Effect of recreational physical activities on health related components of physical fitness of adolescents in secondary schools in Gboko local government area of Benue state, Nigeria

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of recreational physical activities on the five health-related components of physical fitness of adolescents in secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area. Methodology: The study employed the Quasi-experimental research design. The population of the study comprised of Twenty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty-four- (24,634) Secondary School adolescents’ students in private and public secondary schools in the 2020/2021 academic session in Gboko Local Government Area. 200 participants (students) were sampled for the study using the multistage sampling technique. The University of Pretoria’s HRF index protocol was used for data collection in the study. The HRF index was used to calculate the health related components of physical fitness of the adolescents. Inferential statistics of t-test was used to analyse the differences in health related components of physical fitness between the Control Group and the study Group at 0.05 level of significance. Results: Results of the study revealed that: Recreational physical activities have a significant effect on body composition; cardiovascular fitness; muscular strength; muscular endurance and flexibility of adolescents in secondary schools in Gboko Local Government Area. Recommendations: Based on the findings, it was recommended that adolescents should further improve on their intensity of participation in recreational activities both at home and school in order to maximise total physical fitness.