Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of school sports on sports development in Borno State of Nigeria as perceived by gender. Sports development in this respect was examined using the following variables: facility, personnel, funding, training programme, competitions, sports policy and encouragement of talents for sports. To achieve the purpose of this study a standardized questionnaire was administered by the researchers to the respondents which included; students, athletes, games-masters, game mistresses, physical education teachers, principals of secondary schools, coaches in the sports council, zonal sports coordinators and directors of sports in Borno State. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was established using Guffman split half technique, a result of 0.82 r was obtained. Data collected was analysed using two tailed t-test inferential statistics. The findings of this study revealed no significant differences between male and female respondents in all the aspects of sports development with the exception of encouragement of talents for sports. In other words, encouragement of talents was promoted at the expense of other aspects of sports development. It is therefore, recommended that the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) at the state level should devise a means for the development of other aspects of sports development such as the provision of standard facilities, qualified personnel, adequate funding, training programme, competitions as well as an effective school sports policy that can accommodate the needs, interests and aspirations of the participants.

INTRODUCTION

Abeku (2000), reported that available records on the development of sports in Nigeria showed that following the landmark independence of Nigeria in 1960, government started taking the initiative to emphasize the relevance of sports to nation building, an important instrument for the attainment of the above objective would have been the regular school sports system and its physical education programme. School sports constitute an important and inseparable stage in the pursuit of long term development objective of sports of the athletes, the national and sports organizations (Venkateswarlu, 1999, 2000). School sports as it is being referred to in Nigeria is widely known as interscholastic sports programme internationally (Akintunde, 2001).

Sports development is a process of continuous improvement of the sports structures, institutions and programmes in order to create a societal condition conducive to physical fitness for all and ensure self-actualization (FRN, 1989, 2000). Explaining the concept of sports development, Hylton et al. (2002) place the accent on development and in agreement with Shettima (2005) claim that development must involve a movement from the old to the new and implies that this is progressive. In other words, sports development is about creating new and better ways of doing things in sports.

To bring about enhanced growth and development of sports in Nigeria, the Nigeria School Sports Federation was introduced in 1976.

This was done purposely to boost the development of sports at the grassroots level for the discovery of talents (FRN, 2000; Ladani, 1990). This laudable objective cannot be achieved unless there is provision of adequate standard facilities, qualified personnel, adequate funding for competitions, encouragement of talents for sports, etc.

Therefore, this investigation was conducted to examine gender perception on the impact of school sports on the provision of facility, personnel, funding, training programme, competitions, sports policy and encouragement of talents for sports in Borno State of Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ex-post facto research design was used in this study. This design was appropriately chosen because it is not possible for the researchers to manipulate the independence variable (school sports) (Nworgu, 1991; Asika, 1991; Kerlinger, 1973). In other words data were collected after the event or phenomenon under investigation had taken place, hence the name ex-post facto.

To achieve the purpose of this study, purposive sampling and stratified random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample of 500 respondents in the four zones of the state. The respondents included, the student-athletes, games masters/games mistresses, physical education teachers, principal of secondary schools, coaches in the sports council, zonal sports coordinators and directors of sports in Borno State.

A self designed and standardized questionnaires was used as an instrument of data collection for this study. Nworgu (1991) reported that questionnaire could be used to obtain data on the feelings and perceptions of group of people towards certain things. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. Section A elicited information on the demographic information-age, status, educational qualification, gender and zones. Section B collected information/data on the seven different aspects of sports development-facility, personnel, funding, training programme, competitions, sports policy and encouragement of talents for sports. Section C provided space for respondents to offer suggestions that can improve school sports programme in the state. The questionnaire, which contained 36 items, was designed to follow a five point Likert Scale state type based on strongly agree (5), agree (4), undecided (3), disagree (2) and strongly disagree (1). For face and content validity, the questionnaire was validated by four experts in sports management in the Department of Physical and Health Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Subsequently a reliability coefficient of 0.82 r was established through the used of Guttman Split half techniques and this was found to be highly reliable for the study (Asika, 1991; Kerlinger, 1973).

With the help of research assistants, a total of 500 copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents in their respective schools, organizations and zones. Out of the 500 administered questionnaire, 476 copies were duly filled in and returned representing 95.2%. Therefore, 476 were used for the analysis. Two-tailed t-test was used to analysed the data collected in this study.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study revealed no significant differences between male and female respondents in their perceptions about the impact of school sports on the provision of facility, personnel, funding, training programme, competitions and sports policy. However, there was significant perceptual difference in respect of encouragement of talents for sports (Table 1). This is because the t-calculated (2.33) is greater than t-critical (1.96) at an alpha level of 0.05.

The results of this study revealed no significant difference in the sex of the respondents in their perception of impact of school sports on the provision of all the aspects of sports development except for the encouragement of talents for sports, which has t-calculated of 2.33 more than the t-critical of 1.96.

Table 1:	Two tailed t-test for differences between gender of respondents in their perceptions about the impact of school sports on the provision of facility, personnel, funding, training programme, competitions, sports policy and encouragement of talents for sports
Not Significant Df = 474, critical value = 1.96, p<005, t-df 474 = 1.96, p<0.05; * = Significant

Subsequently, the male respondents had significantly higher perception than the female respondents. This finding revealed that encouragement of talents was promoted at the expense of other aspects of sports development. In other words, school sports provide incentives, rewards and awards for talents discovered during competitions. It is universally accepted that incentives for both professional and amateur sports have direct influence on the achievement of those involved. It is also well acknowledged that the standard of achievement in various sports seems to relate to the amount of encouragement the participants received for taking part in such sports from time to time (Ogu, 2001; Ikulayo, 1990; Bucher, 1987; Shettima, 2005). However, male and female respondents were homogeneous in their perceptions about the impact of school sports on all aspects of sports development with the exception of encouragement of talents for sports. This is because t-calculated for all the aspects of sports development (facility 1.75; personnel 1.76; funding 1.23; training programme 0.530; competitions 0.130 and sports policy 0.821) are less than t-critical of 1.96, with the exception of encouragement of talents for sports (2.33).

CONCLUSION

This study showed no significant difference between male and female respondents in their perception about the impact of school sports on the provision of all the aspects of sports developments with the exception of encouragement of talents for sports. Therefore, it was concluded that talents encouragement was promoted at the expense of other aspects of sports development. It was also concluded that enabling sports policies be enacted in other to provide opportunities for sports men and women to be actively involved in the development of sports in Borno State, Nigeria.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is therefore, recommended that the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) at the state level should pay maximum attention to the development of other aspects of sports development such as the provision of standard facilities, qualified personnel, adequate funding, training programme, competitions as well as effective school sports policy that can accommodate the needs, interests and aspirations of the participants.

It is further recommended considering the increasing cost of developing sports that private sectors should be actively involved in not only sponsorship of competitions but also construction of sports facilities as well as training of sports personnel.