Main directions in development of sports and physical culture values and norms in student representation: Process problems and features

The improvement of the system of physical culture and recreation and sports leisure is considered as one of the priority directions of the state social policy. At the state level, an understanding of physical education and sports importance for ensuring the nation health and improving the quality of the younger generation life has been formed. The purpose of the study is to analyse the students' ideas about physical culture and ways of introducing them to it. Research methods: as a research method, the questionnaire method was used to identify the specifics of students' social representations regarding issues related to the culture of sports and the problems of introducing young people to sports activities. Research results: the article considers the constructs of students' existing ideas about physical culture and mass sports; the peculiarities of students' involvement in sports; the students' attitude to sports activities. The novelty and originality of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the student attitude to sports activities is studied. It was determined that only every tenth student noted the prospects of sports activities for building a further career. It is proved that the core of students' leisure is those activities that are focused on communication and students consider sports primarily as a means of physical education, a source of positive emotions and a way to fill their free time. The reasons why students do not attend the sports section are considered (in descending order): lack of desire and interest; lack of sections on the sport of interest; territorial inaccessibility; lack of material resources; health state. Among the reasons why students do not attend the sports section, the workload of studying dominates. It is proved that the desire to play sports is much greater in students of middle adolescence than in students of older adolescence. For the first time, potentially desirable sports for teenagers have been identified: volleyball, basketball. Less preferred are: football, track and weightlifting, swimming, gymnastics, figure skating and hockey. It is determined that the majority of students believe that the decision to start classes they made independently. It is revealed that the absolute majority of students are satisfied with sports activities. Practical significance: The data obtained in this work can be used in sports psychology, age psychology, social psychology, as well as for further theoretical development of this issue.