Alexander Vikulov: Yaroslavl Pedagogical – my life, my destiny …

Until the 70th anniversary of one of the oldest physical culture faculties in the country, the Yaroslavl Pedagogical University is still a year and a half away, but we decided to start summing up the results of its work and talk about plans for the future today. Moreover, there is a weighty reason for this: the dean of the faculty, Alexander Vikulov, will turn 3 on May 60. True, they wanted to talk with Alexander Demyanovich exclusively about his personal achievements and interests (after all, an anniversary!), But the conversation constantly got lost in the discussion of university affairs.

And it became clear: it would not work in any other way with Vikulov – in the 40 years that he has been working at YAGPU, his life and the life of the Faculty of Physical Culture have become inextricably intertwined.

Alexander Demyanovich, is there something that makes you particularly proud of the faculty?

“For any teacher, achievements are measured primarily by the achievements of students. Therefore, my absolute pride is pride in graduates. Without any exaggeration, none of the faculties has so many renowned, famous not only in the whole of Russia, but also in the whole world of graduates.

The Faculty of Physical Education was founded in 1947, during this time more than 6 thousand specialists graduated from its walls. Among them – 16 participants in the Olympic Games, two of whom became Olympic champions, three – prize-winners, and 19 world champions in various forms. It’s hard to count the winners of the European, USSR, and Russian championships, but that’s not all. We must not forget that behind every victorious performance there is a huge work of coaches. And among our graduates there are dozens of talented mentors.

I will not list the names of athletes and coaches now – it is impossible to name all of them, and it is unfair to single out someone from the multitude. I will only say that in 2014 alone, four world champions graduated from our faculty: hockey player Yegor Yakovlev, two-time world champion in sports acrobatics Evgeny Ivanov, swimmer Alexei Shafigulin and wrestler Nver Kagramanyan. “

Where can you find information about the outstanding graduates of the faculty?

“Some time ago I asked myself this question. It turned out that one could learn about our eminent graduates only from scattered publications and from the stories of university teachers. But this is very bad, especially for students, who must look up to outstanding athletes and coaches and strive for the same high victories. Therefore, I decided to write two reference books. The first was published in 2014 – about our graduates, athletes. The second, he will also appear soon, – about coaches who graduated from YAGPU. Reference books can be used not only by students, but also by everyone who is interested in sports. That is why we distribute publications to sports schools, give gifts to guests who come to YAGPU. Both directories will be republished as new material accumulates, because I continue to receive letters and calls from graduates of different years, athletes, teachers with a request to include new names in the directories. I assure you that it will definitely be done. “

“In 1947, physical education faculties were opened in 8 pedagogical institutes of the country, including in Yaroslavl. Then, in almost all universities “fizvos” was represented by only one department. And what is the Faculty of Physical Education of YAGPU today?

– Today the faculty has 5 departments: the theory of physical culture, sports disciplines, gymnastics, medical and biological foundations of sports, physical education. We conduct training in the areas of “Physical Education”, “Physical Culture” in the specializations “Fundamentals of Sports Training”, “Sports and Mass Work”, “Shaping”. The direction “Physical culture for persons with disabilities” is the so-called adaptive physical education.

Of course, we do not stand still and are sensitive to the demands of the time and the needs of society. Due to the fact that additional education in our country is becoming in demand, centers of out-of-school work are developing, we have applied for training in the dual profile “Additional education plus physical education”. Modern sports clubs, sports events, competitions require a clear organization in which the commercial component plays a significant role – and we have opened a new profile “Management in sports”. But we did not rest on this – we are looking at what other competencies are needed for modern athletes and teachers. There is an idea about the direction “Psychology in Sports” and about training specialists in the field of sports with an in-depth knowledge of a foreign language – after all, sports contacts, both external and internal, are expanding every year. “

Is teacher education still a priority?

“I am deeply convinced that a good physical education teacher and a good coach can only be trained at a pedagogical university. If someone has the opinion that any athlete can train and teach children, then this is a deep delusion. You need to be able to teach, and for this you need to learn. And only in a pedagogical university students are taught to teach others. It is here that the knowledge and technologies of teacher training, the most qualified teachers and teaching methods are concentrated. Therefore, like our rector, Vladimir Afanasyev, I have defended and continue to defend the right of pedagogical universities and, of course, YAGPU to remain in its status. And the downward trend in pedagogical universities in our country worries me. “

Alexander Demyanovich, your professional interests have long crossed the boundaries of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical University. You cooperate, communicate, make friends with many sports faculties and sports universities in our country. What does it give you?

“My position is this: if you want to keep abreast of all events in and around sports, if it is important to know what processes are taking place in education, if there is a desire for the faculty not to stagnate, but to develop, and students acquire the latest knowledge, – then learn yourself, adopt the positive experience of your colleagues and analyze their mistakes. And for this it is necessary to expand the circle of contacts with colleagues from other universities.

Today I cooperate with almost all sports universities and faculties in Russia almost to the Far East, with each I have my own list of joint cases. The year 2015 was especially rich in contacts, including new ones. I discovered the Moscow City Pedagogical Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, on its basis my candidate for thesis, Alina Yegorycheva, defended my candidate. This young university is attractive to me because in just 20 years it has managed to turn into a solid and very prestigious educational institution with a strong teaching staff and a strong student team.

Three times this year I have visited the Smolensk Academy of Physical Culture and Sports – I was an opponent on the defense of dissertations in physiology. The Academy today is an example of how a sports university should look and function, ideally, it is part of the country’s largest sports and educational complex. Such complexes are the future, because today our state is focused on the development of sports, the task is to raise healthy, physically developed citizens. In addition, big sport is a part of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. And it is possible that it is the current generation of students who will have to work in ultra-modern sports complexes. This prospect sets students in a positive mood, and they begin to treat with great respect both their studies and their future professional activities, because they more clearly begin to understand their involvement in the development of physical education and sports in our country.

I also observed the tendency of modernization of physical education institutes at the Volgograd Academy. This university has an amazing sports facility in terms of technical complexity and functionality – a modern outdoor pool. The athletes who train there claim that never before in closed baths they could not get such a significant effect from training as in open water, since they breathe clean, not chlorinated air. And I believe them, because for many years teaching swimming and studying the physiology of athletes, I understand that breathing is everything for a swimmer. Naturally, I also spoke about the Volgograd Academy with my students – they should know how other universities live and what are the vectors of growth.

Undoubtedly, modernization will reach the faculties of physical education and sports in pedagogical universities, but for now I consider it necessary to travel and get acquainted with the achievements of colleagues from other universities. Long-standing ties have been established with many of them, for example, with the National State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Health named after P.F. Lesgaft in St. Petersburg, where many of my friends work. I came to them for advanced training courses and, as part of the ministerial commission, participated in the state accreditation of universities. I visit Velikiye Luki, which has an excellent Academy of Physical Education and Sports, where serious research is being conducted in the field of physiology, which is my main scientific interest.

The Russian Institute of Physical Culture and Sports in Moscow also invites me to participate in various forums and projects. This cooperation is important because a methodological association has been created on the basis of the institute, which determines the policy of higher physical education. The Kuban Academy of Physical Culture is generally my second “homeland” – since in Krasnodar I defended my Ph.D. thesis at one time. And I also cooperate with Voronezh, Omsk, Khabarovsk – it is important for me how universities located far from Moscow live. And they live very richly: from an educational, scientific, and sports point of view. For example, the Tchaikovsky State Institute of Physical Culture has a unique sports facility – a ski stadium with state-of-the-art ski jumps. As the dean of the Faculty of Physical Education, it is interesting for me to know how it is used in the educational and training process. Because this institute is the forge of winter sports champions. And this despite the fact that the city of Tchaikovsky itself is small – only 80 thousand of the population. “

Does our faculty have something to be proud of, is there something to show colleagues from other regions?

“Undoubtedly. Firstly, the Faculty of Physical Education of the Yaroslavl Pedagogical University has the oldest scientific school in the field of physiology. This is the basis on which all our research work is based. The fact that YGPU and the faculty are very respected in scientific circles is evidenced by the fact that for many years the faculty has been hosting an International Scientific Conference on the branches of physiology – hemorheology and blood microcirculation. Prominent scientists from all over the world, including the United States, come to us.

Secondly, we have a powerful teaching staff: more than 80% of the teachers in our special departments have scientific degrees, 10 of them are doctors of science. We have our own postgraduate studies, and besides, our professors are constantly invited as leaders in preparing dissertations on the basis of other universities and as opponents in defense. “

And you too, of course?

“And me. There are 18 defended dissertations in my “record book”: one doctoral (in physiology), 14 candidates in physiology and 3 on the theory and methodology of physical education, sports training.

And the third thing that distinguishes us favorably from a significant number of universities and which we can definitely be proud of is the benevolent atmosphere that prevails at the faculty. Believe me, I talked with many students – everyone notes that they feel at home here, where they will support, understand, meet halfway, where it is always warm, where they understand, where there is protection and where they are always waiting. Such a spirit was laid from the very foundation of the faculty, when former front-line soldiers came to the university to work as teachers, who replaced their dead fathers for many students of the post-war generation. And I am glad that the teachers managed to maintain such a good atmosphere, despite the fact that almost seven decades have passed since then. “

Alexander Demyanovich, although you take the conversation away from your person, you still want to talk about the personal. How will you celebrate the anniversary?

“Most likely, I will mentally summarize the intermediate results, reflect on life …”

Can you tell now which one is the main one?

“Probably the main thing is that I live my life (I emphasize – mine!) And at the same time in my life I have never been angry, I have never envied anyone, I was happy with the successes of my comrades and, of course, I was proud of my students.”

Many, probably, do not even know that your sport, with which you once came to enter pedagogical, is cycling, that you were engaged in racing on the highway in your youth. Is sport in your life today?

“Today sports for me means active work with undergraduate and graduate students – active athletes and, of course, I follow sports events in the world very closely”.

Are you an avid fan?

“I think no. But there are sports events that I follow with interest: the Olympic Games, of course, the World and European Football Championships, I enjoy watching tennis, Formula 1. Of course, I keep track of all swimming competitions and major cycling races, for example, Tour de France, Giro de Italia.

How do you relax?

“I love walking, thinking, watching interesting films, reading, communicating with friends, people close to me. I am unassuming in my daily affairs. “

Time-consuming science?

“Science is an ongoing process. There are no weekends or vacations here. Now, for example, I am working on two books at once under the general working title “Problems of the Development of Modern Sports”, I think that by the fall it will be possible to talk about the preliminary results of this work. “

In your understanding – what is happiness?

“Happiness is to be a whole person, to find a work that you can serve all your life, and so that this work would allow you to realize all the inclinations and abilities.”

And what is Yaroslavl Pedagogical University for you?

“This is my life. This is my destiny. “

Alexander Demyanovich Vikulov – Honored Worker of Physical Culture of the Russian Federation, Honorary Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences; author of over 400 published scientific, methodological and educational works; in 1980 he graduated with honors from the Yaroslavl Order of the Red Banner of Labor State Pedagogical Institute named after K. D. Ushinsky; since 1983 he has been working at the YAGPU, since 2001 – as the dean of the Faculty of Physical Culture.

I bet you didn’t know that …

… Alexander Vikulov grew up in a village – in the Danilovsky district, where he studied excellently until the 9th grade, and then, without the knowledge of adults, went to Yaroslavl to continue his studies in the ten-year boarding school number 9.

… After school, the teachers persuaded him to enter … the technical school of Soviet trade and study the commodity science of food products, which Alexander did. However, all his thoughts were about sports, because while still in the boarding school he became interested in cycling and dreamed that he would definitely enter the pedagogical school and become a coach or teacher.

… Alexander Demyanovich worked for three years (from 1980 to 1983) as a physical education teacher at the Karabikh eight-year school.

“Dear Alexander Demyanovich! On behalf of the Agency for Physical Culture and Sports of the Yaroslavl Region and on my own behalf, I congratulate you on your anniversary! Over the past years, fruitfully working in the field of pedagogical activity, you have earned a reputation as a professional teacher, an experienced leader, who devotes all of himself to the cause of physical education. The future of Russia is in your hands, and by your work you have earned the respect and authority of your colleagues, students, university graduates, and the sports community of the region. On this significant day, I wish you, Alexander Demyanovich, good health, good spirits, success in your professional and creative activities. “

Nikolay Kosarev, director of the Sports School No. 2 of the Mayor’s Office of Yaroslavl:

“I sincerely congratulate Alexander Demyanovich on his anniversary! I wish you health and new scientific achievements. I remember him from the pedagogical institute: we studied at about the same time. And today I know Alexander Demyanovich as a specialist of the highest class, an excellent leader – we meet with him at the qualification commission for certification of trainers-teachers of DYUSSHOR and SDYUSSHOR, of which he is the chairman. And without exaggeration, we can say that half of the coaches who work today in the Yaroslavl region are students of the Faculty of Physical Education, headed by Alexander Vikulov. “

Oksana Malyutina, director of the Sports School No. 8 of the Mayor’s Office of Yaroslavl:

“It seems to me that a good teacher must necessarily be like Alexander Demyanovich: calm, benevolent, and, of course, highly professional. I myself was once his student and am grateful for everything that he gave to us, young teachers. The leading role of the Faculty of Physical Culture in the training of sports pedagogical personnel in the Yaroslavl region is undeniable today. I wish the dean of the faculty, Alexander Demyanovich Vikulov, new heights in pedagogy and excellent promising students. Happy Birthday!”

Faculty of Physical Education YAGPU

Yaroslavl, Kotoroslnaya embankment, 46a

Phone: (4852) 72-84-85

Fax: (4852) 72-84-85

http://yspu.org