The Main Directions of Sports and Recreation Activities in the Structure of Recreation of Modern Russian Youth

Objective of the study is the main directions of sports and health-improving activities of young people. Methodological basis of the research are the principles of institutional and activity approaches. The institutional approach makes it possible to determine not only the objective parameters of the functioning of sports, but also subjective characteristics, including value orientations, attitudes of representatives of various social groups and strata aimed at sports and health-improving activities. The activity approach is considered as a specific type of health-improving activity, which is an integral component of the lifestyle of persons involved in the considered sports and recreational activities. The application of the activity approach allows revealing the mechanisms and patterns within the framework of the formation of the relevant attitudes and orientations in the process of implementing sports and recreational activities.   Research results show that the proportion of people involved in sports is not the same among representatives of different groups of young people: a relatively large number of people who regularly engage in sports are noted among representatives of the youngest category of youth – 14-20 years, while after this age this proportion begins to decline. At the same time, an increase in the number of young people who are not focused on sports was noted in the group of people over the age of sixteen. The majority of young people in modern Russia are engaged in certain sports only from time to time, or they only declare their intention to engage in this type of activity, explaining the lack of sports in their lives either by lack of free time, or by the lack of accessible halls and facilities. As part of our study, it was found that less than half of the people involved in sports and recreational activities are engaged in it regularly enough to achieve a real recreational effect. Mass sports competitions in combination with the active work of youth sports clubs and communities can serve as the main directions for the development of sports and recreation activities among young people, the effective implementation of which can contribute to the involvement of a significant part of young people in systematic physical culture and sports. At the same time, in our country, the level of development of the sports club system is currently inferior to similar indicators in the USA and Western Europe. According to the results of the author's sociological survey, only about a third of young people are members of various youth sports clubs or communities, and most of them do not belong to them, but in the future this part of young people can also be involved in the activities of sports clubs, taking into account the general interest of representatives of this socio-demographic group in this kind organizations.   Prospects of the study. Sports and recreational activities of young people in the structure of recreation of representatives of the considered socio-demographic group will help in the certain techniques development that can be used in practice in order to increase the level of young people’s involvement in sports and recreational activities.