Sports School

a specialized educational and training institution for preparing highly skilled athletes. There are three principal types of sports schools in the USSR: juvenile sports schools, specialized juvenile Olympic schools (both are outside the regular school system), and schools of higher sports skills. Sports schools are set up under the ministries of education and railroads, committees on physical culture and sports, trade unions, and other organizations and government departments.

The first sports schools for children were established in Moscow, Tbilisi, and Kiev in 1934; they were followed by schools in Leningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Tashkent, and other cities. In 1940 there were 262 sports schools; the number had risen to 721 in 1953, to 2,772 in 1966 and to 4,704 in 1975. This last figure includes 4,069 juvenile sports schools, 563 specialized juvenile Olympic schools, and 71 schools of higher sports skills. The three types of schools employed (1975) approximately 50,000 coaches and trainers and had a total enrollment of more than 1.6 million students. In 1975 the schools of higher sports skills had 400 international-class masters of sport and more than 14,000 masters of sport and candidates for this title. Each year more than 600 students from the juvenile sports schools and Olympic schools pass the requirements to become masters of sport.

Coaches and trainers at sports schools include the following honored coaches of the USSR and honored masters of sport: V. I. Alekseev, A. V. Azarian, V. A. Brezhnev, A. I. Cherny-shev, V. D. Dmitriev, V. N. Engibarian, R. V. Knysh, V. P. Kondrashin, I. I. Manaenko, K. N. Morozov, I. A. Novikov, D. I. Pozniak, V. S. Rastorotskii, Iu. E. Shtukman, P. N. Shu-bin, G. N. Urbanovich, A. N. Vinogradov, and S. A. Zhuk. Students who have been granted the title of honored master of sport include N. E. Andrianov, N. V. Avilov, V. F. Borzov, V. N. Brumel’, V. B. Kharlamov, V. G. Kurentsov, E. V. Petushkova, V. D. Saneev, I. A. Ter-Ovanesian, V. A. Tret’iak, L. I. Turi-shcheva, V. A. Vasin, and M. Ia. Voronin.

Well-known sports schools include the track and field and swimming schools in Leningrad, the boxing school in Yerevan, the schools of gymnastics in Voronezh, Vitebsk, and Tbilisi, the rowing school in Novgorod, the fencing school in Minsk, and the track and field, hockey, and figure skating schools in Moscow.

Many countries have sports schools of various organizational formats for children and youths. Several socialist countries have boarding institutions that combine sports training with general education on the secondary school level. Sports schools, sections, and groups in the capitalist countries are usually set up by sports clubs.