Psychological and pedagogical determinants of students self-realization in the conditions of educational and sports activities

The article is devoted to the study of self-actualization of students combining educational and sports activities in the context of modern challenges of higher education. The relevance of the work is due to the contradictions between the social demand for the harmonious development of specialists, insufficient study of the transformation of sports activity into a resource for personal growth and the disparate pedagogical and coaching practices. The authors identify three key contradictions: socio-pedagogical (lack of study of student-athletes' support), scientific-theoretical (unexplored connection between sport and existential development) and practical-methodological (imbalance between sport and cognitive-emotional development). The purpose of the study is to analyze the self-actualization potential of student-athletes through the prism of their multitasking (academic, sports, project, volunteer activities). A set of methods was used in the work: self-actualization diagnostics (E. Sjostrom's tests, SAMOAL), assessment of meaning and life orientations (D.A. Leontiev), motivation analysis (A.A. Rean, B. Bass questionnaires), statistical data processing (Student's t-criterion). Statistically significant differences in individual scales of self-actualization of students included and not included in sports activities were revealed. The results of student-athletes exceed those of students not involved in a particular sport. Athletes are endowed with a more accurate view of human nature, are more self-reliant, and have a higher level of self-esteem compared to the scores of students not involved in sports. Regular sports activities have a positive effect on individual components of self-actualization and self-actualization of personality. The practical significance of the work lies in the development of provisions for the optimization of support programs for student-athletes, as well as in the expansion of theoretical ideas about the role of physical activity in self-actualization.