Sovetsky Sport. May 9, 1971. Over the course of four months, Sovetsky Sport published articles, reviews of letters from coaches, athletes, and newspaper readers - all those who responded to the performances of the participants in the Round Table dedicated to the results of the Ljubljana world gymnastics championships. Many fans of this sport are truly concerned about the chronic failures of the men's team in the international arena. In their materials, the authors raised a number of pressing issues regarding the development of gymnastics in the country. Naturally, during the discussion, which took place under the heading "Ljubljana: Lessons and Problems," many unflattering words were said about the male gymnasts themselves, who failed to win a single gold medal, and their coaches.
Unfortunately, we were not able to publish all the letters and suggestions from our readers. In this regard, a correspondent of Sovetsky Sport turned to the head of the gymnastics department of the USSR Sports Committee, Yu. Titov, to receive clarification on some of the fundamental issues raised in the discussion.
Analyzing the lessons of the defeat and the causes of the crisis, some experts criticized the entire imperfect system of training high-class gymnasts, starting from the section at school and ending with the national team. Are you going to take any steps towards restructuring?
It's impossible to answer this question unequivocally. The training systems for the female and male gymnasts do not differ significantly; however, representatives of the strong gender are trailing behind and do not follow the rapid achievements of women's gymnastics. Consequently, deficiencies must be looked for in individual links of the 'conveyor,' rather than replacing all the old 'equipment' with new ones in one fell swoop. This is practically impossible. However, it is wrong to say that we are completely satisfied with the state of affairs among the women. The successes of our leading sportswomen cannot blind us to serious shortcomings in the preparation of reserves. Therefore, we have a lot of work ahead of us...
And, of course, there are enormous difficulties. Let's put them on the shelves, as they say, let's see in which link, where, and what is out of place. Let's start at least with gymnastics at a comprehensive school.
For several years now, numerous articles have been discussing the decline in the popularity of gymnastics. There is a lot of talk, but also no measures to correct the situation. Yes, there was that distant and wonderful time when gymnastics occupied a prominent place in physical education classes at school. Sections worked, groups in sports schools were replenished. Nowadays, a school where there is a gymnastics club is a rarity. Boys lost interest in gymnastics. The reason for this is the reluctance of physical education teachers to cultivate this sport. However, they can be understaood - gymnastics is a very labor-intensive task. Ball games are much easier to play.
But we will ensure that gymnastics in school takes place in the system of educating the younger generation. We are helped by scientists from the Gymnastics Department of the State Center of Physical Education, conducting research on the content of gymnastics in the school curriculum. We warmly support the revival of the forgotten club "Strength and Grace" - a competition for schoolchildren gymnasts held by Central Television. Mass gymnastic competitions of young talents in Latvia are receiving encouragement.
The next stage is the children's and youth sports schools (DYuSSh). This is perhaps the most vulnerable link. The authors of most of the correspondence proved with weighty facts and figures the poor performance of sports schools and their low impact. In an article sent to the editorial board, Merited Master of Sports Albert Azaryan, the director of the DYuSSh of the Yerevan City Council, categorically states that unless there is a new regulation and specialized DYuSSh that meets the modern requirements of training high-class athletes, it will be a very difficult task to establish uninterrupted work in sports schools. Why are there such complaints about the status of DYuSSh? Is it impossible to change anything?
The regulations on children's and youth sports schools are from 1965. Time passed, and major shortcomings in this document emerged. For example, not all gymnastics schools have a doctor, choreographers are overworked, the number of groups and the salary of coaches and pianists also do not correspond to current standards. The gymnastics department has developed new proposals to further expand the rights and responsibilities of sports schools but, unfortunately, the financial authorities and the Ministry of Education are taking too long to consider them.
In general, the department intends to adhere to the following policy in relation to the DYuSSh: not to increase the number of sports schools yet, but to understand the work of the existing ones. And there are forty-two of them in the country. All attention should be paid to the quality of the coaches' work. We plan to further specialize the sports schools in men's and women's gymnastics. As practice shows, this is the most rational method of training gymnasts.
How is the activity of sports schools monitored and, in general, what kind of methodological and material assistance is provided to the support centers?
In addition to forty-two sports schools in the country, there are 1,096 gymnastics departments in comprehensive sports schools. Naturally, we cannot keep track of everyone at once. Here, local organizations should provide us with great support. However, a vicious practice has developed when local people only wait for help from the USSR Sports Committee but do not take any energetic measures themselves. Here letters come to the department with requests to send a choreographer, an acrobatics coach, so many tons of foam rubber shavings, etc., to such and such a city. You understand that our capabilities are still limited, and we should help the large centers first of all. And some comrades reason like this: "Nobody is coming to us from Moscow, they're not sending us any foam rubber, but that's fine. We won't be held accountable anyway."
It will happen, dear comrades! The deployment of local initiatives, a state approach to organizing the sports movement - this is what is now acquiring the main meaning. Irresponsibility and dependent attitides must be eradicated. And immediately.
To give a complete answer, I will add that the main thing for us is the creation of real strongholds. Voronezh, Grozny, Grodno, Vitebsk, Minsk, Tbilisi - cities where femals gymnasts are successfully trained. But work in "men's" centers, such as Vladimir, Yerevan, Leninsk-Kuznetsk, are getting better. The USSR Sports Committee strongly supports those organizations with visible results.
One of our main concerns is improving the qualifications of coaches. The department sends out methodological letters to the addresses of many sports schools, and up to 400 coaches come to all-Union conferences to study. Last year, four seminars were held, in which about 1,500 educators took part. We hope that all these measures will bear fruit.
If we are talking about coaches, I will cite a question posed in one of the published articles. Its author, N. Tolkachev, asked whether the men's national team needed psychology coaches who would constantly work with gymnasts to improve their ideological level? And he himself answered in the affirmative. What do you think?
I will not hide that we have complaints about some coaches and gymnasts who did not prepare seriously enough for the championship. We will demand that those who are "underachieving" change their attitude towards their studies. In order to perform better at the Olympics, we need greater dedication to work, increased discipline, and a deep conviction that Soviet gymnasts must regain the title of the strongest in the world. That's the only attitude we should have, because there is nowhere left to retreat.
The team has coaches and consultants on psychology, biomechanics, and general physical training. But time proves that a modern coach must be at a high level of education and combine all the qualities - teacher, ideological mentor, a major specialist. We will look for such coaches and train our own personnel.
The final of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR is approaching. What do you expect from these competitions?
The Spartakiad is one of the main tournaments not only of the season, but of the entire four-year period. This is a general review of reserves. You can imagine how important this competition is for us! I am sure that the coaches of the national team will draw up a fairly clear sketch of the Olympic team after the end of the Spartakiad.
What do we expect from the athletes themselves? They will have to demonstrate for the first time a new compulsory program, which is unusually difficult. Mastering it well is the goal and task of the leading gymnasts. Yes, there will be disruptions, we foresee that. But it's important that the leaders and young people are not afraid of difficulties, do not deviate from the intended line, and do not lose momentum.
The Spartakiad is an accurate indicator of mass participation and an active promoter of sports. I would like to hope that representatives of all the republics will come to Moscow - then we will be able to determine the level of development of gymnastics in the country. We are expecting a lot from the teams of Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, and Uzbekistan. These teams, judging from various competitions, will be able to compete with the favorites - the teams from Moscow, Belorussia, the RSFSR, and Ukraine.
V. GOLUBEV