By Kingsley Uzowulu
Sports are very popular all over the world because of diverse purposes they serve.
Sports as a social institution teaches and reinforces societal beliefs , norms, and values thereby assisting in socializing athletes into major cultural and social behavior patterns.
Sports contribute to character building, discipline, economy, ideology, patriotism, education, mental development, human communication, physical fitness and health.
Many great Nations and societies of the world have realized that participation in sports is the key to a healthy development of their young ones, attaining a success that science, religion, and politics have failed to achieve.
The secondary and primary schools in Imo state are made up of students who are predominantly in their early adolescent years between 9 to 16 years. These age brackets constitute the critical period for acquisition and mastery of sports skills.
Today, schools in Imo state can hardly boast of any surviving sports facility, school sports almost gone, game masters no longer interested or not qualified to do the job and the state government completely overwhelmed by the situation.
There are definitely some variables that slows down the developmental process of sports in the primary and secondary schools in Imo state.
They include the following:
Lack of qualified personnel .
Formulation of sports policy: This helps in the administration of any sports organization. The state government must not allow her policies to affect sports development.
Funding: For meaningful development of sports in the primary and secondary schools in the state adequate funding needs to be guaranteed.
A well thought out sports program for development of sports in the state should be spelt out.
Facilities and equipments for the development of sports in the state should be improved upon or provided.
The training and retraining of the schools physical education teachers, game masters and Mistresses to cope with the changing trend in sports.
