Cyber trends in sport as a new environment for guided human development

Relevance. Cyber trends in sport are considered as a manifestation of an anthropotechnological shift in which sports activity is organised within a single circuit of interaction between the brain, the body, the digital environment and management systems. Digitalisation develops along two lines: as a means of managing preparation, monitoring the functional state and analysing competitive activity, and as a source of new lines of practice – virtual and simulated disciplines, esports, phygital and operator disciplines, as well as adaptive and rehabilitation applications of digital technologies. Objective. To examine cyber trends in sport as digital and hybrid environments for guided human development, to identify the main types of cyber-sport practices, to describe the types of activity subject they actualise, and to define the tasks of medical-biological and psychophysiological support. Methods. A conceptual comparative review of the Olympic line of virtual and simulated disciplines, esports, phygital and operator disciplines, and adaptive and rehabilitation applications of digital technologies. It employs analysis of literature on sports psychophysiology, sports medicine and esports research, analysis of International Olympic Committee documents and Russian regulatory acts, and a comparative analysis of environments by the type of activity subject they form and their functional demands. Results. It is proposed to distinguish virtual sports, simulated sports and esports as different anthropotechnical environments that differ in the structure of bodily action, cognitive and sensorimotor load and the way the result is formed. Traditional sports develop a bodily-motor athlete; digital replicas of classical disciplines – one acting in a virtual or simulation model; esports – a cognitive-interface competitive subject; phygital disciplines – a cyberphysical athlete; and operator disciplines – an athlete-operator working through a technical interface under conditions of high speed and uncertainty. The support of such environments should include assessment of the functional state, cognitive load, stress, sleep, visual fatigue and recovery. Conclusion. Cyber trends reflect a transition from sport as a predominantly bodily-motor practice to a spectrum of digital and hybrid anthropotechnical environments in which the result is determined by a combination of physical, cognitive, sensorimotor and interface components of activity. This potential is realised only with scientifically grounded support: control of load, recovery, sleep and visual fatigue, and prevention of problematic gaming behaviour.