SPORTS AS A CHARACTER MOULDER IN YOUTHS

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Sport which is enjoined as a vehicle mobilizing various individual, associations, schools and ethnic groups with a view to learning and appreciating one another’s values and aspirations plays a major rule character moulding.

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Character has to do with the general behaviour or way of life of a person, hence it makes a person unique and unlike others be it negative or positive while moulding has to do with shaping a thing to desired taste.

Talking about youths, is talking about the future leaders and automatically this boils down to nation building as youths constitute almost 60% of our population.
Character moulding therefore, should stand for those qualities in our youths which will guide them for greater tomorrow and also help them as future leaders too.

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Talking about sports as a character builder in our youths is highlighting the benefits of sport or the part it plays in preparing a young man or woman especially in behaviour pattern at the learning age of 8 to 20 years for the challenges of life as it will affect his or her immediate environment, and the world at large.

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First and foremost, we are well familiar with an adage that says “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop”. Every wrong or negative character is very well known to be devils inspired and the devil we know is like a leper, give him a handshake, he will want an embrace.
This if you allow the devil a space in your mind, he will want to be the land lord. The rampant social decadence and immoral vices in our youths today can straightly be traced to idleness. This is very true especially in today’s world where for various reasons children drop out from schools, and the laid off unemployment which is high even among graduates.

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In this area, sporting activities readily acts as an employer of labour for a suppose wasted mind. Let’s forget about sports benevolence first, for the most important issue is that, sports occupies you positively and won’t give you chance for irrelevant activities which is one of the bane of our society. Sports automatically brings idleness and laziness to check.

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In the area of discipline, we very well know that a discipline society, sport participation inculcate discipline in our youths through different games with their own rules and regulations that guide them. If you must do well in this games you must have to follow or abide by the rules.

Sporting activities help check some societal ills like cheating, selfishness, temperament and impatience in our youths.
Even if a boy or girl is from an indisciplined environment, venturing into sports forces discipline on him/her because he/she must abide by the rules.

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However there is always a way to see that this is done, for in sports there are always referees or umpires who are unbiased and impartial in judging and officiating.
In this way, a youth who is fond of having his or her ways in everything will have to learn how to submit to the rulings of the official, thus being magnanimous in victory and gallant in defeat. This is so because sports encourages appreciation of others who perform better as an athlete who losses shakes hand with the winner congratulating him/her. Sport also encourages determination, unity, healthy rivalry devoid of jealousy, and training as practice makes perfect.

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It also encourages humility and modesty as successful sportsman and woman do shake hands with the losers too. Another strong benefit of sport in moulding our youths is the team work which has team spirit as it’s major weapon towards victory. This is most common in ball games like football, volleyball, basket and handball. This is a very special way that enables individuals to work and walk as a team and understand others weakness and learn how to lend a helping hand by assisting such team mates.

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Most importantly, it is a credit that through sports, a problem child of yester-years has become an enviable leader with a dependable fountain of wisdom, for example, the daily punch of 3th September 2000 has this to say about our dear strong defence marshal of the super Eagles fame (Taribo West): “That street boy of yesterday who grew up playing rascality to make ends meet until he discovered his football talent is now the polished gentleman of means and clout”. Thus with this singular accomplishment, it is agreed that sports is one factor that can help mould characters of our youths and that of a problem child in our today’s society.