Parental Influence on Sports Performance of Athletes in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the parental influence of sports performance of athletes in Ekiti State, Nigeria. It also examined the interest of parents in sports participation of their children and the level of involvement. The study adopted a descriptive research design of survey type. A simple random technique was used to select 738 (495 athletes and 243 parents) respondents in Ekiti State. A questionnaire whose validity and reliability were ascertained was used for the study. The data collected were added for the two categories of respondents (athletes and parents) after which simple statistical tools of frequencies and percentages were used to answer the research questions while inferential statistics of t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant influence of parents in sports performance of their children in terms of encouragement, supports and assistance during training and competition. Also, the study revealed that parental involvement in sports performances were considered significant because some parent prefer combination of academics and sporting activities for their children.