El proceso de formación deportiva del judoka olímpico español

Laburpena

Nowadays, given the number of federal licenses, we find that judo is one of the most popular sports in the Spanish schools (104,340 licenses). However, few judokas reach the elite level, apart from those judokas, who get the glory of participating in the Olympic Games. The fact that an athlete reaches the highest level in any sport depends on a variety of factors. These factors include the influence of the environment, the genetic characteristics, and perhaps, the most influential will be the training received throughout his sporting life. The training process requires the establishment of a series of steps, which make the process progressive and effective. These steps are defined and classified by many authors (Blázquez, 1999; De Knop et al. 1998; Giménez, Abad and Robles 2010; Mora, 2007; Romero, 2006). Furthermore, Saénz-López, Feu and Ibáñez (2006) suggest the need to manage this issue with a multifactorial approach to establish a genetic basis for other variables, which influence high performance. In this sense, Ericsson, Krampe and Tesch-Römer (2000) stated that expert performance in a sport is not only a product of innate abilities, but also a product of deliberate practice, maintained primarily through motivational and stress factors. Moreover, Castejón, Jiménez and López (2013) suggest that sport training responds to the action and effect of training in the sport, and should include all the different characteristics of the athlete: the motor skills, the cognitive abilities and the affective-social dynamics. In this sense, Ortega, Piñar, y Cárdenas (1999) define training as an ongoing and continuous process, which advances parallel to the evolutionary development of the subject, in which the progress of necessary skills is seen to provide an effective response to the situations presented during sport activities. If we consider the classifications made by different authors of the stages of training, we can establish a simplified classification to facilitate understanding. The beginning stage (6-12 years), which will develop generic skills of several sports, improve those of one sport. The stage of development (12/13 years-16 years) will start sport specialization through the work of the technical and tactical elements of a particular sport. Finally, the stage of development (+16/18 years) includes an intensive and specialized training, and it is designed to achieve the maximum performance. This training process will greatly influence the athlete’s closest social environment (family, coaches, friends, etc.). the studies from Lorenzo and Calleja (2010) show the influence that the family has on the development of expertise. During the initial period to the development of a leadership role, is critical to provide the child with an opportunity to participate in a sporting context, and to seek a formal first contact with a sport education. In addition, Kidman (1999) tells that fathers and mothers are socializing agents, affecting the ability of the child to decide in what sport they wish to specialize, and the level of the commitment required. A very influential group in the athletes’ lives is their peer group, especially once they have reached adolescence, where social relations are becoming more intense. Therefore, training partners play a key role in the sport initiation (Dosil, 2004). Currently, there are studies, which confirm that friendships are one of the main reasons for the child to participate in sports, demonstrating the importance of having a group of friends involved in the same sport (Abernethy, Côté and Baker, 2002; Brustad, Babkes and Smithy, 2001; Weiss and Petlichkoff, 1989). In the case of judo and referring to the work of Palao, Ortega, Calderón, and Abraldes (2008), although the athlete competes individually, he does not forget that the competition is the only part at the end, and work with a training group. In his research, Moreno (1997) emphasizes the consideration of the coach as an educator, in the full and true sense of the word. There are studies, where the majority of authors and experts believe that in the formation stage, coaches should also be represented as an educator, setting the goals, demonstrating the behavior, etc.. This approach to early coaching influence is very different from high performance coaches (Giménez, 2003; Moreno and Del Villar, 2004; Prata, 1998; Santos, Viciana, and Delgdo, 1996). Moreover, the psychological dimension is a fundamental part of all high performing athletes. In this sense, Mujika (2010) tells that psychological aspects can be decisive in tackling, both in training and competition, regardless of the chosen sport. Several recent publications on the same subject have established relationships between a large number of psychological skills (self-confidence, motivation, concentration, visualization or control activation, stress and anxiety in competition) and the athlete's performance in his particular sport (Cox, 2009; Garcés, Olmedilla and Jara, 2006; López, 2009; Sosa, Jaenes, Godoy and Oliver, 2009; Williams, 2009). Thus, the psychological context is perceived as an especially important aspect in individual sports, where all the responsibilities falls on oneself, especially in combat disciplines. Therefore, in our study, we analyze the “sport itineraries” of the Spanish judokas, who have represented Spain in the Olympic Games in the twenty-first century. We will discuss the importance of the various components of sports training (technique, tactics, physical fitness and psychological preparation) in the formation of the Spanish Olympic judokas. Additionally, this study aims to evaluate the importance of social and sporting contexts in the process of formation of the Spanish Olympic judokas, and ultimately, we describe the proposals and the methodological training and guidance to make possible a higher quality of young judoka talent in our country, according to the opinions of interviewed judokas. For this purpose, it was designed a semi-structured interview of 52 questions, grouped in 6 domains (sporting context, social, psychological, technical and tactical, physical condition and other relevant aspects). To validate it, there was a qualitative and quantitative analysis performed by 10 assessing experts. The validity of the content was assessed through the coefficient Aiken V, setting a confidence interval of 99%, and the coefficient of variation. For the reliability of it, the interview assessed senior judokas at two different times, and an internal consistency was analyzed by the method of Cronbach's alpha (0.915), retesting the reliability using the interclass correlation coefficient, resulting in 0.843 (p < 0.01). Therefore, the interview is a valid tool, and it is reliable to study and analyze the properties considered in the formation of elite judokas. The study was conducted with the Spanish Olympic judokas, who participated in any of the Olympic Games held during the twenty-first century, getting a sample of 20 subjects of the 21 that make up the total population. Once prepared, the interview and the data were obtained by contacting the Olympic judokas of the century, through the RFEJYDA we were going to interview. Initially, this contact was via email, which was in the form of a letter, informing them about the study, and asking about their permission to participate. Once accepted, each judoka was passed to the second step. This step was a telephone contact to arrange the day and the time for the interview. Finally, we had a third telephone contact with each judoka, conducting the interview. In the case of a single subject, the second and third steps were conducted by a videoconference, due to the location of residence. Subsequently, once the interviews were completed, we preceded to the transcription of each, using MAXQDA 10 software. This software was reliable, and the interview was encoded by a group of experts. Once the codes were established, we conducted four meetings with all the experts to encode the same interview. The codes were written down, and each encoder recorded the correct code in a table, in order to sum the unsuccessful errors. Finally, the overall percentage was calculated. With the percentage obtained in all the meetings (87.67%), it is considered that the level of agreement is enough and appropriate for each encoder to work individually. We must also say, that the Kappa obtained, both the averages of each meeting (1st = 0.893, 2nd = 0.826 and 3rd = 0.774 and 4th = 0.836 p <0.001) as the average of the encoders in the four meetings taken together (0.833 p <0.001) are considered significant or important as the ranges proposed by Landis and Koch (1977). As for the results, the sample dimensions, which provide more units of analysis, are those referring to the psychological dimension (523), the social context (336) and the sport context (242). In contrast, the less contributing are the training process (239) (dimension created for coding the interview), the technical-tactical (225) and the fitness (200). Among other results, we find that the main reasons the judokas began practicing judo are directly influenced by: a family member or teacher recommendation for physical education, starting a sport, which involves selfdefense, as well as his earliest memories, being connected with friends and fun games that were posed during class, supplying the sporting context. In regard to the social context, the judokas achieved expertise in the sport when they received great familiar support during the training, mainly by their parents and siblings, but also from their coaches and friends to a lesser extent. Half of the judokas have relatives involved in competitive national or international judo or other Olympic medalists. In regard to the training process, the results indicated that more than two thirds of respondents claim to have had an education based on a comprehensive methodology, where the game involved leadership. Additionally, the no nationwide respondents got medals in the youngest category (i.e. before 14-15 years). More than half begin their national sporting achievements around 15-16 years. The responses to the psychological dimension consider the psychological aspects of training, and note that the following are vital for the high performance stage: perseverance, sacrifice and self-confidence; they consider it important to have a high motivation during workouts. In many cases, it varies depending on the individual experience of a judoka. In the technical-tactical and fitness dimension, almost all respondents believe that the technique is very important, but half believe that this should start from the childhood or at a young age. Less than the half believe that the technique should be emphasized from the beginning of the sport. Regarding the importance of physical preparation during the formation of a judoka, more than the half believes that it is important, but it must start from cadets. Also, most Olympic judokas considered the physical preparation to be integrated with technical and tactical elements. Finally, as expressed by the respondents, we conclude that a judoka needs a proper training process to reach the highest performance in the best possible conditions, tailoring the judoka’s specific characteristics and needs.