Comparative analysis of the involvement of student youth in sports games during martial law

The institutions of higher education of Ukraine are currently actively using sports-oriented physical education, the content of which is shaped by the requirements for the use of sports popular among student youth and areas of health-related movement activity, among which sports games play a key role. During the application of the optional form of education in the educational process, the main task of physical education in non-sports higher education institutions is to ensure the constant interest of student youth and involvement in physical exercises, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and replenishing knowledge about ways to preserve and strengthen one's health.Purpose of the study: carrying out a comparative analysis of the involvement of students of higher education of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University to practice sports games in the course of sports-oriented phy sical education in the optional form of classes during martial law in Ukraine. Research methods: full-time higher education students (n=4279) of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University participated in the study. The following methods were used during the research: theoretical analysis of scientific and methodological literature on the use of sports games in the physical education of student youth in universities of Ukraine, pedagogical experiment, methods of mathematical statistics.Results of the study. During the martial law, there is a sharp decrease in the absolute number of students engaged in sports-oriented physical education, in particular sports games. However, with a general decrease in the number of people engaged in sports-oriented physical education after the introduction of martial law, studies of the interest of higher education students in playing sports showed a sharp decrease (from 43.7% to 28%) in the first year of martial law, with a subsequent increase relative number to 35.3% in the 2023-2024 academic year, and in the 2024-2025 academic year - up to 45.7%. Conclusions. Sports-oriented physical education contributes to increasing the interest of students of higher education in physical culture, in particular sports games, in the educational space of higher education institutions, as a result of which the level of knowledge about physical education in general and in a specific sport in particular is improved, increasing the level of motor activity both in educational and and extracurricular time.