Why study the history of anything?

What does history tell us in general?

What difference has history made to present
day events?
What influence does history have in decision
making for leaders in various fields,
professions or disciplines?
What can history do to help me in the field
of Physical Education?

History is the study of change or lack of

change over periods of time.
In physical education, historical perspective
provides teachers and students with an
appreciation of our field and how it has
evolved from areas such as survival skills,
medicine and war.

 What are the differences

among these three terms

and/or concepts?
Is there a hierarchy among
the three concepts?

Not serious
Free activity standing outside ordinary life,
may be intense depending on participants
Absorbing
No material interest
Has its own boundaries and/or limitations
Can form social groups
Amusements engaged in freely, for fun, and
devoid of constraints

Somewhat more organized than play

Has playful elements
Explicit rules
Boundaries which can be flexible
Sequence of actions that are essentially
repeatable
Generally rules are agree upon by participants
prior to beginning
Usually implying winners and losers, can range
from simple diversions to competitions with
significant outcomes governed by rules

 Refreshes

or renews
ones strength and
spirit after toil
Can be with or
without physical
activity

To participate, to
strengthen, or to
condition through
physical activity

 Organized

Highly structured
Governed by rules

Competitive activities
Skilled participants

process through which

an individual obtains
optimal physical,
mental, and social skills
and fitness through
physical activity.
(Lumkin, 1994)

Their purpose is to optimize

quality of life through a longterm commitment to
enjoyable physical activity
and sport experiences that
will meet varied needs in a
changing world. (Lumpkin,
1994)

Survival was the basic aim of all

education in primitive society
Skills of an individual were
developed for the good of the
group.
Adult competitions came about
as a form of recreation and to
determine the most effective
hunters and fighters.

How would you

characterize the
influence of the
Primitive culture on the
development of Physical
Education?

Early period of education included

physical activity but it did not last as
China took on an Isolationist policy.
Early versions of soccer, wrestling and
archery were evident in their history.
Cong Fu was a program of exercises
devoted to prevention of disease through
physical activity.
Dance was popular both for ritual and
recreation.

This was one of the earliest cultures to

provide women with equal opportunities.
Education was primarily for occupational
reasons such as learning a trade.
Physical Education was of little
importance since Egypt was not militarily
oriented.
Egyptians enjoyed sport and games and
had a great love of dance.

Primarily a military focus in the

culture.
What impact did the concept of
military training have on the
general education and physical
activity levels in the ancient
China, Egypt and the Middle
East?

Early accounts suggest that Games

were religious activities that surrounded
funeral rites.
Foot racing, boxing, wrestling and
chariot races were the common forms of
competition.
Physical Education was geared toward
the use of weapons and hand-to-hand
combat techniques.

Spartan culture and life was primarily

military in nature.
Weak children were abandoned in the
wilderness to die.
Education for males was focused on their
readiness for military service.
Female education revolved around
preparation for childbirth and
motherhood.
Dance was encouraged as a means of
physical conditioning and to honor the
gods.

The motto a sound mind in a sound

body stresses the goal of education.
Schools were for men and women were
educated at home.
Gymnasium is the Greek word for
naked and was the name given to a
training school for males.
Palestra was a small training school for
wrestling and the physical training
teacher was called a paidotribe, the
original physical education teacher or
coach.

The term Olympiad means a four-year

period.
The first recorded Olympics were in 776
B.C.
pax Olypmia referred to the month-long
treaty or truce that surrounded the
games.
The festival of Hera was held every four
years to allow for competition among
women of Greece.

The first presence of a coaches

handbook on training was in the third
century B.C.
Amateurism versus Professionalism was
never an issue in the ancient form of the
games.
The ancient games came to an end in 394
B.C. because they were considered a form
of pagan worship by the Roman Christian
rulers of the time.

Training for males was directed

entirely toward preparation for
the military.
Women were considered more
important in the Roman culture
than the Greek culture.
Roman civilization quickly
became a nation of spectators
as the empire grew and they
conquered surrounding nations.

Roman viewed sport in two ways:

Military training
Entertainment

Roman culture used the concept of

sport as a means to entertainment to
the point where they used captured slaves
as the competitors or Gladiators.
spectacle is the opiate of the masses
The ideal of sport and competition for the
joy of competing was lost to the concept
of winning in order to survive during the
Roman Empire.

It is reported that there was a

revival of athletic tournament
during this period so that
Knights could maintain a level
of fitness and refine skills for
battle.
The Crusades were the reason
that the Catholic Church
accepted physical training
again.

Roman Catholic Church was opposed to

physical education for three reasons:
1. it considered the Roman character that
resulted from sport and games to be
undesirable
2. the Roman style games were considered
pagan due to their relationship with
honoring the gods
3. the church believed that the emphasis
on development of the body was evil in
nature.

Upper classes were primarily the

participants in sport and games activities.
Lower classes were generally not
permitted to compete and did not have
the time to train in order to be
competitive.
How would you compare this with todays
perceptions of sports and participation in
sports?

Colonists organized and attempted to

fight against the British forces for
independence.
It quickly became apparent that
colonial life was not adequately
rigorous to prepare them for life as a
soldier in war.
Skills used in earlier colonial life we
limited to the job skills of the
individuals.

Frontier life had hunting, tracking and survival

skills as their basis.
Indians shared my skills with new settlers as
the move west continued.
Male Indians played a game called Beggataway
which meant game of ball that was similar
to current day Lacrosse.
Females played a game with sticks that
eventually became Field Hockey.
The topic of Hygiene was taught primarily by
Physicians during this period.

A variety of activities and competitions

contributed to the revival of the modern
Olympics.
The continued efforts of many individuals
culminated in 1896 when the games
organized by Pierre de Coubertin and held in
Athens, Greece.
Olympics through history
Olympic History
10 points to remember!

George Hengel and Karl Marx were prominent

political figures who influenced trends in
education.
They both believed that every individual needed
to be strong enough to be a contributing
member of society.
Marxism and Socialism contributed to the
incorporation of exercise and physical activity as
staples in the education of all citizens.

The late 1800s and into the 1900s researchers

began to study the effects of strength training
and the measurement of increased level of
fitness on participants in various programs.
This signaled the beginning of our modern
concepts of fitness and strength training as
structured programs rather that arbitrary results.
Two systems of German exercise battled for
prominence in early school Physical Education
programs: the Turner and Swedish systems of
exercise for physical training.


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Stages of development of organized sport

(1850-1900):
Growth of University and school sports;
Popularity of sports both for participants and
spectators;
Development of sports clubs;
National organizations organized and sponsored
national championships;
Common national and international rules were
written;
Records were kept in sports where it was
appropriate.

Non school sports were first on the scene

and created an interest for the physical
education curriculum and fueled the
growth of intramural sport activities.
Influences on sport and athletics in
schools and colleges:
1905 development of the NCAA
1922 establishment of the national
federation of high school sports
The New Physical Education of the 1920s
that saw sports incorporated into the PE
curriculum.

Rapid growth of womens competitive sports.

Popularity of competitive intramurals as an
established portion of the college and school
programming.
Games and sports became a standard portion of
the general physical education curriculum.
Physical Education gradually shifted its focus
from health and wellness to sports and games
and this created a need for the preparation of
teachers who were more athletically inclined
rather than focused on a medical and formal
gymnastics background.

War-related injuries brought about an

increased need for physical rehabilitation
programs.
This was the birth of physical therapy and
the belief that through exercise the body
could be restored, a Chinese approach
evident many centuries earlier.

Rogers Strength Index and Physical Fitness

Index was a general motor fitness test that
measured: balance, flexibility, agility,
strength, power, and endurance items.
Fitness testing became part of physical
education curriculum at the college level.
Wartime training tests demonstrated the
need for additional fitness and health
emphasis.

Kraus-Weber Test was used to conduct a

comparison between the fitness levels of
children in Europe and the United States in
the 1950s.
Low scores eventually led to the
establishment of the Presidents Council on
Physical Fitness during the Kennedy
Administration.

1885 Adelphi Academy held to discuss

common interest in physical activity and
development.
Edward Hitchcock and Dudley Sargent led
discussions concerning the present and
future of the fields of fitness and physical
education.

1885 at this conference the creation of

the Association for the Advancement of
Physical Education signaled a national
interest in the subject area.
The objective of this association was to
disseminate knowledge concerning
physical education, to improve methods,
and by meetings of the members to bring
those interested in the subject into closer
relation to each other.

1885 Association for the Advancement of Physical

Education
1886 American Association for the Advancement
of Physical Education
1903 American Physical Education Association
1937 American Association for Health and
Physical Education
1938 American Association for Health, Physical
Education and Recreation
1974 American Alliance for Health, Physical
Education and Recreation
1979 American Alliance for Health, Physical
Education, Recreation and Dance.

The Great Depression saw Physical

Education in schools as an expensive
frill and many programs were
dropped.
Intramural sports programs grew at
the expense of interscholastic
programs due to increased
participation at a reduced cost to the
schools.

Recreation expanded during the Great

Depression for two reasons:
Unemployment created increased leisure time
The government created jobs programs that
focused on the construction and development of
recreational facilities including public parks for
playing games as well as outdoor leisure pursuits.
Womens sports suffered because women
administrators held back the development of
womens programs due to the fear they would
suffer from examples set by the mens programs.

During the initial draft for WWII, 45% of the

draftees were rejected for physical or
mental reasons.
The government immediately saw the need
to address health and fitness issues among
the general population.
The government created the Division of
Physical Fitness.

Physical Education programs focused on

physical fitness and were oriented toward
preparation of students for military needs.
Numerous attempts were made to create
comprehensive fitness tests that could be
administered to prepare individuals for
military service when needed.

A significant wartime gain was that many

states went from recommended to
required physical education programs in
the school curriculum.
Post WW II saw the return of the Olympic
Games in 1948 and this brought about an
international consciousness and
cooperation regarding sports and physical
education.

1953 Kraus-Weber Test results suggest that

European children were at a higher level of
fitness
1955 President Eisenhower created the
Council on Youth Fitness
1958 AAHPER published their first Youth
Fitness Test Battery.
1961 President Kennedy created the
Presidents Council on Youth Fitness.

Kennedys efforts to infuse more fitnessoriented activities and sports into schools
curriculum was the first non-war effort
supported by upper levels of government.
The launch of Sputnik satellite by Russia
signaled the start of the Cold War and
created a new reason to investigate the
fitness level of our population.
1946 Jackie Robinson was the first black
professional athlete.

Olympics became a stage for political statements

and activities.
1968 Mexico Olympics saw riots and
demonstrations.
1972 Munich games resulted in the murder of
Israeli athletes by Arab extremists.
1976 Olympics athletes raised their hands in
tribute to Black Power.
1980 games in Moscow boycotted by the United
States Team.
1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles were
boycotted by the Soviet Block countries.

Big time college sports were viewed

negatively as sports for the few and
students began to demand money be put
back into intramural programs and club
sports.
The growth of professional sports and
television sports turned the nation into a
nation of spectators and youth began to
imitate role models rather than the
more traditional individuals from
neighborhoods.

War in Southeast Asia brought a renewed

interest in the role of Physical Education in
school curriculum.
The general educational movement was
toward students having more choices in
curriculum and individual class offerings.

By the 1980s the concept of student

choice had lost its push and educators
moved back to the more traditional
emphasis on standardized curricular
offerings.
Professionals became aware of the need
to prepare students for their future
activity needs and the trend toward
elective lifetime sports and activities
were developed in the curriculum.

The Wellness movement began to pick

up momentum and the focus of physical
education moved toward recreation and
fitness.
New Games became popular among
younger students due to the emphasis on
cooperative, group-oriented activities
over competition.
As in the years of the Great Depression,
school budget were reduced and so were
the allocations for programming and time
allocations for physical education.

In physical education, the most noticeable

changes in the last 30 years are the trend
from fitness to a lifetime wellness focus in
required programs, a disappearing
requirement even as youth fitness levels
worsen, and continued fracturing of the
profession into disciplinary groups.

1871 West Chester Normal School opened

1889 Construction of the gymnasium and
beginning of the Department of Physical Training
directed by Dr. Clyde Ehinger
1921 Department of Physical Education under Dr.
Charles Lewis
1927 West Chester State Teachers College
1960 West Chester State College (WCSC)
1972 Opening of the Health Sciences Center
1982 West Chester State College becomes West
Chester University
1993 Struzebecker Health Sciences Center