A Study of the Approach of School Going Students Towards Sports

Modern age is the age of machinery. Every walk of life is covered by automatic machines and instruments. So, Men have to do very little physical work. It is the bio- logical principle that if any organ of body is not used then the growth and development of that organ is ceased. Many scholars have stated that of mental growth remains the same but the care is not given for physical health. The day is not far away when the existence of body will be in the form of mind only. Roussean also used to believe that body should be strong enough so that it can obey the orders of mind. Interest in games and sports among the students should be developed at school level because good health , good habits begin from the childhood is like clay and one can make the model what he wants from it. It is the time when students have maximum energy, leisure time and maximum capacity to gain. At this juncture, we can mould the students through sports towards the socialization. Today, we are the second largest population in our country but our performance in games and sports at world level is not satisfactory. In fact, it is the defect in our administrative system. Facilities are not provided at the school level. The present paper is to examine what are the factors at school level which are responsible for backwardness of sports activities at root-level. The required data has been collected from the offices of 48 Senior Secondary schools. List of all Senior Secondary schools was taken from D.E.O. office and then these were classified in 6 states. Then sample required were taken i.e. stratified sampling has been used. The main reason behind the selection of stratified type of sampling is that the Senior Secondary schools of the studies area differ a lot in the administration, management and environment. So considering all these aspects, schools have been divided into strates and then from each strata samples were taken with the help of lottery system. Here, difficult statistical techniques have not been used but the analysis has been done with the help of total number of participants in each strata. Percentages and co-efficient of co-relation have been calculated.

Strand and Scantling (2014) pointed out that people express their beliefs and attitudes daily through behaviors and language. In PE, obtaining students’ insight into their beliefs is a critical source for understanding their attitudes and their interests and involvement toward their PE program (Strand and Scantling, 2014). Researchers indicated that children who have more positive attitudes toward physical activity are reported to be more likely to participate in physical activity outside of school (Chung and Phillips, 2012; Ding et al., 2006; McKenzie, 2013; Portman, 2013) and demonstrate higher physical activity levels (Hagger et al., 2013) than those with less positive attitudes. According to a review of literature on children’s Attitudes toward Physical Education/Activity (ATPEA) by Solmon (2013), children’s characteristics and contextual factors are two major factors that are related to children’s attitudes. Children’s characteristics refer to children’s age, gender and sports skill. Contextual factors include the quality of physical education programs and the accessibility of after school physical activities. With regard to children’s characteristics, elementary children are found to have more positive attitudes they progress through their schooling (Biddle and Mutrie, 2008; Lee, 2004; Prochaska et al., 2003; Xiang et al., 2004). It is also found that elementary school children express very favorable attitudes toward health, fitness, enjoyment and social interaction benefits of physical activity, but do not enjoy physical activities involving hard practice and risk-taking movements (Patterson and Faucette, 1990). Lee (2012) found that the younger children possess more positive attitudes toward physical activity and show more interests toward all kinds of physical activities. However, the reliability of younger children responding to questions might need to be carefully considered due to their lower self-evaluation ability (Lee, 2012). With regard to contextual factors, the quality of physical education programs has been reported to be a strong factor influencing children’s ATPEA, Subramaniam and Silverman (2012) indicated that school children’s positive attitudes are likely to be associated with enjoyment, perceived usefulness of the curriculum and a sense of belongingness. Curriculum with situational interests, such as those requiring students to analyze and design offensive and defensive strategies, may foster students’ interests in physical activity (Chen and Darst, 2011). A learning environment that promotes personal meaning is considered to be important to the development of positive attitudes (Rink, 2006). Children are also likely to become more positive toward physical activity if they are in a learning environment that makes them comfortable and confident (Hagger et al., 2013). Carlson (2010) indicated that students would lose interest in physical activity if the subject matter lacks challenges or the instructors repeat the same class activities without bringing fun to the children. Siedentop (2012) also argued that a multi-activity curriculum with a series of short-term units would negatively influence the attitudes of students toward physical education. In contrast found that it is difficult for students to maintain interests in traditional team sports than in individual sports or activities.

The objectives of the current research are as follows:

• To study the approach of students towards sportsmen.

• To study the participation level of students in sports.

In the sports activities at district and state level similar situation is prevailing. Number of selected students from Private Senior Secondary School (Category I)

It is evident from the Table – I that Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) are at the leading position as regards to total number of participants at block level followed by Government Senior Secondary Schools of Urban and Government Senior Secondary Schools of rural areas. But , if we look at the leading position followed by Government Senior Secondary Schools (Urban) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) respectively. Participation of Private schools (Category I) is negligible. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that all the institutions differ in their sports participation significantly. Private Senior Secondary School (Category I) are at leading positions in sports , almost at all levels.

School ( Cat.II) for the playground is half an acre. This figure is 5 acres in case of Private Senior Secondary School ( Cat.I) and 5.5 and 6.5 acres in Govt. Senior Secondary School ( Urban) and Govt. Senior Secondary School ( rural) respectively.

When the co-relation was calculated between availability of play-ground area (independent variable) and number of participants in sports (dependent variable) , it was found that there exists a high degree positive co-relation . Value of co-efficient of determination was also found out to see how much change in independent variable and how much change in dependent variable is not due to change in independent variable i.e. unexpected variance. teachers have also been studied to enlighten the causes of difference in the level of sports participation in various institutions although there are so many other factors responsible for these differences.

From Table – 5 , it can be seen that co-relation is positive and high degree. At block level, it is becoming low at higher levels. Co-relation has also been established between number of physical education teachers in the schools (independent variables) and number of participants in sports (dependent variable). Co-efficient of determination is also calculated to know about the explained variance. Unexpected variance is 19% at block level , 15% at district level and 47% at state level. From the table 02 and 03 , it can be concluded that to some extent , particularly in the case of Private Senior Secondary School (Category - II) of both rural and urban areas , number of physical education teachers also depend on the vary basic facility. The area availability for play – ground in the school. In fact, in the case of above mentioned schools , there is very little land for play – ground , so these institutions do not appoint physical education teacher.

1. There is found a significant difference in the level of sports Participation :- A) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools of rural areas and Govt. Senior Secondary Schools of urban areas . B) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Rural) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category I) . Schools (Category- I) . D) Between Boys Senior Secondary Schools and Girls Senior Secondary Schools. E) Between Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Rural) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of rural areas. F) Between Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of urban areas. G) Between Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) and Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category II) of rural areas. 2) Private Senior Secondary Schools (Category - I) are at leading position in sports Participation followed by Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (Urban) , Govt. Senior Secondary Schools (rural) , Private Senior Secondary Schools (category - II) of Urban areas and Private Senior Secondary Schools (category - II) of rural areas respectively. 3) Lack of land-available for playgrounds is important factors for backwardness of private schools (category - II) in the sports.

The study has its education implications for governing authorities, Managements and organizations it is helpful in reviewing of their plans for sports activities in different schools. The results obtained from the study are very important particularly for those institutions which are very Backward in sports participation. The institutions which are very Backward in sports are Private Senior Secondary School (cate. - II) of both rural and Urban areas D.E.O.’s who make registration of such schools should examine; how many area, the schools have , to develop the sector of sports in the schools because in the modern age are very important for Physical fitness , National integration and socialization of and individual.

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