Browsing by Author "Okoti, David"

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Coaches‘ Qualifications and Athletes‘ Achievement in Sports Academies in Kenya
(International Journal of Science and Research, 2022-07-10) Okoti, David; Kati, Robert O.; Mutende, Rose
Coaches are the most contiguous stakeholders to the athlete in the sports talent development process, hence their qualifications can neither be underestimated nor ignored in projecting the athletes’ achievement. Little research has however been done to examine the qualifications of coaches and trainers in sports academies, and how the same relates to athletes’ achievement. This study, therefore, examined coaches’ qualifications and athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya. A total of 102 sports academy coaches sampled from 19 sports academies were involved. The study employed a cross - sectional mixed - methods design to generate both qualitative and quantitative data. It was hypothesized that there was no statistically significant relationship between the qualifications of coaches and athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya. The study found that a majority of coaches (60.7%) had a coaching experience of less than 5 years in the sports academy; a majority agreed that coaches in sports academies had high professional qualifications; a majority (35.7%) had a Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) as the highest academic qualification; the majority agreed that higher academic qualifications were important for effective athlete coaching; and there was a strong, positive correlation between the qualification of coaches and athletes’ achievement, which was statistically significant (γ = 0.424, p ˂ 0.05). The study recommended that the Ministry of Sports Culture and Heritage should in liaison with relevant stakeholders develop and administer refresher courses for sports administrators and coaches of sports training institutions; sports academies should recruit coaches with higher academic and professional qualifications; coaches should undertake refresher courses regularly to upgrade and update their coaching skills and competencies.
Structure and Content of Sports Training Curriculum and its Association with Athletes’ Achievement in Sports Academies in Kenya
(International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2022-07-10) Okoti, David; Kati, Robert O.; Mutende, Rose
Sports academies are specialized training institutions for identifying and nurturing and honing sports talent. Governments and private agencies are increasingly investing in establishment of sports academies to promote sports training. However, there is a paucity of research examining the nature of sports training curricula in these sports academies and its implication for athletes’ achievement. This study, therefore, examined the structure and content of the sports training curriculum and its association with athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya. It targeted 19 sports academies with 1261 participants, comprising 19 sports academy administrators, 102 sports academy coaches, and 1140 athletes. The study employed a cross-sectional mixed-methods design to generate both qualitative and quantitative data. Based on the study, this paper presents and discusses the findings on the structure and content of sports training curriculum and its relationship with athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya. It was hypothesized that there is no significant relationship between the nature of sports curriculum content and athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya. The study found that some sports academies lacked a curriculum document; each sports academy had its own way of training its athletes; training involved both theory and practical (drills), though most did not have a clear sequence; and there was a strong, positive correlation between the nature of sports training content and athletes’ achievement, which was statistically significant (γ = 0.815, p ˂ 0.05) at α = 0.05. The study recommended that the government through the Ministry of Sports should establish and enforce a framework for standardization and uniformity of curriculum in sports academies; sports academy administrators need to have a formal, written sports curriculum to guide the provision of structured sports skills training. Streamlining sports curriculum implementation policy and practice can augment athletes’ achievement in sports academies in Kenya as well as inform the operationalization of sports pedagogy as enshrined in Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum.