O karatê como prática social: realidade profissional vivida pelos árbitros, técnicos e atletas do Campeonato Mineiro realizado em Uberlândia/MG em 2018

Abstract

This was an exploratory field research. The overall objective was to analyze karate sport as a social practice, using as a means, the participation of referees, athletes and coaches of the Mineiro Championship held in Uberlândia in 2018. More specifically, to identify the professional reality experienced by the referees, coaches and athletes who participated in the event. The study sample was determined by at least 90% of the referees, 40% of the athletes, and at least 80% of the coaches participating in the event. The data collection instruments were three questionnaires, one directed to the coaches, another to the athletes and another to the referees. The analyzes were both quantitative and qualitative. We check the percentage of the answers as well as analyze in the end the content contained in them. The main results indicate that most referees were athletes and became referees more for romanticism than for professionalism. Regarding athletes, they all talked about participating in the championships for the love of art and not as a profession, they are young and were motivated by parents and friends. All respondent coaches said they were athletes and that being coaches does not characterize their profession, they also claimed the need for professional training. All three categories, referees, athletes and coaches, pointed out as problems the lack of financial, material and human resources. We can conclude, after identifying all these lines, a huge neglect with the Brazilian sport, more specifically speaking here about the fight, karate, which was what we researched and followed throughout the event. We identified the lack of financial incentive, professionalism, organization and structural management which, in our understanding, implies a lack of public policy for the Brazilian sport. The sport, according to the respondents, still lives by romanticism for the martial art and the love of the sport, it still survives by donations and parliamentary amendments of councilors who, sporadically, make projects for the development of sport and leisure, something that we will not , at this time, analyze and put on the agenda. We must also reflect, however briefly, the importance of the role of Brazilian universities in conducting public policy research, management and training of high performance sports and leisure activities for the advancement of science in this area, as well as the management of public policies so that social practices can be carried out, and that they do not focus on amateurism, as we saw in the event we followed, taking into account the position of the survey respondents, aiming to collaborate to change the reality of Brazilian sport.