Psychophysiological Characteristics as Indicators of Selection in Martial Arts

In recent years, due to the active processes of commercialization in martial arts, the number of competitions involving qualified athletes has increased significantly. As a result, the intensity of competitive activities has increased and the requirements for the training of athletes have increased. Coaches and scientists have begun to look for new ways to increase the effectiveness of competitive activities of athletes, as well as new approaches to the selection of talented athletes. Competitive activity in sports and, in particular, in martial arts is characterized by the external manifestation of the processes of higher nervous activity, which provide speed of reactions and information processing, speed of mastering the technique of movements, the ability to switch from attacking to defensive and vice versa.

The aim of the research: to determine the psychophysiological criteria of talent in martial arts. Research methods are theoretical analysis and generalization, documentary method, survey (questionnaire), measurement, methods of mathematical statistics.

During the first stage of research, we analyzed the features of selection and criteria for talent in sports. At the second stage of research, we conducted a survey of fencing, karate and boxing coaches, and identified criteria for talent in martial arts. After that, we hold the measurement of psychophysiological characteristics of fencers, boxers and karate fighters at the stage of maximum realization of individual capabilities and at the stage of specialized basic training. The characteristics we measured were simple visual-motor reaction, distinction reaction, choice reaction, resistance to obstacles, reaction to a moving object and strength endurance. In conclusion, we have defined informative psychophysiological criteria of giftedness in martial arts, supplemented scientific data on psychophysiological characteristics in martial arts.