Optimising the potentials of young athletes through counselling services in the Nigerian school system: A narrative review

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse ways in which the potentials of youth athletes could be optimized through counselling services within the Nigerian school system. It is noted that there is a skewed attention given to the physical and skill aspects of youth sports development with inadequate deployment of athletic counselling modalities. The integration of  counselling services to youth athlete development process could help the young athlete in many ways that include for example (1) helping the  athletes to maintain a balance between sports and education, (2)  improvement of the study habits of young athletes (3) helping to improve their time management. (4) coping with stress (5) enhancement of female participation in sports (6) helping the athletes to develop interest in  Physical Education (PE) as a subject, which is the basis of sports and (7) motivation of athletes for better performance among others. The main thesis of this paper is that a multilateral approach in the development of young athletes, that includes the deployment of counselling services would enable them to optimise their athletic potentials.

Keywords: Counselling services, sports, youth sports development, anti-doping counselling.