The attitude of eight grade students to physical education and sport in Kaunas city and region

The object of the research is the students’ attitude to physical education and sport. The aim of the research is to examine the attitude of eight grade students to physical education and sport in Kaunas city and region. Objectives: 1. To determine the interest of eight grade students in sports. 2. To determine the interest in sport in the families of respondents. 3. To determine the attitude of respondents to physical education lessons. 4. To determine the attitude of respondents to physical education as a means for developing moral qualities and social skills. Research methods: the analysis of bibliographic sources, questionnaire, mathematical statistics. Respondents: students of eight grade from secondary schools (n=210). Results of the research: The most favourite sports for schoolchildren are basketball and track-and-field athletics. Boys from the urban school also like football, tennis, judo, body building and boxing, while for boys from the rural school the most favourite sports are table tennis and football. Girls from the urban school indicated sport dance, aerobics and swimming as their most favourite sports, while girls from the rural school indicated swimming as their favourite sport. For most of the respondents, basketball is most viewed television broadcast from all sports events. The second most viewed television broadcast for boys from the urban school is football, while for boys from the rural school it is the broadcast of Formula 1. Sports news is watched by 12.2-32.0 % of the respondents. Sports broadcasts are more viewed by the families of boys from the urban school than by the families from the rural school (p < 0.05). Big sports events and competitions are not attended by the respondents with their families very often. Only 7.5 % of the boys from the urban school attend sports events regularly, and 18.9 of the boys from the urban school do it often. From the whole family sport raises the greatest interest to the respondents themselves of the respondents. Boys from both types of school indicated that apart from them their father and brother are interested in sports, while girls indicated that their brother has interest in sports. Schoolchildren from the rural school would like to have more physical education lessons comparing to the schoolchildren from the urban school. Schoolchildren from the urban school tend to drop out physical education lessons more frequently. The most frequent reasons for their absence in physical education lessons are laziness and dislike of physical education teacher. Schoolchildren from the rural school skip physical education lessons because of the health problems or because they do not have the possibility to take a shower after the lesson. The boys from both schools indicated that physical education and sport helps to develop will, respect and responsibility. In the opinion of the girls from both schools physical education and sport develops will, responsibility, concern about others and honesty. The majority of the respondents (56.6-91.8 %) think that physical education and sport are important means for the development of a harmonious personality and for the health enhancement. This opinion is more supported by the schoolchildren from the rural school (p