Item Type:
Original Item
Received: 08/09/2021
Accepted : 02/12/2021
Cuban triple jump. A procedure for determining the sports reserve
Abstract
The changes in the current competitive system of athletics with a tendency
to increase competitive demands worldwide at younger ages, have caused the
outdating of the most accepted theories on the conception of the long-term
sports preparation system. This constitutes a limitation for the implementation
of new methodological conceptions in said process, with its implications in the
reduction of the effectiveness of the athletes' sporting life and the selection
of the sports reserve to be inserted in the elite, for which it was necessary
to resolve The scientific problem: How to determine the Cuban sports reserve in
the athletic discipline of triple jump for both sexes? The stated objective
was: To apply a methodological procedure for the determination of the Cuban
sports reserve in the athletic discipline of triple jump for both sexes.
Documentary analysis, systemic approach and statistical techniques for
information processing such as mean, standard deviation, ranges, linear and
polynomial regression equations were used as fundamental methods. The
application of the procedure allowed to evidence modifications in the age zones
with respect to the reference criterion, as well as the determination of the
little existence of sports reserve cases in the triple jump discipline, for its
insertion in the world elite in the 2020 Olympic cycles. -2024 and 2024-2028.
Keywords: sports preparation, growth tempo, sports reserve, triple jump
Introduction
The most current studies on sports
results zones by age, date from the 80s of the last century, in research
carried out by Ozolin (1983), considered the father of sports results zones by
age, three zones are proposed of sports results by age, which are nothing more
than the age ranges in which the athletes obtained their first high results,
their best marks and, finally, the maintenance of them. However, at present
these results do not provide high levels of reliability, since the current
competitive system is much more demanding at an early age, since the
introduction of the Junior World Championships in 1986 (athletes between 17 and
19 years old), of the World Cadet Championships (athletes between 15 and 16
years old) in 1997 and of the First World Junior Olympiad for athletes from 14
to 19 years old, in 2010. This tendency to advance specialized and intensive
training at earlier ages, constituted a threat to the further development of
athletes and, therefore, decreases the reliability of the selection of the
sports reserve to be inserted in the elite, by not being able to establish if
it really the athlete will be able to successfully transition to the adult
categories; due to the lack of a pattern of behavior of the elite itself at
those ages. In the research carried out on the triple jump for both sexes, the
theoretical foundations of the conception of long-term sports preparation were
defined by Matveiev (1977); Ozolin (1983) and de la Paz (2021) based on the
review of the research background on the evolutionary dynamics of sports
results and the areas of sports results by age in athletics. (Ozolin, 1983);
(Siris, 1988) and (Forteza and Ramírez, 2017).
Within this global problem, it should be noted that Cuba has only achieved
that three of its 33 medalist athletes in Cadet World Championships, later
obtain Olympic medals or in Senior World Championships, which represents a
9.09% effectiveness in the transfer , a value that is below the world average
in this indicator. This result shows that the Cuban athletics training system
is inefficient compared to the rest of the countries that lead world athletics.
(Mathews, 2019) It is interesting to know what general considerations exist in
the world about what is the sports reserve for national athletics teams. But,
except for the classified documents that existed in the former Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics in the 1960s until the end of the 1980s, which included a
whole series of methodological indications, based on physical and technical
indicators, no other antecedents were located. In the empirical approach
carried out through the study of documents, it was detected that, despite the
fact that in the foundations of the conception of long-term preparation; it is
specified that in order to include an athlete in the world elite, they need to
have references of the level to which they want to reach, such as the
progression of their results by age and the growth rate of their marks, in the
current procedure for the determination and classification of the Cuban sports
reserve, these indicators are not considered, since only physical aptitudes are
taken into account, delimited in standardized tables and the average mark
equivalent to the bronze medal of the last three world championships of the
category, since sometimes it is requires a young athlete to make a mark that
his body does not have sufficient biological maturity to perform.
After this, the athletes who had made this mark or higher for possible new
entry (PNI) to the national team or fully evaluated as excellent in the
national validation were selected, to be selected athletes with immediate
perspective (API), and they are the ones who they are sent to the discipline or
are considered a reserve, depending on their age and existing enrollment
capacities at the "Giraldo Córdova Cardín" Higher School of Training
for Athletes (ESFA). This denotes the lack of scientificity in the current
procedure for determining the sports reserve in Cuban athletics; for the
establishment of long-term sustainable training strategies and a more precise
sports selection of those who have the skills to project themselves at the
world level, which constituted the problematic situation to be solved in this investigation,
delimiting as a scientific problem: How to determine the reserve Cuban sport in
the athletic discipline of triple jump in both sexes?; assuming as objective of
the investigation: To apply a methodological procedure for the determination of
the Cuban sports reserve in the athletic discipline of triple jump in both
sexes.
Materials and methods
The methodological foundations for the treatment of the object of study
were based on the conception of the study of growth tempos as a tool for
determining the evolutionary dynamics of sports results (Zatsiorsky, 1989);
(Maestre, 2021) the delimitation of the result areas by age. Ozolin (1983);
cited by Siris (1988) and the most accepted procedures on the determination of
the sports reserve by Utkin (1989), and Verjoshanski (2002). For the
determination of the sports results zones of the world's elite athletes in the
athletic discipline studied, the following was applied as a fundamental
scientific method: ü Systemic approach: In
the elaboration of the procedure for updating the sports performance zones by
age and the determination of the sports reserve. ü Documentary analysis: It allowed the compilation
of data generated per year (2005-2020) from the rankings and yearbooks of the
International Federation of Amateur Athletics, currently World Athletics
(IAAF/WA) as official documents, and the basis for the preparation of the
chronology of sports results by age of the athletic discipline studied. ü Arithmetic Mean or Average: This measure of
central tendency was used to determine the evaluation ranges by age from the
world elite, and the percentage growth times of the sports results of the
athletes by age. ü Standard deviation:
This dispersion measure was used to elaborate the evaluation ranges by age with
the relationship between mean and standard deviation. ü Range: Measure of dispersion that indicates the
difference between the highest and lowest values of the
distribution. ü Statistical criterial: For the
elaboration of the evaluation instrument (Range of behavior of the results)
(Zatsiorsky, 1989). ü Linear and polynomial
regression equations: To determine the behavior of the evolutionary indicators
of sports results and growth tempos.
The previous study carried out on the procedure for the selection and classification
of the Cuban sports reserve in athletics was carried out by reviewing the
normative documents of the Cuban Athletics Federation (FCA) and the National
Athletics Commission (CNA) oriented to the determination of what are the steps
that integrate it and the criteria for the selection of the immediate
perspective athletes (API) and the possible athletes new entry to the national
team (PNI). The graphic representation of the polynomial equations allowed the
delimitation of the three areas of sports results by age for their subsequent
contrast with the results of Ozolin's research (1983), and its corresponding
update in the athletic discipline of triple jump. Once the characteristics of
the acting procedure were determined and critically assessed, the new procedure
was designed. This procedure was structured in 11 steps, which made it possible
to determine the Cuban sports reserve in the triple jump athletic discipline
for both sexes, to be inserted into the elite performance level in the
2020-2024 and 2024-2028 Olympic cycles. They are explained below: 1. Selection
of the first 50 athletes by the international ranking from 2005 to 2020 of the
WA triple jump. 2. Filter and remove duplicates. 3. Find the average of the
mark corresponding to the 20th place in each of the years studied. 4.
Intentional sampling, keeping the athletes who made the average mark 20 or
better, at least once and who had a result in at least 3 years in their entire
sports career. 5. Preparation of a table with the results of the athletes by
age. 6. Determination of the average results by age of all athletes. 7.
Determination of the variation of athletes' marks by age. 8. Determination of
average growth tempos by age. 9. Preparation of an evaluative scale of the
brands by age and their evolutionary dynamics. 10. Selection of the athletes of
the discipline born from the year 2000 with the condition that they appear in
the national ranking in the period 2016 – 2020 at least once. 11. Evaluation of
said athletes according to the evaluative scale made in step 9.
As a result of the first two steps of the procedure designed to solve the
previous insufficiencies, primary data of 1600 athletes, equivalent to the
population, were collected and duplicates were filtered and eliminated in a
Microsoft Excel-2013 Spreadsheet. (Matthews, 2019) From the application of the
third and fourth steps of the procedure, the sample group, reference pattern of
sports results, was made up of 140 athletes who met this condition in at least
one of the years of the period for each of the sexes. in the discipline
studied; and of which 116 were selected, whose individual chronology of results
by age could be located, with at least three results by age in their entire
sports career. The determination of the statisticians of the behavior of the
sports result by age in the athletic discipline studied as part of the
application of the fifth to the seventh step of the procedure, made it possible
to determine their evolutionary dynamics by calculating the regression equation
that best correspondence showed with the conduct of sports results.
Subsequently, and as the eighth step, the percentage growth times of the sports
result were found. These allowed to calculate how much the sports result
increases or not, from one age to another consecutively. In part of the ninth
step, an evaluative scale was made, with respect to the marks by age and their
evolutionary dynamics, in order to have a criterion of what a successful or
desired performance is at each age. For the execution of the tenth step of the
procedure, Cuban athletes born after 2000 (turning 16 years old in 2016 as the
closing of the school category and the 2012-2016 Olympic cycle) were selected.
In order to resolve the deficiencies detected in the current procedure For the
determination of the Cuban sports reserve and as part of the last step of the
proposed methodological procedure, two conditions were proposed for the
classification of athletes as API or PNI as appropriate, taking into
consideration the evaluation through the evaluative ranges of the sports result
by age and through the times of growth of the sporting result.
Condition 1:
- If the sports result evaluated from high average upwards between 16 and
19 years old, then it can be considered API - If the sports result evaluated
from a high average upwards from 20 years, then it can be considered PNI
Condition 2: - If the growth tempo is
between +/- the deviation of the average annual growth between 16-17 years, up
to and between 18-19 years, then it can be considered API. - If the growth tempo is between +/- the deviation
of the average annual growth from 19-20 years, then it can be considered PNI.
As a result of the application of the eleventh step of the procedure, the
sports results were located in the national rankings from 2015 to 2020, of the
athletes born from 2000 for each sex of the discipline studied, and each one of
their results was evaluated from of its location within the sports result
ranges elaborated from the criterial statistician, considering the six
evaluative ranges proposed by Zatsiorsky (1989): Very high, high, high average,
low average, low and very low. Results and Discussion Determination of their
evolutionary dynamics by calculating the regression equation that showed the
best correspondence with the behavior of sports results (a polynomial), which
appears endorsed in Table 1.
Table 1. Polynomial regression equation that expresses the evolutionary
dynamics of the sports results by age of the world elite in both sexes for the
discipline studied.
|
Triple Jump |
Evolutionary dynamics
of sports results |
|
Male and female sex. |
y = -0,0046x2 + 0,2581x + 3,1864 |
Fountain: Tamayo, A. y Martínez, D. (2021)
Table 2 shows the results of the delimitation of the three areas of sports
results by updated ages in each of the sexes, of the athletic discipline
studied and their contrast with the results of Ozolin's research (1983).
Table 2. Results of the update of sports results by age with respect to
Ozolin's research (1983).
|
Triple Jump |
First Greatest Hits Zone |
Zone of optimal possibilities |
High Results Zone |
|||
|
Ozolin |
Actualiz. |
Ozolin |
Actualiz. |
Ozolin |
Actualiz. |
|
|
male sex |
19-21 |
20-22 |
22-24 |
23-26 |
25-27 |
28-31 |
|
female sex |
18-21 |
19-22 |
21-24 |
23-26 |
23-25 |
27-31 |
The results obtained allow to determine the following regularities: § The sports results zones by age were updated in
the athletic discipline studied, showing changes in the ages included in each
of them, with a tendency to increase the range of total amplitude. § The results of the processing applied so far do
not confirm the hypothesis that the increase in high-level skills at earlier
ages causes an advancement of sports performance. § Regarding the number of years to achieve the
greatest result since the first great successes are achieved, it was detected
that it increases in a range greater than that proposed by Ozolin (1983),
approximately in two years. The results of the determination of the growth
times of the sports result by age in the discipline studied are shown in Table
3, corresponding to the ninth step of the procedure.
Table 3. Linear regression equations that express the dynamics of the
growth tempo of the sports results by age of the world elite in the discipline
studied.
|
Triple Jump |
Evolutionary dynamics
of sports results |
|
Male and female sex. |
y = 0,2037x + 5,7358 |
Fountain: Tamayo, A. y Martínez,
D. (2021)
The application of the tenth step of the procedure allowed the preparation
of the sample group of Cuban athletes in both sexes who met the established
conditions, equivalent to 36 athletes in the totality, of both sexes, of the
discipline studied. As a result of the application of the eleventh step of the
procedure, the sports results were located in the national rankings from 2015
to 2020, of the 36 athletes born since 2000 for each sex of the discipline
studied, and each of their results was evaluated from of its location within
the sports result ranges elaborated from the criterial statistician,
considering the six evaluative ranges proposed by Zatsiorsky (1989). The result
of this processing allowed conclusions to be reached for each sex studied.
Subsequently, the growth times of the sports results of the 36 Cuban athletes
of both sexes, in the discipline studied, were processed for the study of
compliance with the second condition. As a discussion, the results allowed to
determine the growth tempos between the ages: 16-17 years, 17-18 years, 18-19
years and 19-20 years, provided that they had support from the criterial
statistician previously prepared with the data from the world elite. Table 4
shows the results of the analysis of both conditions of the discipline studied.
Table 4. Results of the determination of the sports reserve in the triple
jump discipline in both sexes.
|
Discipline |
Compliance with
conditions |
|
Triple Jump male sex |
The application of the procedure made it possible to determine that Cuba
currently has 2 male athletes, to be considered a sports reserve and inserted
into the international competitive level for the 2020-2024 and 2024-2028
Olympic cycles. |
|
Triple Jump female sex |
The application of the procedure made it possible to determine that Cuba
currently has 1 female athlete, to be considered a sports reserve and
inserted into the international competitive level for the 2020-2024 and
2024-2028 Olympic cycles. |
Fountain:Martínez y Tamayo (2021)
The study on the acting
procedure allowed to determine that this is based on the sports result, which
implies that coaches and athletes are going to go out to look for that result
at all costs, without a regulation determined by the logic of individual
biological growth and development. and on the other hand, it does not recognize
to what extent changes in performance from one age to another should be
promoted, as a guarantee of sustainability.
Conclusions
The study of the
theoretical and methodological references that support the process of long-term
sports preparation in athletics, allowed to determine references of successful
behavior from the reference data provided by world elite athletes of both sexes
and that require continuous updating. in accordance with the characteristics of
the current competitive system. The procedure proposed for updating the sports
results zones by age, in the studied discipline of the triple jump for both
sexes, allowed the readjustment of the criteria established by Ozolin in 1983.
The application of the procedure made it possible to determine that Cuba
currently has three athletes in the triple jump discipline, both sexes, who can
be considered a sports reserve to be inserted in the international competitive
level in the 2020-2024 and 2024-2028 Olympic cycles.
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