Abstract
The purpose of the study was to identify sports management practices as a basis for developing strategies for effective secondary school sports management in Abia State. To achieve the purpose of the study, seven specific objectives, each with a corresponding research question were posed and five hypotheses postulated. The cross-sectional survey and, Research and Development (R&D) designs were used for the study. The subjects consisted of the 127 physical Education teachers in Abia State owned secondary schools. Three research instruments were used for data collection. These were the twenty-seven item management practice of school sports questionnaire (MPSSQ) and a 29 item Strategies for effective secondary school sports management questionnaire (SESSSMQ) both used for quantitative data collection as well as an 11 item Focus group discussion guide (FGDG) used for qualitative data collection. Seven experts in health and physical education, Management studies and measurement and evaluation validated the instruments. The reliability coefficient of the MPSSQ was computed using Kuder-Richardson (KR-21) formula. The qualitative data collected were analysed qualitatively while data collected from the MPSSQ were analysed using frequencies and percentages. Mean scores were employed in analysing data collected from the SESSSMQ while chi-square statistic was used for verifying the 5 null hypotheses. The results of the study showed that sports were neither well funded nor properly managed. The findings revealed that the schools did not manage sports facilities and equipment effectively. The findings also showed that communities were not adequately involved in secondary school sports management. The findings indicated that both athletes and coaches were more or less not motivated in the secondary schools. The findings of the study also showed that friendly relationships existed between sports teachers and other teachers. The finding further revealed that sports management practices adopted by the schools were statistically significantly dependent on gender, work experience and school location as well as school type. Lastly, based on the findings, the study developed strategies for effective management of sports in the secondary schools. The developed strategies covered five important areas in sports management viz: fund management, facilities and equipment, community involvement, motivation of athletes and coaches and cooperation between sports teachers and other subject teachers.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Background of the Study
It has been indicated that the success of any organisation depends to a great extent on its management strategies, based on management philosophy and a strong, unwavering confidence in the abilities of those who manage the organisation (Onuchukwu, 1993). Jones and Potrac (1996) have stressed that many organisations have failed due to lack of proper management strategies. In conceptualizing management, Hersery and Blanchard (1993) noted that it is working with people and through individuals and groups to accomplish organisational goals. In their own view, Bucher and Krotee (1998) noted that management is the coordinated and integrated process of utilizing an organisation’s resources. These resources according to them include human and material that are utilized to achieve specific objectives of an organisation. It should be noted that an organisation needs to maximize the advantages of the internal and external resources available in her immediate community. Given the fact that the sports programmes of any institution, like the secondary schools have well defined specific objectives, such objectives can only be achieved through effective management.
Ouston (1993) advocated that management should be given adequate attention in every organisation that intends to realize its objectives. He defined management as the process by which the elements of a group are integrated, coordinated and/or utilized so as to effectively and efficiently achieve organisational objectives. The integrative function of management is coordination. The purpose of this integrative function according to Enechukwu (1997) is to ensure that the primary organs work together to implement the organisation’s plan of action. A careful look at the above two definitions could reveal a similarity in that they perceived management as performing the function of coordinating and integrating the activities and resources available to effectively achieve organisational goals which in the present study is sports in secondary schools such as those in Abia State.
Effectiveness is important in management. This may have prompted Naismith (1990) to postulate that unless importance is attached to managerial efficiency and effectiveness in educational programmes such as sports in secondary schools, the ultimate loser will be the student and the society to which he or she belongs. The principle of effectiveness is the presence of concrete results achieved through the system of management (Kukushkin, 1993). This could imply that secondary school sports programmes have to be made result oriented in order to be adjudged effective. Hicks and Powell (1996) posited that effectiveness in management refers to accomplishment of the cooperative purpose. In their view, effective management lies within a proper orientation of human behaviour and performance in organisations.
McFarland (2003) noted that effectiveness is a label that describes in a relative way the extent to which an organisation has performed according to its capacities, potentials and general goals. He contended that effective management is the process of marrying identifiable objectives of an organisation to performance taking into cognisance the consistency of actions and accomplishment of goals. Effectiveness in this study denotes keeping the school alive with sports activities and programmes that involve both student athletes and other students.
Sports are fast becoming a way of life for people in both developed and developing countries. Tangen (1985) conceptualized sport as a recreational or competitive activity which involves a degree of physical exertion or which require skill in the playing of an object. Examples of such objects include among others balls, disks shuttle cocks and rackets. Talcott (1997) revealed that the greatest contribution physical education makes to school tradition is through sports programme. In his view, sports promote students’ identification with their schools for competition with outsiders which seems to draw the institution together in spirit as well as in purpose. As a multifaceted social phenomenon, sports may perform various functions, such as skill acquisition, social upbringing and character formation. At present, sport occupies a prominent place both in the physical and spiritual culture of society and its significance continues to mount (Dumandze, 1999), hence the need to manage it well.
According to Greendorfer (1987) and Kukushkin (1993), a sport is a centre for power, culture and ideology because it represents a critical link between individual’s own biography and the broader social and historical context within which it is located. Relative to the present study, sports includes games and plays of low and high organisation within the secondary school setting. Such games or plays may or may not be competitive, but encourage greater student participation. For students to meaningfully participate in sports, it has to be effectively managed.
Effective sports management is important for meaningful sports development in secondary schools in Nigeria and particularly in Abia state. Denensi and Rosenberg (1996) viewed sports management as a field interested in the organisation and administration of specific sport-related area. Similarly, Thoma and Chalip (1996) stated that sports management involves the interaction between those who administer and those who participate in the sporting process. Following from the above discourse, for a better sporting environment, management of sports should not be neglected in secondary schools.
In his own view, Fasan (1994) defined sports management as an applied management, which focuses on ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in the utilization of humans, materials and monies so as to articulate adequately all management functions with the set goal being to optimize the output from input. According to him, this brings about productive outcome with guaranteed satisfaction from all actors such as principals, teachers, government, parents and student athletes, as well as the community. The actors identified by Fasan (1994) were included in the present study.
For the desired level of satisfaction to be achieved by all those involved in the sporting process, the authorities concerned should adopt effective strategies. The BBC English Dictionary (1992) defined strategy as the art of planning the best way to achieve something. Railey and Tschauner (1993) defined it as the overall approach in reaching objectives. They stressed that strategies furnish the framework for guiding thought and action. Reber (1995) viewed strategy as a plan of conduct or action, a set of operations, behaviours and procedure consciously designed for solving some problems or achieving some goals. Similarly, Webster (2000) defined strategy as a plan, a method, and services of manoeuvres for obtaining a specific result. He noted that individuals or groups working to achieve a desired result should have a range of paths or actions to follow. Hornby (2001) defined it as a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose.
A close look at the definitions of strategy above could reveal that they are similar in that they perceived strategy as plan or technique of action to achieve result as in successful management of secondary school sports programmes. This study therefore adopts the above definition as the operational definition of strategy. To achieve such a result may require that funds be provided and managed, facilities and equipment procured and maintained, athletes and staff motivated, the community integrated, cooperative environment maintained and good public relations established.
Stressing on the importance of strategy in management, Hamel and Prahalad (1993) stated that good strategy and good strategy execution are the most trustworthy signs of good management. According to them, without a strategy, a manager has no thought-out course to follow, no road map to manage by, no unified action programme to produce the intended result. In the same vein, Ouston (1993) suggested that individual schools must develop the right management strategies for themselves. He suggested that a good approach to developing strategies is to identify the current practices and determine what to add and/or subtract. The present study adopted this approach in developing strategies for effective secondary school sports management in Abia State.
Certain demographic variables have been identified to influence management of schools in general and physical education and sports specifically. For example, Allan, (1990), and Gibson, (1994) have shown that demographic variables such as gender, experience, school location, status of teachers, age, school type and others influence management practices in different ways. In a study of motivational strategies for community participation in school management, Lambright and Lorsch (1993) reported a significant difference in the strategies adopted by experienced and younger school administrators. Similarly, Mosston’s (1994) study showed significant dependence of sport facility management on gender and school location. On the other hand, Steiner (1999) had found status of teachers and school type to influence patterns of school management. School type means classification of schools into single sex (boys or girls) and coeducational schools, while status of teachers refers to rank of teachers.
The above five demographic variables identified by Allan (1990) and Gibson (1994) were addressed in the present study. It was important to establish the degree of influence of these variables on secondary school sports management practices. This is because there had been unverified claims for example that sports were better funded in urban than rural schools. Such claims and more necessitated the inclusion of the demographic variables in the study.
Evolving strategies for effective management of sports especially in secondary schools is important because of students’ stage of development and its implication to acquisition of sports skills. Onifade (1999) lamented that the fortunes of sports in Nigeria are dwindling and gone are the days when Nigeria was sure of performing well in sports competitions. He stressed that the important role the school plays in identification and making of champion athletes should not be ignored. According to him, the Nigerian sports structure is such that the school offers the main sporting opportunities for her citizens. It is important therefore that school sports programmes are well managed to sustain the interest of students and to help them acquire sports skills that could be used during life after school.
           Some records show that some Nigerians who live in developed countries perform excellently well in sports. This might have prompted Musa (1999) to state that Nigeria is endowed with human resources in sports, but unfortunately the nation has not been able to occupy her rightful position in international sports arena, mainly because of poor management of sports, particularly at the grass-root level. He stressed that primary and secondary school age brackets constitute the critical period for acquisition and mastery of sports skills.
           Secondary school students are usually in their formative period of development. As a result of this, certain physiological changes characteristic of their age bracket requires proper handling. Consequently, Bucher (1979a) suggested that secondary school students should be exposed to a variety of highly organised sports (individual, dual and team). According to him they need to be offered the opportunity to select and specialize in certain activities that will have carry over value after formal education ceases. It is therefore important to develop strategies for effective management of sports especially in secondary schools.
