Special aspects of the beginning of competitive activity of adult amateur rhythmic gymnasts
Authors:   Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, Enchenko Irina V. , Lobastova Maria V. ,   Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health
Published: March 2023

The authors studied main peculiarities of rhythmic gymnastics for adult amateurs: the reasons of appearance, the age of athletes, types of organisations, offering rhythmic gymnastics classes for this population group, and peculiarities of competitions. Relevance of the research is explained by the following circumstances. Thanks to the development of amateur rhythmic gymnastics, indicators of the physical culture and sports development in the Russian Federation may improve. Thus, within the Strategy of the development of physical culture and sports in the Russian Federation by 2030 (the Strategy 2030), indicators on the level of involvement of young and middle-aged people in the field of physical culture and sports currently comprises 83.9% in the age group from 3 to 29 years and 28.9% in the age group from 30 to 55 years for women. By 2030, the planned values for this indicator are set at the level of 90% and 70%, respectively. So, thanks to the development of amateur sports as a whole and of rhythmic gymnastics for amateurs, in particular, the share of the population systematically engaged in physical culture and sports will increase. It is also necessary to mention that nowadays popularity of rhythmic gymnastics among adult population is constantly growing, as this sport gives athletes an opportunity to realise their needs both in physical activity and in achieving sports results. The scientific challenge lies in the following contradiction: on the one hand, there is an increase in the number of amateur rhythmic gymnasts, who attend trainings and take part in competitions, on the other hand, nowadays a question concerning the specifics of the organisation of training process for amateur rhythmic gymnasts, including preparation for competitions, has not been developed yet. Research hypothesis: it was supposed that the conducted research would allow coaches who train amateur gymnasts to get a clearer idea of the possible problems that athletes can face during their preparation for competitions, and thereby enable them to optimise the training process of the above-mentioned athletes. The key goal of the research was to reveal the special aspects of competitive activity of adult amateurs, who do rhythmic gymnastics. The authors conducted the research in Graal rhythmic gymnastics sport club. As a result of the conducted research, the key aspects and problems of the beginning of competitive activity, which are typical for adult amateur rhythmic gymnasts, were identified. In the course of the research, surveys among amateur gymnasts on the reasons that encouraged them to start performing at competitions, as well as motivating factors for doing rhythmic gymnastics, were conducted. The results of this research allow recommending these theoretical and practical materials for the specialists, who work in the sphere of physical culture and sports, and for organisations, who implement trainings for amateur athletes.