HIGHER INSTITUTIONS’ PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS AND COACHES PERCEPTION OF ATHLETES’ HEALTH INDICES FOR PERFORMANCE IN SPORTS

Abstract

The study surveyed P.E teachers and coaches perception of Athletes Health indices for high performance. A study of perceived health and fitness indices for athletes by P.E teachers and coaches will help to answer the question, whether the fitness of an athlete encompasses all the indices of health that will enhance highest performance among all levels of athletes.  The study design was the descriptive research of the survey type: The population was all the 55 higher institution P. E. teachers and 155 sport coaches in the sports’ council of Kwara State, Nigeria.  A multistage sampling approach was used to sample subjects for the study.  All the P.E. teachers were sampled purposively while 55 coaches were sampled using stratified and systematic random sampling techniques.  The‘t’ test and ANOVA statistics were used to analyze data at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that while no significant differences were located in the responses of P.E Teachers in the higher institutions, significant difference was found between P.E. teachers and coaches’ perception of the indices of health and fitness for top athletes’ performance. It was recommended among others that surveillance and monitoring of flight athletes in the country should be intensified using the suggested health and fitness indices.  Medical teams in the contingents must be adequately equipped for these roles.