SPORTS PARTICIPATION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ATHLETES AND NON-ATHLETES OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SPECIAL, OYO, NIGERIA

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to compare and ascertain whether participation or not participation in sports has any influence on the academic performance of Federal College of Education Special Oyo students. The design for the study is causal comparative. The researchers compared sports participation on academic performance of two groups: student- athletes and non-student athletes to establish cause and- effect relationships between sports participation and academic performance.150 participants were used for the study using multi-stage procedure. The study adopted causal comparative research design with independent t- test as the statistical technique at a significant level of 0.05. Students mean cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) score was used as the proxy. The findings revealed that there was slight difference in the CGPA of student athletes compared with non-student athletes resulting in student athletes performing slightly better than non-student athletes recommendation is therefore made that college authorities organize the college curriculum in such a way that it will give sports the required place and time thereby encouraging all students to participate in sports.