Opening Address at the Joint Meeting of the State Council Presidium and the Council for the Development of Physical Education and Sport.Part 2
October 14, 2008
Odintsovo, Moscow Region
Вступительное слово на совместном заседании президиума Госсовета и Совета при Президенте по развитию физкультуры и спорта.
14 октября 2008 года
Московская область, Одинцово
The figures, which are well known, are as follows: today 15 percent of Russians are regularly involved in physical education and sport, in other words, 85 percent or more than two-thirds do not engage in any physical activity or sports. This is very low, extremely low.
And this figure reflects not so much people's indifference to sport, but also the lack of available opportunities to play sports. We all know the situation. In a given locality, small or large, a new sports centre, a sports establishment appears and life immediately revives: new sections open, parents drive their children, and a new micro-environment is created -- the climate becomes more healthy.
The irony is that we have done a great deal to collect the necessary resources to develop sport but they are not used effectively. In general they are mediocre and in a number of places simply bad: the majority of sports schools have a terrible material base. Sports halls are available only in 50 percent of the cases where they should be and swimming pools do not even reach the 6 percent mark. We understand what this means; just compare these figures with the availability of swimming pools in other countries. This is merely an example. Of course the outcome of all this is not high.
In practice we have no system of sports clubs both near places of residence or employment. There are not enough affordable sports halls and open areas. And of course this is not just about fitness clubs -- a lot have been organised recently -- but also about cheap, full-value sports infrastructure. And this should be dealt with by local authorities in the given city, town or village; this is their direct responsibility. And of course they should do so with the support of the region and the federal centre. There is no fantasy here. In fact I am referring to support for initiatives that were made some time ago.
Today it is absolutely possible to take into account the needs of people of all ages, people with disabilities, disabled people and we must do so without delay.
The system of physical education in educational institutions requires fundamental modernisation. Again statistics show that 80 percent of our students have sedentary ways of life: they either sit in classes or they continue to sit at home in front of their computers. Unfortunately, they do not have all necessary opportunities though few attend sports facilities when they do exist. Often schools -- not everywhere of course but some schools -- carry out physical education lessons according to a 'tick the box' system so to speak. In other words, not how they should be.
We discussed this issue yesterday when I met with our tennis players, but this can be said about almost any school. Here we have to talk about how to generally organise physical education lessons and perhaps apply certain principles that are applied in other countries.
The cost of this 'inertia' is the deterioration of the health of two thirds of our students and is often accompanied by their physical and moral degradation as well. We are now paying attention to those who will go on to be conscripts but, unfortunately, this is also based on enthusiasm only there is no system in place.
So far there is nothing outstanding in student sports, even though it certainly has its achievements, the activities of sport clubs are shrinking, while over a half of all universities and unfortunately in Russia there are very many that compromised on quality cannot even cope with the demands of academic disciplines for physical education: there simply are no such classes.
To date we are still searching for new ways to organise student sports and new arrangements for its funding. I will not speak in platitudes: you are all well aware that student sports is the basis for high sport achievements throughout the world. With such a development rate, of course we are lagging a great deal behind the demand that exists among our people and this is simply unacceptable.
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Д.Медведев.Вступительное слово.14.10.08.Part 1by niknikolay158 views
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