To find the core

— Kherel-ool Dazhy-Namchalovich, how do you manage to combine two such different types of activity – mental and physical?

— It is always necessary to combine mental load with physical. I have many exercise machines at home. Sport and mental work should always sensibly, methodically alternate, otherwise the person who does not exercise will not be able to work productively, and especially will not be any good at scientific and research activities.

Mental work uses a tremendous number of nerve centers, but during physical work they rest. It is a purely physiological process. When a person exercises energetically, the blood circulates, purifies and oxygenates, then it goes to the brain and the brain also recuperates. As a result, the capacity for prolonged mental work and the quality of thinking improve.

By the way, right after school it became obvious that I had a slight deficit in eyesight. I started wearing glasses. But in all those years, there has been no deterioration. And that is because I am active in sport.

— Tell us how you continued to enrich yourself in the sense of knowledge after your candidate dissertation. What tasks did you set up for yourself before your doctoral dissertation, and how did you go about solving them?

— After I finished the aspiranture, all my colleagues kept saying that I should continue the research.  Even more so, because there was nothing written about Tuvan sport.  Lyudmila Vasilyevna Byleyeva and Vladimir Mikhailovich Grigoriev, who edited the monograph “Games of the peoples of the USSR”, which was published in 1985, gave me a serious beginning; I wrote the part about Tuvan folk games for that book.

So I started to write, research, participate in conferences. At one of those I started talking with some scientists from Leningrad. They told me: “Come to us to work on your doctorate, we will help you.”  The advised me not to concentrate just on Tuva, but to expand the theme to the south regions of Siberia. In their opinion, I could completely deal with the gap in other regions; they had historians, but there were no educators – researchers in physical culture and sport.

They decided that I would be working concretely on Tuva, Altai and Khakassia. The exact title of my dissertation was “Ethnopedagogical problems of physical culture of peoples of South Siberia.”

— As meticulous as you are, you must have traveled throughout the entire republic up and down and crosswise.

— Of course. I read everything that I could find about Altaians, and Khakasses. I traveled, talked to colleagues, to the people, with the athletes.

When I collected enough material, the Leningrad people again helped with advice: “Find the core, the main thing to write about.”

No matter how strange it may seem, the work of one Vietnamese scientist also helped me. He wrote about the interconnectedness between the physical culture and the culture of various districts of Vietnam, made parallels, compared, analyzed.  I took over his design for my foundation, and wrote my work about Tuva, Khakassia and Altai.

I defended it in 1996.

Not greedy for signatures

Your professional path was often associated with the concept “first”, “the first time”, “foundation”, “discovery”. – the first candidate in Tuva in the area of physical education and sport, the first doctor of pedagogical sciences, and the first professor in theory and methodology of physical education.

You opened a new specialty at the university – “physical culture”, then an aspiranture in a specialty with a very long name -“Theory and methodology of physical education, sports training, recreative and adaptive physical culture”.

— You keep emphasizing how lucky you were with your teachers, and with help. But often this path is also associated with obstacles. Did you run into obstacles, too?

— You are right. Really, beside the good people and even whole collectives who helped me and gave me direction, there also was a lot of those who hindered. And often they were my own countrymen. Sometimes it was so hurtful that I even cried!

I cried, for example, when they did not want to let me go to work on my doctorate. I wrote a request to the dean, Alexander Vladimirovich Nabatov at that time, I received his signature, and bought a ticket to Sankt-Peterburg. And suddenly Nabatov called me up and told me in an apologetic voice that the head of my department is against my going on to a doctorate, and won’t give me his approval. I think that it may have been envy.

That time, I got very upset, and announced: ”I don’t care if he signs it or not, I am going, there is no way back. You can fire me from the job, but I am going.” And I went.

There were many attacks by officials on my work. They would not let me go somewhere, did not want to sign permissions and approvals, kept back documents, sent around gossip about me. And this was not done by some office bureaucrats, but by our own scientists!”

— Jealousy? Competitiveness?

— I don’t know. Possibly they did not want anybody else to work scientifically after them.

I personally now sign everything that the young colleagues, who want to achieve something, bring me.  I sign all the documents, it is time well spent, I give them the chance. I am not greedy with signatures.

— And with opening of new specialties, was that difficult?

— No, I was already familiar with the system, I prepared all the documents myself and took them to Moscow, I had friends there who always helped.

— You do not lose contact with your teachers and colleagues. Do you like permanence?

— It is more that I am a person who knows how to show gratitude to those who helped me in life. I never forget, and sometimes I am afraid that I might have left somebody out, and did not thank them.

What I am really like

— Your friends and colleagues, whom I specially told about our appointment, call you energetic, persevering, goal-oriented and more. You have achieved much; you are working for the good of science, the university, and Tuva.

The image is almost ideal. Won’t you try to dilute it a little by adding something that is not ideal, but is human?

— Sometimes I ask myself, what it is I am really like. It seems to me that I am not really such a very intelligent person. That is, I am not a genius, with a big mind that helps to make great discoveries.

I have good logical thinking, just like my father had. I can observe accurately, and extrapolate from that, then make a good conclusion. But even that is quite a bit.

When I talk to scientists from Sankt-Peterburg, I see that our opinions are similar. I have to conclude that I am not too far behind my colleagues from the capital. Lately I have also noticed that at scientific conferences they started to value and respect us from the regions. We can research what they can’t and they admit it. That is good, we should not lose this attitude towards us.

I am also very nice. My heart hurts when I see suffering and homeless children. If I could, I would spend a lot of money on child development. But at the same time I can be hard and harsh. If a beggar comes up and won’t leave, begs, I can go so far as to push him away. He is extremely unpleasant to me in appearance and behavior, that he let himself go like that, does not try to work and just begs.

So there are these extremes. But, of course, I could not hit him. Inner culture, upbringing, and solidarity with people, which I got through education and being around cultured people, and working in sciences won’t let me do that.

Yin and Yang

— Personal qualities are not only the result of culture, environment, or teachers. Family also has an influence. How did your wife bring you up?

— Very good question! I am quick and impulsive, and my wife is quiet and calm. With the years, her calmness started to rub off on me, and she is adopting my qualities.

That is what I used to be like – I could go through the whole Tuva in one day. From one set of relatives to the other set, for example. My parents live in the west of the republic, and my wife’s in Bii-Khem district. Just how much I used to be able to accomplish in one day! But I can’t anymore.

— Why?

— I became quiet! I can’t. I turned into a sedentary crybaby. And it will probably get worse (shows horror).

And just recently Svetlana Yanchapovna, the head of the department of social pedagogics and social work of the Kyzyl pedagogical institute of the Tuvan State University had a quarrel with somebody before; she would not have been capable of that.  Now she can even quarrel and abuse me!

— Did you figure out right away that you two fit together like Yin and Yang? How long have you been together?

— Svetlana went to school at the East-Siberian institute of culture. With her classmates, they came to Krasnoyarsk district library for work practice. I was a regular at that library. That day I did not really want to go there, but my legs carried me there through their own will.

I go in, walk up to where they give the books out. I look, and there is an Asian girl handing the books out. We exchanged several words, and after work I escorted her to her dorm. So that is how we met. We started seeing each other. Then we finished school, and started to live. Since 1971 we have been always together.

We came to Kyzyl with two suitcases. We did not have a place to live, at first we lived in state dormitories. Our daughter was born at the end of 1972, then our son showed up. We have been together for 39 years, inseparable.

— But weren’t there any problems or conflicts in your family idyll?

— Of course there were, just like in every family. Sometimes I started shouting and carrying on, but she would be silent. And when somebody is silent and does not answer, you can’t continue.

I would like to give some advice to young people. In family life there are moments of crisis. You have to learn to overcome them together. Our relationship was affirmed and cemented. And if she would say now: “Go away”, well, where would I go away from her?

And why is it like that? Because we never burdened anybody. We found each other by ourselves, got registered, and we live. We are not obligated to anybody, we worked for everything we have, and we value what we have achieved.

— And after whom do your children take?

Our daughter Orlana looks like her mother, but in character she takes after me. Son Andrei is healthy, strong, and resembles me outwardly, but in character he is like his mother. And it is good this way. It is better if the daughter is so feisty. If it was our son, it could be trouble; it is frightening to think about it.

— And grandchildren?

This is what we say: if you see something good in the grandchildren, they have it from their grandmother. If something is not quite right, it must be the grandfather’s fault.

— How do your students bring you joy, what possibilities do they have?

They are all different. The first candidate of sciences is Chechena Aldyn-oolovna Dazhy (Mongush) – she is talented. Really she is just as talented as my wife. Very intelligent, understands everything right away. She will soon finish her doctoral dissertation and will be able to defend it, I am sure.

Another candidate of sciences is Eduard Kim-oolovich Kyrgys. He respects me, is obedient, disciplined, and proper. I will have to work on him.

Sergei Ynaazhykovich Oorzhak is more of a writer. His priority seems to be the creative aspect, science is in second place.

I prepared one doctor of sciences from Mongolia, Samdandorzhijn  Zhamts. He now works as a director of the institute of physical education and sport of the Mongolian State University of Education.

Professor Zhamts is also a vice-president of the Olympic committee of Mongolia. We have extremely good working and personal relationship. I travel to see him in Ulan-Bator every year.

I have been noticing lately that young people are drawn to study and sciences. But their preparation is not great.

In my opinion, starting with the second year, we should start special courses in all departments in the methodology of scholarly and scientific work. With my colleagues, we wrote and published in 2010 in Kyzyl a whole manual “Preparation and defense of course and diploma works” for our physical education students.  And some other popular methodological recommendations.

Three types of Tuvans

— You mentioned that you were especially interested in physiology and anatomy. It is obvious that there are some racial anatomic idiosyncrasies that help athletes from various parts of the world to be especially successful in particular type of sports. For example, Africans are especially good in running. Did you research this matter in relation to Tuvans?

— I did not work on that in particular, it is another field of knowledge. But I have been observing Tuvan athletes, and of course, I have come to some conclusions, supported by data from other scholars.

It is obvious that in terms of physical development and history of Tuvans you can see three stages. The differences are most likely, caused by the ecology, conditions of life, and nutrition.

Until the middle 50’s of last century, you can speak of a single category of Tuvans. They had strong arms, but weaker legs. Of course, those would never make good runners.

In the 60’s – 80’s, another type appeared. Contemporary Tuvans are taller, and they have long, strong legs. Besides that, their fast adoption of new things plays a role as well, their thinking changed.

The young people who appeared in the 90’s, I think, are very promising. They can be successful in any type of sport. The kids are not just strong physically, but they are strong and free in spirit. If they are given the right conditions and qualified trainers and instructors, they can have very high results in sports.

Unhealthy inclination to khuresh

— What exactly do you mean by conditions?

— In the first place, we do not have a wide enough view. We Tuvans are kind of conservative, stuck in one place. Just look how many Mongolians live abroad, and what strong, huge diasporas of the Chinese are all over the world. That is how they disseminate their traditions, how other nations learn about them. We have to send the talented kids abroad, to encourage them to go see the world, to let themselves be seen, to study, train and achieve success.

And what are their chances of becoming champions?

Theoretically it is said that out of one million members of a population, one Olympic champI tell my students that there are only 200 thousand people, but a champion could be among us.

200 thousand that already is a chance. But to realize this chance, you have to set up the right conditions. That includes arranging a system of preparation for the future champions, education of trainers and educators.

It is important to understand that not just any former athlete can be an instructor for champions. It is not enough to win some titles. Special education in physical education and training, special knowledge is necessary. They have to thoroughly understand anatomy, physiology, biophysics, biomechanics, biochemistry, and also psychology and pedagogics.

So far, such trainers and such schools and material basis are only abroad.

And here in Tuva you can observe this unhealthy inclination to national wrestling khuresh, and also to sumo. In itself, there is nothing wrong. But any of our free-style wrestlers, or samboist, judoist who achieved high results in international competitions, any specialist of the Agency for physical culture of RT, they will all tell you the same thing: “It is necessary to seriously develop free-style wrestling,, box, and sambo.”

Many beginning athletes try to go right away into khuresh or sumo. It is a very erroneous approach!

— Why do you think so?

— The neophytes have to start with free-style wrestling. They have to train seriously. They will grow into a champion of Russia, Europe, or the world. Those who do not do well I would advise to try their luck in other types of classical fighting.

— That means, in your opinion, that khuresh and sumo narrow down the interests and possibilities?

For serious athletes, it is a completely different category of development, in physical, technical, and even psychical respect. And anyway, to become a champion of the republic in khuresh is unpredictable. It is not a professional type of sport and to specialize in it is a waste.

It wakes up the better side

— Isn’t there a contradiction in your own words about the necessity for developing a mass physical culture with national types of sport? You said that it enriches and develops the person.

— I do not approve of the so-called professional khuresh, where they compete for great prizes. Mass amateur sport is something else. Different strong personalities come from that. That is why we need it.

And everything should start from physical education at school. In fact, it is the only subject at school which develops five kinds of education equally at the same time: moral, work ethic, esthetic, physical and mental.

For example, when you play volleyball, you have to quickly imagine where the attack is coming from, which way the defended will run, and calculate your own moves accurately. That is mental development.

The body build itself, movements, those are components of human beauty, and that is esthetic education.

The moral education starts with the rules of competition, where it is necessary not just to win, but to fight honestly and honorably, to be noble in your relations to the competitor. It is especially good for international education to send out teams with mixed ethnic composition.

Doping, bribes, fighting for prizes and such things are a part of professional and semi-professionals port. It is a terrible temptation for many, people break, become crippled, psychically deviant, they get sick. Only a few individuals survive and become successful.

In mass sports it is different. That is why it should be developed. In school, in courtyards, in amateur clubs – everywhere where it is possible at all.