The value of sport and recreation in education: a case study of Ndwedwe area.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Childhood represents the most physically active stage of human development. Children like to play games and participate in physical activity and sports, and they certainly love to compete. Of the great number of books written on physical training, the majority refer to elite athletes and only a few discuss training programmes designed specifically for children. The objective of the study was to investigate the array of facilities that exists for sporting activities in disadvantaged schools and communities. Children in the initial stage should participate in low-intensity training programme, in which the emphasis is on ‘FUN’. It should be noted that there is a great link between Physical Education (PE) and sport. Schools that have a sound programme of PE are likely to perform better. PE is regarded as a basic of sport or foundation if one may want to call it, while on other hand it is not all learners who are capable of taking part in competitive sport, hence recreation cater for those learners. Scholars agree that recreation is the nursery for sport. It has been noted that in recreation, it is where most of the participants are going for fun and enjoyment. Within the fun and enjoyment one may end up discovering some talent which may end up forcing him to compete in elite sports. Some researchers are likely to show that learners who have PE at school show some enjoyment participating in and perform better in sports activity. The use of the questionnaire was deemed appropriate in this study. This study was conducted with selected high school learners. A sample of 300 learners participated in this study. The findings reveal that approximately all the respondents agree that the shortage of sport facilities at Ndwedwe has a negative impact and compromises the youth of Ndwedwe to be exposed to different codes of sport.