National sport development evolves from growth in school sports, which is the home for talent identification and development. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the determinants of sports growth as correlates of development in secondary schools in the North East Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State. Two research questions were raised and Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted the correlational research design. The population of the study comprised 653 students in the various school sports teams in government-owned secondary schools in the North East Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State. A sample of 385 students was selected for the study using a multi-stage sampling procedure. Two researcher-made instruments titled “Determinants of Sports Growth in Secondary Schools Questionnaire” (DSGSSQ) and Sport Development Questionnaire (SDQ) were used in collecting data for the study. The instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts. Internal consistency reliability was conducted for the study and the reliability coefficient was determined using Cronbach Alpha statistics, which yielded a coefficient of .83 and 0.79 for the DSGSSQ and SDQ respectively. Data collected for the study were analyzed using simple regression. The R and R2-values were used to answer the research questions while F-ratio was used to test the hypotheses. The finding of the study indicated that the availability of sports facilities, and sports personnel are all determinants of sports development in secondary schools in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. It was concluded that the availability of sports facilities and sports personnel are determinants of sports development in secondary schools in the North East Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State. It was recommended among others that all secondary schools in the North East Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State should be equipped with sports facilities to enable students to practice with the right facility, which will ensure sport development.
Keywords: Akwa lbom State, Determinants, North East senatorial district, Secondary Schools, sport development, sports growth
