THE ROLE OF UNIVERSAL SPORTS SCHOOL IN SPORTS SELECTION

Abstract

The Universal Sports School (hereinafter USŠ) is a project of the Croatian School Sports Federation (hereinafter HŠSS) carried out in lower grades of primary education in the Republic of Croatia. The project involves children from 1st to 4th grade of primary schools and it is conducted by both P.E. teachers and kinesiologists. The aim of the project is to encourage the multifaceted psychosomatic development of children, to raise awareness of preserving and improving health, doing daily physical exercise and to develop motor and functional abilities. The paper focuses on sports selection as a method for identifying potential top athletes and on the notion of USŠ, which is a HŠSS project, regarded as a system for carrying out a selection and directing of potential young athletes for the sports in which they can achieve optimal results in their future sports activities.