Professional sportsmen attitude towards religion (based on the materials of the sociological survey)

Abstract

This article discusses the influence of religion on the personality and activities of an athlete. The first part of the article presents the author’s approaches to the study of religiosity, a questionnaire developed by the author with the participation of sports experts and coaches of national teams, adjusted in accordance with the specifics of the sociological selection — professional athletes of Russia, and the typology of religious and non-religious individuals (1 type — religious with dominant religious orientation, type 2 — hesitant-A with unstable religious orientation, tending to religiosity, type 3 — hesitant-B with unstable religion orientation, although tending to the irreligious, type 4 — undecided, 5 type — non-religious), established on the basis of fixed criteria, which are mainly signs of consciousness, behavior, involvement in religious attitudes. The second part contains the results of a series of concrete sociological studies conducted in 2015–2017, among 89 professional athletes with qualifications not lower than the candidate for master of sports of Russia, representatives of various sports clubs and teams in Moscow, to identify the relationship between the individual level of religiosity and the results of sports activities. The article confirms, based on the collected data, the hypothesis formulated by the author that religious faith contributes to the achievement of a high result in sports activities, providing a compensatory and mobilization effect on the individual. In addition, personal qualities are determined that are shaped by the practice of religious athletes in sports, as well as the statistically recorded view that bodily development contributes to spiritual growth. Demonstrating a high level of religiosity, representatives of different sports have their own specific characteristics, rituals, omens, rites of verbal and non-verbal characters. Not every athlete connects traditional religious practice with sports activities, even being deeply religious. Personal god, direct appeal to him in an improvised form in moments of special need (competition, as an example), personal signs — these are the characteristic features of this social category.