Juvenile Sports Schools

(in the USSR), special athletic institutions outside the regular school system whose principal task is to train highly skilled young sportsmen, as well as nonprofessional athletes who will conduct large-scale work in sports and gymnastics in schools and in Pioneer organizations. Some juvenile sports schools provide training in several types of sports, while others specialize in one type of sport. These schools are set up under the ministries of education of Union republics, the Ministry of Railways of the USSR, voluntary athletic societies, and various departments, and they operate according to approved standard regulations.

The form, organization, and tasks of the juvenile sports schools differ depending on whether they are raion, city, oblast, or republic schools. They admit students upon the recommendation of general-education schools, selecting those children and adolescents who have received the necessary preparation. The admission age to the schools is between eight and 14 years depending on the type of sport. As a rule each school is divided into several groups: the preparatory group, the second and first junior classes, the second and first sportsmen classes, the candidates for master of sport, and the masters of sport. The length of study in each group is from one to two years. Standards for each year of instruction have been established for general and special physical training and for the level of the students’ athletic achievements.

In 1971 there were 3,813 juvenile sports schools with about 1.3 million students in the USSR. Of these 2,434 schools with about 1 million students were within the public education system, and 1,245 schools with 340,000 students were within the system of voluntary athletic societies.