The Emergence of a Profession

1
The Emergence of a Profession

• 1885-1930

2
The Scene before 1885

• PE was certainly NOT unknown before 1885.
• There was virtually NO Physical Education in
  schools before 1885.
• 1866-first state legislation requiring PE in
  schools was passed in California.
• 1825-Charles Beck became the first recognized
  teacher of PE in the US-German Gymnastics

3
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Decline of religious opposition to sport and
  exercise.
• Early Christian beliefs seriously hindered the
  early development of PE and leisure pursuits.
• YMCA and others like it helped to lead the belief
  that body and physical pursuits were not opposing
  good Christian values and beliefs.

4
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Immigration
• Millions of immigrants came to America bringing
  with them new games and new attitudes which
  greatly enriched the sport and fitness culture in
  America.
• Sport became a mechanism to become acculturated
  as Americans.

5
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Urbanization
• As immigrants flooded to America, industry
  developed in and around major cities.
• New activities other than rural activities were
  developed to meet the needs of the urban society.
• Concentrated population and wealth in the cities
  were necessary for the development of
  professional sports.

6
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Transportation and Communication
• Railways
• Telegraph
• Newspapers-Printing Press
• Radio
• Television

7
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Education
• THE FUNDAMENTAL INFLUENCE.
• Land Grant Institutions provided greater access
  to university educations.
• These institutions became the site for the
  development of sport and physical education in
  the 20th Century.
• High School Education laws passed in the late
  19th Century.

8
Cultural Influences on PE, Sport and Fitness from
1885 to Now.

• Intellectual Climate
• 19th Century was one of the most active eras in
  history for the development of IDEAS.
• These influences were crucial to the emergence of
  sport, fitness, and PE toward the end of the 19th
  Century.

9
The Battle of the SYSTEMS

• 1885-1900 Marked competition among several
  approaches to what was then called gymnastics
  (now called PE).
• Competition was for new converts to the systems
  and for places in school and college curricula.

10
The Battle of the SYSTEMS

• Almost all programs of PE in America were
  gymnastic systems imported from Europe.
• They were formal approaches to exercise. (Unison
  movement by students)

11
The German System

• Developed originally by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.
• Developed a system that would help build a
  strong, united Germany by balancing academic
  education with PE.
• Took advantage of outdoor spaces and was
  practiced in an outdoor exercising ground.

12
The German System

• Exercises and skills were practiced using a
  variety of apparatus horizontal bars, balance
  beams, vertical ropes, ladders, vaulting horses,
  parallel bars.
• Activities included jumping, climbing, running
  and throwing.
• Brought to America by three students-Beck Follen,
  and Lieber.

13
The German System

• Beck was appointed teacher of PE in 1825 at the
  Round Hill School in Massachusetts.
• Follen hired by Harvard College to set up indoor
  and outdoor gymnasiums.
• Leiber followed Follen at Harvard and also set up
  the first public swimming pool in Boston in 1827.

14
The German System

• By 1890, many midwestern schools had adopted the
  German System of Gymnastics as their PE program.

15
The Swedish System

• Developed in attempt to regain lost national
  pride.
• Mix of nationalism, education and science.
• Differed from the German System with its
  therapeutic basis.
• 1814-Per Henrik Ling assumed the director of the
  Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in
  Stockholm.

16
The Swedish System

• Referred to as MEDICAL GYMNASTICS because of its
  developmental-therapeutic emphasis.
• Complex series of exercises done primarily with
  apparatus such as swinging ladders, rings,
  vaulting bars, and stall bars. Many swinging
  exercises involved ropes.

17
The Swedish System

• Introduced in America in 1883 by Hartwig Nissen.
• The Swedish system was incorporated into the
  Boston public schools in 1890.

18
The Beecher System

• Catherine Beecher founded the Western Female
  Institute, where she developed a system of
  calisthenics and activities that bear her name.
• The gymnastics systems that had been created were
  too vigorous for women and required too much
  strength. Thus Beecher created this system.

19
The Beecher System

• Remember that PIETY, PURITY, SUBMISSIVENESS and
  DOMESTICITY were the so called womanly virtues at
  this time.
• The Beecher system was built around lessons in
  physiology and calisthenics accompanied by music.
  Exercises were designed to produce grace of
  motion, good carriage and sound health.
• Not widely accepted as it conflicted with the
  ideals of femininity widely held in those days.

20
The Dio Lewis System

• Dio Lewis was a radical thinker and dynamic
  speaker.
• He developed one of the first American systems
  that used elements from one or more of the other
  systems.
• Used musical accompaniment for his exercise
  routines which increased heart rate but werent
  as vigorous as the German system.

21
The Dio Lewis System

• Used beanbags, wands, dumbbells, clubs, hand
  rings . Social games and dance routines were
  also emphasized in the system.
• Progressive schools were quick to accept the
  lighter approach to gymnastics.
• Founded Boston Normal Institute for PE-prepared
  teachers for teaching light gymnastics.

22
The Hitchcock System

• Hitchcock system involved a battery of tests for
  the establishment of a baseline from which
  comparisons could be made over time to establish
  progress.
• First truly American system using horizontal and
  rack bars, ladders, weights, rings, Indian clubs
  ropes, etc.
• Established criterion for ANTHROPOMETRIC
  MEASUREMENT.

23
The Sargent System

• Amalgamation of most of the systems mentioned.
• All students of this system underwent
  comprehensive medical and anthropometrical
  testing. Prescription for activity was made
  based on this info.
• He developed specialized exercise machines
  through which the prescriptions could be made.

24
The Sargent System

• Dudley Sargent was destined to become one of the
  most influential leaders in the development of
  American PE.

25
Summary

• The Boston Conference 1889.
• Pivotal in the development of American PE.
• Examined and evaluated current activities in PE.
• Added legitimacy to the beginnings of American
  PE.
• Sport was not a major topic. Not a part of the
  PE scene at this time.

26
Emergence of Organized SPORT

• The late 19th Century was a remarkable period for
  the development of standardized sport.
• Archery, baseball, football, golf, ice hockey,
  soccer, swimming, tennis to name a few became
  standardized.
• Baseball was probably our first truly national
  sport.

27
Emergence of Organized Sport

• 1868-Cincinnati Red Stockings hired a manager who
  put together the most complete team of
  professionals he could hire. Undefeated for over
  a year. Played to over 200,000 people.
• Softball was invented in Chicago in 1887.
• Basketball in Massachusetts by James Naismith in
  1891.
• Volleyball in Massachusetts by William Morgan in
  1896.

28
Emergence of Organized Sport

• Women were involved in the sport movement from
  the beginning. (basketball/volleyball)
• Revival of the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.
  An educational program of peace and cultural
  understanding that sought to unite the modern
  world.

29
Emergence of Organized Sport

• In 1850 there was very little sport participation
  of any kind on American college campuses.
• By the turn of the century, sport had assumed a
  critical social function on most campuses.
• 1852 FIRST COLLEGIATE COMPETITION-crew race btw
  Harvard and Yale.

30
The New Physical Education

• In America, the idea of Universal Public
  Education had taken hold by the end of the 19th
  Century.
• With increasing immigration, child labor laws,
  and school attendance laws the idea had taken
  further hold.
• Developmental Theorists viewed childhood as a
  separate developmental stage. Their ideals
  greatly influenced American education.

31
The New Physical Education

• This movement in education greatly influenced PE.
  
• Created a philosophy within which sport, fitness,
  and PE were fundamentally interrelated.
• 1891-NEA recognizes PE as a curricular field.
  End of gymnastics oriented PE.

32
The Spreading of the PE Umbrella

• In the years btw the turn of the century and WW1,
  the character of American PE took shape.
• It embraced a number of growing movements
  dance, YW/YMCA, playgrounds, recreation, outdoor
  education, sport, fitness, health education and
  intramurals.

33
The Golden Age Post WW1

• The era btw WW1 and the early 30s was an active
  period for the sport, fitness and PE professions.
• A middle class was emerging, people had money and
  wanted diversion.
• National interest in sport grew.
• Bobby Jones/golf, Babe Ruth and Lou
  Gehrig/baseball, Jack Dempsey/boxing

34
The Golden Age Post WW1

• PE required in schools.
• Teacher education in PE became available in more
  colleges and universities. Graduate study in PE
  began to develop.
• The notion of EDUCATION through the PHYSICAL
  became the modern interpretation of PE.

35
The Golden Age Post WW1

• Access and equality for women and blacks were no
  features of this era, even though pioneering work
  was accomplished by women leaders.