THE BENEFITS OF THE COURSES IN SNOW SPORTS FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE NATIONAL SPORTS ACADEMY „VASSIL LEVSKI“

ABSTRACT The National Sports Academy “V. Levski” – the sports university of Bulgaria, has almost 80 years of history and state accreditation for the education of coaches in more than 76 sports, physical education teachers, kinesitherapy, and sport animation specialists. The course program includes a total of 12 hours of lectures, and 5 hours of practical seminars per day every day. The aim of our research was to study the influence of the “Snow Sports” course on the students from the National Sports Academy “V. Levski”, in terms of its social, psychological, physiological, training, and educational impact. Results: The research includes an inquiry with students who had already completed their education in the “Snow Sports” course, aged between 19 - 25. The greater part of them had no preliminary experience in Snow Sports, and they made their first steps in skiing and snowboarding at the course. However, after finishing the course, a great number of them chose to continue with additional education in snow sports. The students gave a positive self-evaluation of their physical and mental health after the end of the course, and they reported an improvement in their general well-being. The study also takes into account the acquired knowledge and skills in snow sports, in safety rules, and in environmental protection requirements. As a result, students gain confidence that they have developed new training and leadership qualities, giving them the opportunity to practice another new profession. On the basis of these results, we have reasons to assume, that this form of education in snow sports has a multi-aspectual impact on the students. This assumption strengthens our conviction, that snow sports could have a wide application, not only in the education and training of young people but also in their socialization.