SOFIA UNIVERSITY’ STUDENTS’ PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS AND THEIR OPINION ABOUT THE USE OF SMART DEVICES IN SPORT CLASSES

The imperative for taking action to increase physical activity is clear. No European Union country has a prevalence of overweight and obesity below 50%, and childhood obesity is a major concern throughout the continent. The European Union has long increasingly emphasized the sociological, physiological and psychological benefits of sport. The integration of sports into the universities educational curriculum in most European pedagogical systems has resulted in high levels of sport practice among the youth. However, as young people enter higher education many member-states face a problem with withdrawal in participation. At the same time in many resent researches, scientists warn that the fitness level of young generation is far from good. There are many reasons behind the low motivation of young people to participate in sport classes. The universities policy makers and sport departments can play an important role by finding new motivational engines which will make sport classes more attractive to students. “Te(a)chIn Sport” project was developed and granted by the European Commission in 2017. The project general objective is to raise awareness of the importance of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) of young people through increased participation in sports by using innovative technologies in university sport classes. In the high-tech era, we live in today, the wearable technology market is booming. Now people are able to find all kind of information at their fingertips via smart phones, fitness activity tracers and many other devices. Especially young people find a lot of excitement in using all kind of applications for which they spend the most of their free time. The represented research is a part of “Te(a)chIn Sport” project, granted by the Erasmus + Sport Program of the European Commission, in which “St. Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia is the leading partner. The article shows the results of a feasibility study on Sofia University’ students’ physical activity levels, their preferences and opinion about the sport classes and sport services offered at the University and the local area as well as their interest in using smart devices in sport classes. Participants were 200 Sofia University’ students (of which 122 female and 78 male in the age of 18 to 25 years) in different years of their bachelor studies in a variety of subjects. All of them enlisted in different sport classes for 2017-2018 school year. For the purposes of the study has been used the Descriptive - explicative method. For analyzing the received data, the Frequencies (f) and Percent’s (%) analyses have been applied. The results show that students do not exercise on regular bases and that the use of smart devices in sport classes will make them more attractive to young people.