Original article

The training in the Olympic Wrestling for the social and personal development in teenagers: an extracurricular proposal from the Physical Education

Eddy David Bedón Noboa^{1  *} 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7532-9965

¹Universidad Central del Ecuador. Ecuador.

ABSTRACT

The objective of this article is to present an educational proposal based on Olympic Wrestling training for personal and social development in teenagers in extracurricular settings. For this, the ethnographic and documentary methodologies were used in order to answer the question, can there be personal and social development when training wrestling in educational institutions? The bibliographic review was applied in two phases, the first one, called phase I, allowed the analysis of the selected thematic units to later assume a phase II, which was propositional based on the theoretical argumentation and the contextualization that allowed to present the objectives, the pedagogical methodology, the relationship with the official Physical Education curriculum, general activities and evaluation; to fill in some information gaps, the interview was applied to ten physical education teachers from educational institutions in the Costa region, all of them former wrestling athletes. Both instruments were based on two dimensions: the first one, The Olympic Wrestling: between the curricular and the extracurricular, and the second one, The Olympic wrestling in the personal and social formation of the teenagers. After a critical analysis of the results, the extracurricular wrestling proposal was obtained. It addresses the importance of implementing Olympic Wrestling as an innovative extracurricular activity, which promotes personal development in terms of self-esteem, self-control and self-care, as well as social skills of cooperation, respect for rules and care for others.

Keywords: Olympic Wrestling; Personal and social development; Adolescence; Physical Education.

INTRODUCTION

The personal and social development of the teenager is marked by particular traits, since the subject debates between his thinking as a child that still persists and the adult he wants to be; there is a remarkable variability of personality that is not yet fully defined. That is, there is no pattern of behavior, thoughts and emotions in him. Relatively, they establish the time as they refer it and this brings as consequences variable states of mind, emotional abrupt change, the self-esteem tends to vary product of the insecurity and, therefore, in some occasions aggressiveness. Added to this and as part of the characteristics of this stage of life, there is a strengthening of the search for social bonding and the first relationships appear ^{(Castillero, 2018)}.

From this point of view, it can be seen that the teenager seeks to develop his social and emotional competencies, that is, to self-regulate his emotions and relate effectively with his peers. Although these aspects are intrinsic to human beings, it is important that at this period they have other extrinsic mechanisms that allow them to face and channel, in a healthy way, the ups and downs of this period. In this sense, for the teenager, doing some sport is an adjuvant to what he lives and is about to live, since it helps him to alleviate tensions and improve his mood and, most importantly, the more empathy he has for the present values, the more he will be able to exteriorize them ^{(Gómez, Padial, Gentil, Chacón y Zurita, 2019)}.

Hence, the Olympic Wrestling, as a sport and an extracurricular activity, becomes for the young teenager a task that, from the studies of Sports Psychology, has demonstrated that it can self-regulate and achieve greater emotional stability, as well as increase self-esteem and generate feelings of well-being and optimism that allow the teenager to face problematic situations from a positive attitude and that helps him/her to develop his/her personality. It should be noted that ^{García-Marín and Fernández-López (2020)} mention that extracurricular sports activities generate in the long term the development of motor skills and strengthen the lifestyles of students.

In reference to the above, ^{López-Torres, Navelo-Cabello and Toledo (2017)} maintain that the Olympic Wrestling is a sport that transmits values that go beyond the confrontation of one with the other and that, above all, promotes in a very special way the respect for the integrity of the opponent. On the other hand, referring to the personal part, the same author points out that the Olympic Wrestling helps the teenager to gain self-confidence since the training is based on generating confidence at all times.

From this perspective, ^{Liras (2016)} points out that the Olympic Wrestling, besides helping the teenager to have confidence in his ability, provides him with quality in his physical condition, since the training forces him to use practically all parts of his body without underestimating any, he learns motor coordination and gains good physical condition, an important aspect in self-esteem, in this stage of life.

However, it should be considered that, in school, opposition and combat games, including wrestling, are not popular as far as their teaching is concerned, as it is thought that they could cause more violence in the school space and children or youths could be harmed (Tamagusku, 2007). In this regard, we can mention educational institutions that practice different types of sports outside of class hours, without discriminating against combat sports, which maintain great discipline and care in their training, but it must be ensured that the coach is an expert in the area.

It is understandable the care that teachers want to assume towards the students, but ignoring a natural practice in children and young people during spontaneous play does not help them to understand the learning that can emerge from it, from respect for the other, to the limits that derive from the corporal dialogue that is established and that forces, even, mutual care. Opposition and combat games, such as wrestling, can be of greater benefit because they require the child to deploy his physical, emotional and intellectual resources that is, proposed by teachers or significant adults. From the student's own game, they can provide an integral and enriching educational experience. In this sense, ^{Ruíz-Sanchis (2019)} mentions that the teacher or coach, who is in charge of the team, must have a wide knowledge in order to develop it successfully in a school and out-of-school environment.

Based on the above considerations, the objective of this article is to present an educational proposal, based on the training of the Olympic Wrestling for the personal and social development of teenagers, in extracurricular scenarios, as part of the importance that the organized practice of the Olympic Wrestling can have as an opposition and combat sport for the personal and social development of Ecuadorian teenagers, having as a reference the knowledge of Physical Education and its connection with the expected learning, according to the ages and grades that the young people are studying.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The present study was based on ethnographic and documentary methods, because information on behavior and way of life is going to be understood and founded. It will answer the question: Can there be personal and social development when training wrestling in educational institutions?

Both the interview instruments and the literature review instruments were validated by expert judgments, selected according to some relevant qualities such as being a university professor, having a degree in sports training, having indexed at least three articles and having a predisposition of time for validation.

For this purpose, the bibliographical review was applied in two phases: the first, called phase I, allowed the analysis of the selected thematic units and then a phase II was assumed, which was propositive, based on the theoretical argumentation and contextualization, that allowed the presentation of the objectives, the pedagogical methodology, the relation with the official curriculum of Physical Education, the general activities and the evaluation.

To fill in some of the gaps in the information, the interview was conducted with ten Physical Education teachers from educational institutions in the coastal region; all of them former wrestlers. The interviews were conducted through 40-minute meetings on the zoom platform, recording all sessions automatically; a date and time were previously established for this purpose; a maximum of two interviews were conducted daily so that the interviewer was attentive to all details.

Both instruments were based on two dimensions. The first, the Olympic Wrestling, between the curriculum and the extracurricular, and the second, the Olympic Wrestling, in the personal and social formation of the teenager. After making a critical analysis of the results, it was possible to obtain the extracurricular wrestling proposal.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For the analysis of the results of the interviews, they were grouped into two dimensions: the Olympic Wrestling between the curricular and extracurricular and the Olympic Wrestling in the personal and social formation of the teenager. This information was evaluated in a table in which the dimensions, sub-dimensions, criteria, and number of responses are shown. To ensure that the information was obtained, the interview was transcribed and written in order to have the best input with respect to the established table format (Table 1).

Table 1 Results of interviews with coaches of team sports 

The opinion of the Physical Education teachers does not determine a complete information, so it was complemented with research in the area, through the literature review. For this, it was applied the triangulation of data obtained from the two instruments and the following critical analyses were obtained.

The Olympic Wrestling: between the curriculum and the extracurricular

The curricular block, sports practices, according to ^{Posso (2018)} is where all the skills are combined with performance criteria or curricular content, which allow the development of basic sports techniques and tactics as an introduction to the like for sports practice, and not to have solvency in competition. In this sense, we can also mention ^{Posso Pacheco, Barba Miranda, León Quinapallo, Ortiz Bravo, Manangón Pesantez and Marcillo Ñacato (2020)} who mention that the skills, with performance criteria, can be contextualized to the curricular contents and the levels of complexity, according to the need; in this case, sport can be contextualized. If the teacher-student interest exists, it is possible, without any problem, to practice the Olympic Wrestling in the curriculum.

In the same lines, educational institutions can propose extracurricular activities, for sports purposes, that is, for external participation or simply for physical training. Likewise, ^{Liras (2016)} mentions that there is also cognitive development. Due to the sport situations of wrestling, the opponents must develop their capacity to analyze such situation and offer an almost immediate response during the combat; also the Olympic Wrestling can be oriented towards the learning of values such as discipline, honesty, optimism, responsibility, determination, perseverance, solidarity and humility ^{(Martín, 2011)}, values related to the corporal and physical ways of falling-raising, respect for the opponent, acceptance of winning-losing, continuing until the objective is achieved and the fulfillment of the rules previously established. The Olympic Wrestling is also for teenagers an experience of self-knowledge and appreciation of themselves and others.

The Olympic Wrestling, as a physical and sports experience in Ecuador, a context of study, is accessible to teenagers, in the school setting as part of the curriculum in the subject of Physical Education, but also in the community or social setting through sports centers or other spaces that complement sports training in this discipline.

With respect to the first scenario, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ^{[UNESCO] (2015)}, Physical Education must be of high quality and, therefore, be planned progressively with respect to the learning achieved by the student from an inclusive perspective for all educational levels.

In the case of Ecuador, ^{Santos et al., (2017)} developed a research in an institution in Guayaquil, through which they proposed a didactic unit related to fighting games and the initiation of judo with highly favorable results from the psychomotor, physical and psychological point of view. These findings also show the feasibility of incorporating sports practices such as Olympic Wrestling into the school curriculum and using a recreational and leisure orientation rather than a competitive one, as established by the national curriculum.

In this regard, ^{Villamón, Molina and Valenciano (2006)} maintain that the extracurricular activities that any child or teenager can carry out often have their origin in what the school awakens in them, the motivating activities that are generated and that promote physical activity in any of its forms. Outside of school, the practice of wrestling can be seen to be more linked to competition as part of sports initiation and also according to the authors mentioned; it should be based on the pleasure of practicing wrestling and not on the results obtained; then, competition is a means that should not lose its playful aspect, even though it is important to win. It also mentions that competition in the extracurricular scenario is recommended, from the age of 12, as a proposal where the safety and integrity of the students is guaranteed, who should always be accompanied by their families who will be responsible for them, at the end of the extracurricular.

The Olympic Wrestling in the personal and social formation of the teenager

As mentioned above, Olympic Wrestling is a sport that promotes, in those who practice it, values of discipline, self-esteem, personal confidence, respect not only for their own team, but also for their wrestling opponents and their peers and, in the case of teenagers, allows for training from a very early age so that they can grow up with these values and become people who respect others, who do not disqualify others because of race, sex or religion, and can develop better control of their own emotions, understanding that there are rules and that these must be respected. In the following text, the formative essence of the Olympic Wrestling seems to be described:

In opposition, one learns to cooperate and understand the other as a playmate because it is the presence of the other that allows me to learn about my own body and confront my own fears. It requires a bond of trust and security to learn, for the other lends me nothing more and nothing less than his "body" for me to learn. The other is not an opponent, but a companion who, by opposing me, allows me to know myself and to know him. It is necessary to decenter myself, to put myself in the other's place in order to understand the game situation. It allows me to know myself, in the sense of knowing how to take care of myself, take care of my body and take care of the other. It challenges me to know how to take advantage of and enhance my virtues and highlight my limitations (Tamagusku, 2007, p.6).

In this process of learning about oneself and others, there are personal and social skills that are revealed and need to be described because they are formed in the teenager, from the practice of the Olympic Wrestling, both personally and socially.

In the personal development, this sport helps the teenager to form a series of characteristics that allow him/her to grow as a person and later on to develop as a social being. Some of these characteristics are the following:

• Self-control: according to ^{López-Torres, Navelo-Cabello and Toledo (2017)}, the Olympic Wrestling allows the teenager to unload his aggressiveness and, moreover, being able to control it, managing to extend this to other areas of his daily life.

• Self-esteem/ self-confidence: ^{Gavilanes (2018)} states that "successes, a positive evaluation, motivation and an optimistic position create self-confidence" (p.75), generating even more in teenagers and relating these experiences not only to the sphere of daily life, but also to the sphere of sports.

• Overcoming discomfort/failure: In this respect, the human being is surrounded by complex situations that may or may not favor his personal growth, he learns important lessons that help him overcome obstacles present in his daily life, developing resilience as a personal skill. With respect to the Olympic Wrestling, teenagers learn not only to win, but also to lose and that this is not only in sport, but also in daily life, accepting both situations and in the case of the latter, learning from mistakes to improve not only as a sportsman, but also as a person.

• Self-care: Tamagusku (2007) explains that this sport allows the teenager to know his body physically and mentally and thus generate a better care of it, relating this with self-esteem because, to know and take care of your body, it generates acceptance and increases self-confidence.

• In addition to the characteristics of personal development that this sport develops in the teenager, there are also a number of characteristics that allow for social development in the sport and that facilitate interaction with other people, as well as the formation of other skills. Among the characteristics of social development are:

• Caring for the other: ^{López-Torres, Navelo-Cabello and Toledo (2017)} establish that in the Olympic Wrestling, responsibility is increased, encouraging the generation of a sense of care for their fellow human beings on a social level.

• Cooperativism: In the Olympic Wrestling, not only individual work is spoken of, but also team work and it is that team work that allows the teenager to understand its importance and to generate, in turn, an empathy for his or her fellow men and women in the entire environment that surrounds them. This sport allows young people to put themselves in the other's place, to get to know each other and to see themselves not as mere rivals but as partners, even if they do not belong to the same team (Tamagusku, 2007).

• Compliance with the rules: In this last aspect, Olympic Wrestling teaches young people that there are rules in every social environment they are in (whether they are written down or not) and that it is of utmost importance to abide by them. There are basic competencies that every individual possesses and one of the most related to wrestling sports is social and citizenship competence, which favors the social relations of individuals and the observance of rules ^{(Saltos Aldaz et al., 2017)}.

Extracurricular proposal. The Olympic Wrestling for personal and social development in teenagers

^{Gavilanes (2018)} states that,

In Ecuador, according to this context of study that has been practiced for some years, this has presented a clear decrease due to the scarce diffusion and massification of its practice, contrary to other sports such as swimming, soccer, basketball, even when the leagues and coaches are motivated to continue with the initiated sport work and there are teenagers who wish to practice it. The objective of this proposal will be to propose recreational-sports activities of Olympic Wrestling to teenagers, in extracurricular scenarios for their personal and social development; this is located in a playful, cooperative, motivating and self-regulation approach of teenagers.

The systemic proposal is structured in motor skills to be developed, through the general physical preparation, which refers to the activities to develop the young person's motor skills; the specific physical preparation that refers to the strengthening of the organism and its work capacity in terms of biomechanical factors, muscular planes, motor habits, characteristics of the opponent, among others and, finally, the special physical preparation is directed to a combination of the previous preparations, from the method of conjugated influence that has a greater scope in the development of the motor skills and the motor habit (González, 2014).

It will also develop personal and social skills: self-control, self-esteem, overcoming failure, self-care, caring for others, cooperation, following established rules and regulations, as well as the values of punctuality, commitment evidenced through attendance at activities and effort shown, satisfactory academic performance, care for personal hygiene, relationships with family and school. This is because teenagers are not isolated individuals, but live together in family and school settings that also contribute to their personal and social development. Therefore, it is intended that families are informed and participate as contributors to the achievement of the proposed values. Similarly, knowing the academic performance of the teenager and that the coach of the extracurricular scenario can visit institutions to promote and disseminate the Olympic Wrestling are liaison actions that benefit the practice.

The possibility that the teacher has to teach this type of activity will depend on his or her knowledge of self-defense, always taking into account the physical capacity of his or her students, the development of motivational games, the teaching of technique and its application in competitions, establishing rules to avoid harming the opponent or committing infractions. Taking care of the integrity, giving security, participating with will and confidence are objectives of this activity.

Within the framework of these considerations, the proposal presented assumes that there is a relationship between the contents of Physical Education and those proposed, which are related to basic and specific motor skills, grip games, safety measures, skills typical of the sport and its specific rules. Also, while the Physical Education presents cross-cutting content related to health care, habits, identity, citizenship, among others, the proposal has opted for a framework of specific values for the Olympic Wrestling and personal and social skills to be developed.

With respect to the values and personal and social skills, several activities are proposed.

• Initially agree on attitudes consistent with the practice of wrestling and sign agreements among everyone, so that the teenager can balance the pre-established rules and group agreements as an important part of the training.

• To inform the participants about the disciplinary measures in case of noncompliance with the agreements and rules.

• Establish arrival times and keep track of attendance and punctuality, including the margin of time extension.

• Meetings at the end of the week to discuss the aspects that can be improved and the aspects achieved with excellence.

• Talk to teenagers who show no effort in carrying out the practices.

• Make previous warnings before the use of any sanction.

• Talk to the families so that they can periodically present the youth's grades to the teacher/coach.

• The teacher must maintain a firm and disciplined attitude, but at the same time provide spaces of trust to dialogue in case someone presents a personal problem.

• Permanently make the youth aware of not using the knowledge acquired in practice, outside the gym or training space.

• Do not ridicule the young person in case he or she misses his or her personal appearance, call him or her aside and discuss the situation.

CONCLUSSIONS

Entering adolescence represents a challenge for every individual, due to the amount of physical and psychological changes that take place. In this sense, education as the vital formative process of human beings, must accompany the stage and offer developmental opportunities to teenagers to face their fears, uncertainties and awaken interest in activities that build their being. For the purposes of this article, the Olympic Wrestling is the basis for presenting an educational proposal that allows young people not only to learn technical sports aspects, but also to strengthen the personal and social dimension of their personality, as we have seen.

The Olympic Wrestling is a valid and innovative alternative for the teenager to discharge the energy that characterizes him, to profitably configure the fight as a natural attitude in his body practices with others and to strengthen his self-esteem, learn to overcome the failures. On the other hand, the proposal presented, from a systemic vision, tries to intertwine the different aspects of the teenager as a social being in family, school and community or extracurricular scenarios, since we believe that it is impossible to separate the apprentice from his or her vital environments; rather, they must be incorporated so that the formative process strengthens and enhances all the skills of the teenager.

Finally, in the extracurricular setting, whoever acts as a teacher/coach must present himself or herself as a model of behavior, since something cannot be taught that is lacking, is precisely this idea, the key for the teenager to complement his or her personal and social development.

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS

Aldaz, L. A. S., Neira, D. J. M., Rojas, R., Salazar, M. G. M., Puebla, E. G. V., Mora, A. B. C., & Arévalo, L. A. M. (2017). Juegos de lucha e iniciación al judo desde la perspectiva de la educación física. INNOVA Research Journal, 2(3), 116-129. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=5920525

Castillero Mimenza, O. (2018). Teoría de la Influencia Social: Sus aportes psicológicos. Una teoría psicológica que habla sobre cómo los colectivos y personas se afectan entre sí. Psicología y mente. https://psicologiaymente.com/psicologia/teoria-influencia-social

Catalá, S. A., Magallanes, G., Mera, M. D. L. Á., & Barreto, J. (2017). La preparación física en la lucha deportiva. Lecturas: educación física y deportes, 22(198). https://efdeportes.com/efd198/la-preparacion-fisica-en-la-lucha-deportiva.htm

Liras Fernández, Á. (2016). Las actividades de lucha en la educación física escolar. Propuesta de intervención (Trabajo de fin de Grado en Educación Primaria, Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Educación y Trabajo Social). http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/20596

López-Torres, R., Navelo-Cabello, R. de M., & Toledo, R. (2017). El proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de la Lucha Olímpica: Sus dimensiones e indicadores. Ciencia y Actividad Física, 4(1), 29-41. http://revistaciaf.uclv.edu.cu/index.php/CIAF/article/view/59

Marín, P. G., & López, N. F. (2020). Asociación de la competencia en las habilidades motrices básicas con las actividades físico-deportivas extracurriculares y el índice de masa corporal en preescolares. Retos: nuevas tendencias en educación física, deporte y recreación, (38), 33-39. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7397358

Martín, F. (2011). Iniciación deportiva en lucha olímpica Módulo de Deportes de Contacto. Issuu. https://issuu.com/freddymorenoec/docs/unaq-m_dulo_de__lucha_ol_mpica_2010 -2011

Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura. (2015). Educación física de calidad (EFC): Guía para los responsables políticos. ONU. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000231340

Ponguillo, G. (2018). Lucha olímpica como deporte de contacto y su influencia en los adolescentes de la Liga Deportiva cantonal de Quevedo Provincia de Los Ríos (Trabajo de Grado, Universidad Técnica de Babahoyo). Ecuador. http://dspace.utb.edu.ec/handle/49000/6430

Posso Pacheco, R. J., Barba Miranda, L. C., León Quinapallo, X. P., Ortiz Bravo, N. A., Manangón Pesantez, R. M., Marcillo Ñacato, J. C., Marcillo Ñacato, J. C. (2020). Educación Física significativa: Propuesta para la contextualización de contenidos curriculares. Podium. Revista de Ciencia y Tecnología en la Cultura Física, 15(2), 371-381. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1996-24522020000200371&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es

Posso, R. (2018). Guía de estrategias metodológicas para Educación Física. Quito, Ecuador: Ministerio de Educación. https://educacion.gob.ec/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2019/01/GUIA-METODOLOGICA-EF.pdf

Ruíz-Sanchis, L. (2019). Creencias y prejuicios del profesorado de Educación Física sobre los deportes de combate / Beliefs and prejudices of Physical Education teachers about sports of combat. Revista de Educación, 0(17), 223-237. https://fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/index.php/r_educ/article/view/3019

Sánchez, V. G., Ruz, R. P., Adarve, M. G., & Zagalaz, J. C. (2019). Implicaciones del Deporte Federado hacia la Empatía y Actitud a la Educación Física en Adolescentes (Implications of Federated Sports towards Empathy and Attitude to Physical Education in Adolescents). Retos, (36), 412-417. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v36i36.71582

Villamón Herrera, M., Molina Alventosa, J. P., & Valenciano Valcárcel, J. (2006). La enseñanza de las habilidades de lucha en el contexto extracurricular. Palencia: Patronato Municipal de Deportes, Ayuntamiento de Palencia. https://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/74989

Received: September 20, 2020; Accepted: October 31, 2020