History of Physical Education

• 1. What is fitness? Why get fit?• 2. What is the motivation for people’s fitness today?• 3. What is a perfect person’s body? Brain, head,

chest/shoulders area, waist area, back, reproductive organs, legs, and feet

• 4. What is the best way to get fit? Why?• 5. Does God care about people’s fitness? Proof?• 6. Should today’s national government be concerned for

its citizens’ fitness? Why?• 7. Is it wrong to be unfit? Why?• 8. What does it mean to be fit to marry?• 9. What was the real purpose of PED in your high

school?

US Side

• Colonial Period

• National Period (first half of 19th Century)– Beginnings– High schools– 1802--US Military college

– 1823--Charles Beck--German Gymnastics (Jahn)

– Turnverein--Mid-west (1848 rebellions)

– 1828--C. Beecher– Baseball begins

• Late 1800s– Swedish gymnastics

• Physiological value• Organized by impact on organism• Easy to difficult and end with relaxing• Carried out in common• Guided exercise • Commands used

– Sport popularity--bowling (New York Dutch), Tennis, Golf, Basketball (1891)

– YMCA• 1866--Boston• 1885--Springfield

– Key people--Sargent (Harvard) and Hitchcock (Amherst)

– First intercollegiate sports– PE curriculum– 1885 AAAPE

• Turn of the century– Increases– NCAA formed

• WW I– Unfit– Women

• Roaring 20s– Play– NFHSAA formed

• Depression• WWII

Canadian Side• Late 19th century

– Physical training or calisthenics• Optional• Drill and gymnastics

– Physical culture

• Turn of the century through WW I– Calisthenics– Dance– Strathcona Trust fund 1911 (with military drill and rifle shooting)

• Incorporate physical training as an integral part of the curriculum in all schols• To form cadet corps• To provide teacher training in physical education

– First Schools• Hamilton 1889-1913• U.of T. Diploma for men 1900• MES 1901-1942

• Twenties– Play “healthy body leads to healthy mind”– Neils Bukh was a historically central figure in

the following fields:• Male aesthetics,• gymnastics pedagogies,• national identity and• politics

• Thirties– Danish Gymnastics (more rhythmical) replaced

Swedish– More health– Physical Education– 1933 Syllabus– CPEA formed (Dr. Lamb, MES) => CAHPERD

• To stimulate universal, intelligent, and active interest in health and physical education

• To acquire and disseminate knowledge concerning the first goal

• To promote interest and to strive for the establishment of educative programs under the direction of properly trained teachers

• To set the standards of the physical education profession.• http://www.cahperd.ca

• Forties and Fifties—PHE– “Enjoyable rhythmic gymnastics, group games, folk

and social dances, elementary tumbling, box-vaulting, and other apparatus activities designed to develop strength, flexibility, and muscular co-ordination.”

– 1943 National Fitness Act• To develop fundamental skills of movement.• To develop athletic and game skills.• To develop and maintain physical fitness through vigorous

physical exercise.• To develop knowledge and attitudes of game strategies and

rules.• To develop social and abilities through group interaction,

team work, and learning to accept responsibilities.• To develop emotional stability and control

Physiologists, Physicians, and Physical Educators: Nineteenth Century Biology and Exercise,

Hygienic and Educative by Roberta J.Park

Physical Education

• Address by Francis Walker, president of Massachusetts Institute on Technology-1893– The subject was ‘College Athletics’– 3 months later the address was published in ‘The Harvard Grad

Magazine’– This address was likely prompted by the intense interest which

arose after the civil war.– “Americans of a wide variety of persuasions expressed a

remarkable interest in athletics and physical education in the four decades between 1865 and 1906"

– By the 1890's this interest found expression in the emergence of varsity sports, athletic clubs and the formation of the Amateur Athletic Union.

– Further expression of this interest arose in the formation of college and high school physical education programs and various organizations.

• These organizations devoted attention to health and development through exercise--gymnastics, play and Physical Education.

• An example of such an organization is the American Association for Advancement of Physical Education.

• They labored for extension of athletics in the education of children and youth.

• Those who were associated in this newly emerging field of Physical Education, believed the goals of physical training and athletics were hygienic and educative.

• The common 19th Century belief was that muscular action undertaken in physical education or athletics could contribute to strengthening man’s moral qualities.

Attitudes Towards Athletics

• Charles William Eliot- Annual Report--1893– Eliot believed “An inordinate desire to win and the attendant evils

of commercialism, course publicity and hysterical excitement had turned potentially healthy and beneficial activities into an aberration”

– Eliot felt that the intense excitement drained players of ‘nervous energy’ and the brutality of the contests blunted the sensibilities of players and spectators.

– Walker rejects this saying that the benefits of athletics are far greater than the defects.

– ‘Football’ written 1896• “Great are the physical benefits to the football player, there are

advantages of a mental or ethical nature which outweigh them.” • Football was said to develop physical and moral courage, vigorous

manhood, self-control, discipline and power of the will.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

• A New Profession was created– Those who believed activity to be hygienic

and educative felt that a large group of experts would be needed to plan and direct exercise and athletic programs.

– That profession was physical education.

PHYSIOLOGISTS AND PHYSICIANS

• Modern Biology and it’s relationship to physical culture• Modern biology had fostered the introduction of gymnastics and

physical training into the colleges courses in hygiene and human physiology, and the appointment of medical doctors to organize departments of physical education.

• In the 19th century, the conjunction between biology and athletics was often made.

• They believed that muscular exercise affected moral development .• “Brain cells grow, like other parts of the body, by exercise. The

sensory cells can be exercised only by the use of senses.......muscular exercise is essential for the healthy growth of the brain.... This develops energy and force of character etc..”

• New discoveries were constantly being made, such as, antiseptics, bearable surgery, improvement in the microscope, determining that muscles burn fuel.

• Body Mind Connection• 19th century focused on the nervous system.• “The structure of the bones, joints and muscles

confirmed that man was intended to walk, run , leap and swim ..etc”

• It was believed by many physicians at this time that sports brought the entire nervous system into ‘harmonious operation’

• One physician stated that “The powers of the body should be cultivated, because of it’s connection with the mind.”

• “Such bodily exercises as gymnastics, fencing, swimming, riding, dancing, and skating are much more exercises of the central nervous, of the brain and the spinal marrow.”

• Physical Activity--A Form of Medicine– Physical Education and sports were often advocated

as alternatives to the pharmacopeia of ‘heroic’ physicians.

– Physical Activity offered one way in which digestive, respiratory, circulatory and even reproductive complaints might be alleviated.

– Exercise does not cause ingestion of mercury compounds and opiums the way that chemical preparations do.

– Exercise was one way to minimize such physiological hazards of modern society as overcrowding, impure air, bad water, exhausting labor and excessive ‘brain work’

• “The most important therapeutic and hygienic agency at the command of the physician of today.”

COLLEGE ATHLETICS• Disadvantages and Advantages• “Young Men were in particular need of athletics if they were to

withstand the intellectual and emotional strains of college life.”• Athletics encouraged men to engage in body-brain work, which is

the type of physical activity which benefited the mind, not the type which drained away ‘vital energy.’

• Not everyone was convinced that varsity sports provided these benefits.

• “The growing number of deaths and injuries in the game was noted apprehensively.”

• Some colleges embraced athletics and some did not. They all developed their own plans for their physical education programs.

Physical Education as a Science ?

• George Fitz of Harvard tried to place physical education and athletics on a secure scientific foundation.– Fitz insisted that physical education could become a respectable field

only if it was grounded in a systematic, scientific study of the effects of physical activity on the body.

– Fitz set about establishing a four year B.S degree in Anatomy, Physiology and Physical Training.

• Most men and women who headed the newly emerging teacher training programs were oriented more toward the practical concerns of the curriculum than the scientific ones.– From this Physical Education moved more toward sport curriculum

rather that science oriented one.– This moved Physical Education closer to the Social Sciences and

brought about enthusiasm for play and the importance of the social environment.

Concluding Points

• Play focused on the element of growth and education for children and youth as opposed to laboratory research.

• While Physiology and laboratory research was not completely abandoned by the field of Physical Education it influenced it considerably less for the next half century.

• Physicians as well played a diminishing role in the leadership of the profession as the 20th century progressed.

John Fair

Bob Hoffman, the York Barbell Company, and the Golden Age of

American Weightlifting

Father of world weightlifting Statue at US Weightlifting Hall of

Fame, PA

• The Man– Athlete, nutritionist, soldier, weightlifter, coach...– Post WW I oil -> barbells for his club -> world– Funded poor– Pioneered Professional weightlifting 1930s-1950s

• The Company– York Barbell Company– Work for underprivileged– Market leader– Published Strength & Health

• The Legend– 1945-1960 Golden Age of American

weightlifting• American winners• 7/11 world team titles• 28 individual World Champion Titles• 13 Olympic Gold Medals• A triumph for American capitalism

– Decline• Drugs• Less $

– Video • http://w2.ydr.com/mmedia/flv/903/