Intensive Sports Training in Childhood: The Case of Ana Konjuh

Ovaj diplomski rad bavi se problematikom početka bavljenja sportom u djetinjstvu te utjecaj treniranja na zdravlje djeteta sportaša. Cijeli rad kreće od ideje da početak bavljenja sportom u ranoj dobi uništava zdravlje sportaša. Prije samog istraživanja kroz stručnu literaturu proučeni su svi aspekti teme. Tako je u prvom dijelu rada riječ općenito o početcima bavljenja sportom, pojmu sportskog treninga, odnosu djeteta i sporta, ulozi medija u popularizaciji sporta, zlostavljanju djece u sportu te razvojnim fazama. U radu je korišten slučaj Ane Konjuh koji po svojim karakteristikama odgovara odabranoj temi. Naime, Ana je hrvatska tenisačica koja u ranoj dobi kreće s treninzima u tenisu. Cilj je bio, na njezinom slučaju, istražiti koji je uzrok njezinih ozljeda i može li se nastanak ozljeda povezati s ranim uključivanjem u bavljenje sportom. U drugom dijelu rada provedeno je istraživanje u kojem je sudjelovalo osam ispitanika. Svi ispitanici birani su po kriteriju uske povezanosti sa sportom. Korištena je metoda polustrukturiranog intervjua. Rezultati istraživanja dovode do zaključka kako početak bavljenja sportom u ranoj dobi narušava zdravlje djece te kako se radi sportskog uspjeha zanemaruje zdravlje djece. Svrha rada i razlog istraživanja jestčinjenica da moderni profesionalni sport sve češće zahtjeva sve raniji početak intenzivnog treninga, a ti su treninzi sve intenzivniji. Posljedice toga su sve češće, ponekad i teške, trajne ozljede, čak i kod najmlađih. Nažalost, negativna strana bavljenja sportom rijetko se spominje, a žrtve su ponekad i djeca.This graduate thesis deals with the issue of starting to play sports in childhood and the impact of training on the health of child athletes. The entire work starts from the idea that starting to play sports at an early age destroys the health of athletes. Before the actual research, all aspects of the entire topic were studied through the professional literature. Thus, in the first part of the paper, it is generally about the beginnings of playing sports, the concept of sports training, the relationship between children and sports, the role of the media in the popularization of sports, abuse of children in sports, and developmental stages. The paper uses the case of Ana Konjuh, which by its characteristics corresponds to the chosen topic. Namely, Ana is a Croatian tennis player who started tennis training at an early age. The goal was, in her case, to investigate the cause of her injuries, whether the occurrence of injuries can be connected with early involvement in sports. In the second part of the paper, a survey was conducted in which eight respondents participated. All respondents were chosen based on the criterion of a close connection with sports. The semi-structured interview method was used. The results of the research lead to the conclusion that starting to play sports at an early age damages children's health and that children's health is neglected for the sake of sports success. The purpose of the entire work and the reason for the research is that modern professional sports increasingly require an earlier and earlier start of intensive training, and these trainings are more and more intense. The consequences of this are more and more frequent, sometimes serious, permanent injuries, even among the youngest. Unfortunately, the negative side that is mentioned less often, where sometimes the victims are children