ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF STANDARD SPORTS FACILITIES ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BASKETBALL PLAYERS IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES ASSOCIATION (NUGA) COMPETITIONS

Abstract

This study assessed the influence of standard sports facilities on the performance of Basketball players in Nigeria University Games Association (NUGA) competitions. Three (3) purposes and their corresponding Research Questions and Hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Ex-post-facto research design was employed in the study. The population for this study was one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight (1,728). This consisted of 96 Directors of Sports 96 Deputy Directors of Sports of Universities, 96 Basketball coaches and 1440 Basketball Players in Federal and States Universities in Nigeria. The sample size for this study was five hundred and forty (540) drawn using simple random and purposive sampling techniques.
The instrument used in this study was a self-developed questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of three (3) sections A to C formed with (4) point modified Likert’s rating scale. In deciding on the research questions, the decision mean score of 2.50 was used. To validate the instrument and establish its reliability, a pilot study was conducted using fifty (50) respondents from Michael Opkara University Umudike, Abia State (25) and Adamawa State University, Mubi (25) where a Cronbach Alpha reliability index of 0.833 was obtained which made the instrument reliable for the study. The researcher and twelve (12) research assistants administered and retrieved the questionnaire for the study within six (6) weeks. The data collected was
analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 26. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Chi-Square statistic was used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that Standard sports facilities significantly influenced the motivation, training and safety of basketball players for effective performance in NUGA competitions (p = 0.000). It was concluded that adequate provision of standard sports facilities influenced the level of motivation, player training and safety for the effective performance of
basketball players in NUGA competitions. The study thus recommended that there is a need to ensure continuous provision of
sports facilities for Basketball among Universities involved in the NUGA games competitions to maintain the level of
motivation of players for effective performance.