Evaluating the Effectiveness of Using Sport and Traditional Games at the Higher Military Educational Establishments in a Pandemic and Post-pandemic Period

Background. The cadets experienced particular difficulties in a pandemic period because due to isolation and faced a number of unanticipated challenges like stress, anxiety, and low learning outcomes. Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sport and traditional games to improve cadets’ learning performance and motivation to learning activities and future service duties. Methods. The pedagogical experiment was organized at the Military Academy (Odesa, Ukraine) during the 2020-2021 academic year. The research group, on the basis of empirical research, designed the leisure time activities program using five categories of exercises: classical sport team games, individual sports, well-known Ukrainian traditional games; unknown foreign traditional games, and martial arts. Results. During 20 weeks the researchers observed EG and CG groups conducting interviews, analyzing cadets’ behavior, monitoring their learning outcomes. The experiment findings revealed that the usage of sport and traditional games was an effective psychological and pedagogical technique to improve the learning process at the higher military educational establishment. On average, the technology effectiveness showed that qualitative changes by three points more. The largest increases were identified for high (3,6 points) and moderate degrees of effectiveness (7,8 points). At the same time, self-organized or poor-organized leisure leads to minor improvements in psychological condition and cognitive abilities among the cadets. Conclusion. Consequently, the usage of sport and traditional games would be an effective instrument applied in a post-pandemic period at the higher military educational establishments. Also, the study presented the recommendations to implement the games during the learning process at the higher military educational establishments.