture and sports for children with DS are still underdeveloped in our country. Therefore, the national research and academic community needs to take efforts to design sport training methods for children with DS; develop the relevant specialist training programs; create special sport groups accessible for CDS families in every Russian region; and offer special competitions at every level of the national sport system including special inclusive events. Successful solutions to the problems highlighted by the study will help the people with Down syndrome fully mobilize their mental and physical resources and get engaged in the local social environments.

References

1. Korneva M.A., Makhov A.S., Stepanova O.N. Osobennosti motivatsii sportsmenov-invalidov s porazheniem oporno-dvigatelnogo apparata k uchastiyu v trenirovochnom protsesse po russkomu zhimu [The Peculiarities of Motivation of Handicapped Athletes with Spinal Cord Injuries to Participation in Russian Press Work-Out Sessions]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2014, no. 6, pp. 37–43.
2. Korolev P.Y. Sotsialnaya adaptatsiya lits s narusheniyami intellekta sredstvami sportivnoy gimnastiki. Dis. kand. ped. nauk [Gymnastics-based social adaptation of persons with intellectual disabilities. PhD diss.]; MSAPC publ., 2009, 201 p.
3. Mikhaylova I.V., Shmeleva S.V., Makhov A.S. Tekhnologiya adaptivnogo shakhmatnogo obucheniya detey-invalidov [Adaptive chess educational technology for disabled children]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2015, no. 7, pp. 38–41.
4. Sindrom Dauna [Down's Syndrome]. Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org (Accessed: 14.12.2016).
5. Sportivnaya trenirovka gimnastov s sindromom Dauna [Sports training for gymnasts with Down syndrome]. Available at: http://journal.downsideup.wiki.ru (Accessed: 15.12.2016).
6. Sportsmeny s sindromom Dauna: pokorit vershiny [Athletes with Down syndrome: how to win]. Available at: https://downsideup.org (Accessed: 11.01.2017).

Corresponding author: alexm-77@list.ru

Abstract

The study analyses a variety of problems faced by sport institutions of the Russian Federation that serve children with Down syndrome. The study data and analysis showed the adapted sport projects for the children with Down syndrome being in need of the following:

– National adapted sport system for children with Down syndrome;

– Special sport groups and training units for children with Down syndrome;

– Practical guides for the sport coaches serving children with Down syndrome;

– Coaching specialists for children with Down syndrome; and

– Sport grounds, venues and facilities to serve the children with Down syndrome.