With the collapse of the state, which was one of the world leaders in virtually all sports, the system that had been created over decades was disrupted. Many special centers for training young athletes, which were oriented toward frequent training camps in various parts of the USSR, lost their permanent partners. The 15 republics, which had contributed their share to the common cause, were left with their trump cards but lost much more. After all, the system was a nationwide mechanism, all the cogs and parts of which were inextricably linked to each other.
More than a decade has passed since independence. And only now, having cooled down, even the most ardent proponents of independence admit that there were many pluses in that system. That we lost and forfeited a great deal. That even a partial restoration and a more or less close return to the orderliness in training the sports reserve of Soviet times requires considerable time, effort, and money.
The well-known Russian football coach Boris Ignatiev recently remarked: “There is one main reason why there are so many foreign players in our football now: the Soviet training system has been destroyed, and nothing new has been created in its place. You cannot build a building without a foundation. I worked for many years with the USSR youth teams, regularly went abroad, compared what I saw with what we had, and can confidently say that the USSR had the most progressive training system. Both organizationally and methodologically. This direction was the best in the world: boarding schools, specialized sports schools, schools of Olympic reserve. France, Spain, Italy, and other advanced countries are now using our methods. And we would have continued to use them, but with the collapse of the Union we lost this system. Thus, it turns out that we will wait more than one year for this system to be re-established and for a flow of new young talents to come. And now there is a vacuum in this matter. We lack football players both for the Russian national team and for specific clubs.”
Although these words belong to one of the most authoritative Russian football specialists, I am sure that coaches and heads of federations in other sports will subscribe to them. And, of course, not only Russian ones. After all, Russians, by and large, lost less than all the other republics. And Russia has greater potential than the other residents of the communal apartment that was the Union.
The current situation in world sport convinces us that we are significantly lagging behind most European (and not only) countries in development. Even a superficial acquaintance with the features of youth sports in leading countries allows us to identify a number of main features that distinguish us from them. Or, more precisely, them from us.
First, let us agree that talented children exist everywhere. In one country there are more, in another fewer, but overall the proportion is roughly the same. And the first condition of a sound training system is the ability to identify talent in a child in early childhood. After all, in many sports, children are selected even before the first grade. With us, the initiative comes from parents; abroad, this is supplemented by a targeted search by interested parties.
Small countries with limited human potential are particularly active. For example, Dutch football is considered one of the best in the world, and the reserve training system in the Netherlands is arguably the best on the planet. Thrift and prudence make it possible not to lose talented kids at various stages of growing up who, for one reason or another, might leave sports. And this careful attitude is another condition for creating a clear training system. How small the Netherlands is, yet how many world champions in speed skating it has! Or take Belgium, whose tennis players are now among the world elite. Or Finland and Norway with their excellently developed winter sports.
In this respect, the union republics are an example of utter carelessness. There is practically no one to search for young talents or to preserve them. And all because funding is miserable. And this is another important condition for the coherence of the youth sports structure. Without good funding, you will achieve nothing. Any undertaking of even minor significance should start with this. And if we are talking about a long-term project, which is the training of reserves, stretching over a good ten years, then serious guarantees are needed that money will be received on time and regularly.
Abroad there are two main types of sports schools - state and private. And in each of them there is no shortage of funds. In developed countries, naturally. There, statesmen perfectly understand that youth sports should be developed no less than high-performance sports. And private capital invested in training child athletes will pay off sooner or later. All that is needed is stability and a competent approach to the matter.
And it consists not only in the amount of invested funds. Money still needs to be put to work, to give it the opportunity to generate income - not only immediate but also in the long term. And in this regard, foreign countries are decades ahead of us. How many sports facilities have been built in our country during the years of independence? At a loss to say? Me too. Although in Belarus or Russia, for example, the situation is improving for the better. Lukashenko never tires of building ice palaces and rinks. And there is nothing to say about our eastern neighbors: stadiums and other sports facilities have already been put on the assembly line there.
Also, a competent process requires good specialists. Coaches, heads of sports schools, supply managers, sports directors, doctors, educators. Those people whose salaries in our country are at a level that is shameful to even call a level. That is in state schools. The situation in private ones is better, but there are not many of them yet.
The brain and hand drain abroad is taking its toll. There, where the state provides a person with a decent income. After all, you will agree, only in our country has the proverb “the cobbler should stick to his last” lost absolutely all meaning, and specialists with higher technical and pedagogical education can be seen in huge numbers among market vendors.
The differences between our current non-system and their developed system are not just great. The abyss is gigantic. And it is not for nothing that parents of more or less talented children strive to send their kids abroad, find a sponsor who could pay for training in some foreign sports school in one profile or another, and wave goodbye to the motherland. Look at the rankings in many sports, and you will find many former compatriots there who were offered humane conditions as early as childhood. And they are not traitors. Because you can betray only someone who gave you something. And what did they give them?
For example, let us consider the French model of working with the younger generation. In recent years, it is this model that is considered the most progressive. Work on the development of mass children's sports in France is built on a club system on a paid basis. The number of clubs varies - from 4,500 in basketball to 20 in modern pentathlon. Sports training is carried out, as a rule, by physical education teachers and former athletes who have a license to conduct training sessions.
There is no set age for starting classes. In swimming, children start from two to three years of age, in other sports - from 10-11 years. The club accepts all who wish. Training schedules range from one to three (two to six) hours a week. The duration of training is not limited. Clubs are self-financing, but certain sports receive subsidies from municipalities. Parental fees for training depend on the sport, the number and conditions of training sessions, the age of participants, the family's financial situation, and range from $60 to $400 per month.
Selection of the most gifted children and adolescents for further sports specialization is carried out on the basis of test results and competitions. The most promising are enrolled in regional sports training centers. There are ten such centers in the country, as well as two departmental (Ministry of Defense) and one national (INSEP), covering 16,000 athletes (953 of the main, 5,748 of the youth, and 10,100 of the reserve (14-15 years old) teams of the French national squad).
The National Training Center (INSEP) was established in 1975. Here, 953 athletes of the French national team in 23 sports undergo year-round centralized training. Training is conducted by 170 federal coaches. Athletes train in an Olympic camp environment 25-30 hours per week with two training sessions a day, just like in our Olympic reserve schools. Education is provided in 30 disciplines. We, however, train only sports coaches in our schools. The numerical composition of the strongest athletes in each sport training at the centers is determined by the sports federations. Individual planning of training for national team candidates is carried out by specialists from the Ministry of Sports and sports federations. The plan provides for schooling in secondary school, lyceum, college, professional education at a university, medical support, social conditions (accommodation, meals, stipend, insurance), and the training process schedule.
For example, athletes who won 29 medals in Barcelona (nine of them gold) trained at the center. Among the athletes are medalists of world and European championships. Most of the medalists of international competitions train there as well.
What does the national center have? It is located three kilometers from Paris. It occupies an area of 32 hectares and has 800,000 square meters of well-equipped facilities (a restaurant, a cafe, two canteens, a hotel with 574 beds, a cinema hall, a sports library, an audiovisual service, and mass media).
The medical department of the center is the largest in France. It employs 39 full-time medical workers. The medical services center (dispensary) provides 14,000 consultations per year.
The center provides not only sports training. Students receive an education and a profession. They study in schools, colleges, and universities under a special program. Teachers come here to provide consultations and conduct exams. Finally, there is a specialist who links the Ministry of Education with the center.
The social protection of athletes in matters of their education deserves special attention. It is expressed in the attitude of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports toward athletes, as well as in their cooperation. For example, the training plan of the French national team for the Olympics in Atlanta was approved precisely by these departments.
The country's strongest athletes train primarily at the expense of the state budget. In addition, they receive a stipend of $1,000 per month.
The role of the French Ministry of Sports is defined by the sports law. In 1993, a decree on sports was issued. The Ministry of Youth and Sports has two sports directorates and six bureaus: financial, international, elite sport, sports development policy, management of centralized athlete training institutions, science, sports equipment and facilities.
The ministry exercises its powers through 25 branches and 100 municipal sports departments. It concludes agreements with sports federations and allocates budget funds to them for specific programs. Some sports federations are fully funded by the ministry. Projects are prepared by a planning group together with the federation's technical commission and approved by a national commission that includes the Minister of Sports and the presidents of federations.
Sports federations, in turn, enter into agreements with athlete training centers and finance them. Federations have their own partners, who may be sponsors. Federations are independent in their activities and have their own offices...
Yet the French have adopted and brought to perfection the Soviet system of training athletes and the immediate reserve of the national team. Therefore, we have something to be proud of and at the same time - something to learn from them.