EARLY AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION
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Introduction of German Gymnastics
o
1823-1833--Round Hill School--Northampton, Mass.--Joseph Cogswell
and George Bancroft
o
Daily sports and gymnastics
o
1825-1830--Charles Beck--turner and friend of Jahn
o
Established an outdoor gymnastics area
o
Translated Jahn's book
Charles Follen--turner and pupil of Jahn's
o
Established gymnasium in Boston in 1826
o
Taught the first German gymnastics at Harvard in 1826
Francis Lieber--pupil of Jahn and Turner
o
Directed the Boston gymnasium in 1827
o
Started a pool there in 1827
Decline of interest in German gymnastics in the late 1820s and 1830s
o
Round Hill School closed; Follen and Lieber went into other jobs along
with Beck
o
Newness wore off
o
Too much strength emphasis with nationalism
o
No American teachers, only German ones
Revival of German gymnastics
o
1850s--German immigrants--especially to the Midwest
o
By 1860--22 turnvereins with 1,672 members
o
1866--Normal School of the North American Gymnastic Union--initially
set up in New York, then Milwaukee, then Indianapolis--(1941--Indiana
University)
o
Introduced into the public schools--Carl Betz in Kansas City--1880s

Catharine Beecher
o Director of the Hartford Seminary for Girls (1824) and the founder of the
Western Female Institute (1837)
o Calisthenics--"a course of exercises designed to promote health and thus
to secure beauty and strength"
o No special room or apparatus
o For the whole family, especially for women--diagrams of how to execute
exercises
o Principles from Ling's Swedish gymnastics
o Her program was probably the first system adapted to the needs of
Americans
o She was one of the first to actively struggle to establish physical education
as a part of the school curriculum on a daily basis

Dio Lewis
o Light gymnastics or exercises with wands, rings, bean-bags, dumbbells,
and Indian clubs with music--teacher directed exercises
o Borrowed ideas from Beecher and Ling
o 1861-1868--Normal Institute for Physical Education in Boston--first
teacher training school for physical education in America
SWEDISH GYMNASTICS IN AMERICA

Hartvig Nissen--Norwegian
o 1883 to Washington, D.C. and taught Swedish gymnastics
o Teacher at Harvard Summer School, Sargent Normal School and PosseNissen School

Baron Nils Posse
o Graduate of the Royal Gymnastics Central Institute
o Came to Boston in 1885
o Taught at Boston Normal School of Gymnastics (1889-1890)
o 1890--Posse Normal School established

Boston Normal School of Gymnastics--1889
o Founded by Mary Hemenway
o Directed by Amy Morris Homans
o Posse was the first teacher
o Purpose was to train teachers in Swedish gymnastics
o

Wellesley College--Department of Hygiene and Physical Education--1909
Boston Conference on Physical Training--1889
o
o
Purpose was "to bring to the attention of the general public and the leaders
in the field the Swedish system."
Speakers also for the German system, the Sargent system, and Hitchcock's
program
AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATORS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Edward Hitchcock--Amherst--(1861-1911)
o
o
o
o
o
o

Professor of Hygiene and Physical Education
Program--with a health emphasis
Half-hour class four times per week for all students
20 minutes for light gymnastics and marching as a class
10 minutes for individual apparatus work or sports
Anthropometrics--search for the average, ideal college male using age,
weight, height, chest girth, arm girth, forearm girth, lung capacity, and
pull-ups
Dudley Sargent--Harvard--(1879-1919)
o Anthropometrics--to find the ideal student, but mostly to establish
individualized goals and programs for each student (influenced by
Archibald Maclaren-English)
o Apparatus--chest weights, chest pulleys, chest developers, leg machines,
and rowing machines used in these individualized programs
o No apparatus of Swedish or German origin emphasized
o Sports promoted such as boxing, rowing, and baseball
o Sargent Normal School--1881--(Boston College--1929)--initially taught
the girls at Harvard Annex and later teacher training school for physical
education
o Harvard Summer School--(1887-1932)--advanced teacher training
program
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Delphine Hanna--Oberlin--(1885-1920)
o
o
o
1903--First woman professor of physical education
Anthropometrics of college women
Instructed Gulick, Wood, Nash, and Williams

William Anderson
o Chautaugua Summer School of Physical Education (1886-1930s)
o Brooklyn (Anderson) Normal School (1886-1953)

Association for the Advancement of Physical Education--1885-- William
Anderson
o Today--AAHPERD--several name changes (see below)

o
Major issues between 1885-1900
o
o
Anthropometrics
Battle of the Systems
YMCA and YWCA
o YMCA founded in 1844 in England by George Williams
o
YMCA founded in 1851 in Boston
o
o
o
YWCA founded in 1866 in Boston by Mrs. Henry Durant
1885--YMCA Training School in Springfield--to train YMCA directors
Purposes of the YMCA--to develop the all-around man (intellectual,
physical, and spiritual)
Gulick's triangle
o
SPIRIT
MIND BODY

Central School of Hygiene and Physical Education was YWCA training school
under Helen McKinstry. (School of Physical Education-Health of Russell Sage
College)
NAMES OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
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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
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1938 American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation
1974 American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and
Dance
1979 American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
BATTLE OF THE SYSTEMS

SYSTEM
German gymnastics
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Swedish gymnastics
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Hitchcock’s system
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Sargent’s system

Association
gymnastics

American system
PURPOSE
 Developed individual abilities and healthy,
strong youth for war or emergencies using
apparatus
 Promoted health, correct expression, and
beauty of performance using exact movement
patterns
 Emphasized hygiene through required
exercises with light apparatus
 Advocated hygienic, educative, recreative, and
remedial aims through individualized exercises
on apparatus
 Contributed to the development of the allaround man
 Combined components and modifications of
various programs into an eclectic system
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION INSTITUTIONS
YEARS
FOUNDERS
NAME
PROGRAM
18611868
Dio Lewis
Normal
Institute for
Physical
Education
Light
gymnastics
18661951
Turners
Normal
School of
the North
American
Gymnastic
Union
German
gymnastics
1881-
Dudley
Sargent
Theoretical
1929
Sargent
Normal
School
& practical
curriculum
1885today
Young
Men’s
Christian
Association
YMCA
Training
School
Association
gymnastics
18861920s
William
Anderson
Chautauqua
Summer
School of
Physical
Education
Advanced
theoretical
& practical
curriculum
18861953
William
Anderson
Brooklyn
(Anderson)
Normal
School
Theoretical
& practical
curriculum
18871932
Dudley
Sargent
Harvard
Summer
School of
Physical
Education
Advanced
&
theoretical
& practical
curriculum
18891909
Mary
Hemenway
and Amy
Morris
Homans
Boston
Normal
School of
Gymnastics
Swedish
Nils Posse
Posse
Normal
School
Swedish
1890
gymnastics
gymnastics
PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
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1896-1903 American Physical Education Review
1903-1930 APEA Review
1930-1938 Journal of Health and Physical Education
1938-1974 Journal of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation
1975-1981 Journal of Physical Education and Recreation
1981-present Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
1930-1979 Research Quarterly
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1980-present Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
1940-present The Physical Educator Phi Epsilon Kappa
1963-present Quest NAPEHE
1892-1896 Physical Education
1901-1928 Journal of Physical Training YMCA
1928-present Journal of Physical Education
MODERN PHYSICAL EDUCATION

1893--Thomas Wood--"The great thought in physical education is not the
education of the physical nature, but the relation of physical training to complete
education, and then the effort to make the physical contribute its full share to the
life of the individual, in environment, training, and culture."

Luther Gulick--Oberlin
o YMCA Training School (1887-1900)
o Director of Physical Training for New York City Public Schools (19031908)
o Assistant Director was Jesse Bancroft
o 1903--Public Schools Athletic League in New York
o Class athletics-track and field; basketball; baseball
o Athletic badge tests--dash; broad jump; pull-ups
o Interschool athletics--Madison Square Garden
o Girls' Branch under Elizabeth Burchenal (folk dancing)
o
1906--Playground Association of America
o
o
1913--Campfire Girls
Play was the most important educational aspect

Thomas Wood--Oberlin
o 1891-1901--Stanford--Physical Education and Health undergraduate
curricula
o 1901-1932--Teachers College--Physical Education and Health
undergraduate and graduate curricula (1927-moved into health education)
o Emphasized educational goals through "natural activities"--sports, games,
dances, aquatics, arts, and recreation.
o 1927--The New Physical Education with Rosalind Cassady

Clark Hetherington
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o
Stanford under Wood (1893-1896--student and instructor)
o
Clark University under G. Stanley Hall--"child-study" and
developmentalism
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
1900-1910--Missouri--rid athletics of abuses (supported women's
activities)
1923-1929--New York University--physical education curriculum
1929-1938--Stanford
Play was a child's chief business in life
Stressed attainment of educational goals in physical activities
1910--Four phases of the educational process
Organic education
Psychomotor education
o
Character education
o
Intellectual education
Jay Nash--Oberlin
o
New York University (1926-1953)
o
o
o
Influenced by Hetherington
Recreation--part of total life experiences for all ages
Emphasis on carry-over sports

Jesse Williams
o Teachers College of Columbia University (1919-1941)
o Expanded Wood's ideas of physical education as part of education, e.g.
social education (John Dewey), unified whole, and living in a democratic
society
o "Education through the physical"
o Physical development is a means to an end (educational objectives)

Charles McCloy
o YMCA--22 years of service at home and abroad
o State University of Iowa (1930-1954)
o Organic unity--physical dimension--the major aspect of the whole being
o Education of the physical
o Educational objectives--secondary to the development of the physical
o Measurement--to develop skill and strength--testing--research professor
PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT (RECREATION)

Colonial amusements--Puritan work ethic

First playgrounds in urban settings
o 1888--Boston--sand boxes--later within the schools
o 1890's--New York's Central Park; Boston; Chicago--upper class--opened
playgrounds
o 1894--Chicago--Jane Addams' Hull House--one of several settlement
houses where play opportunities were provided for children (social
control; assimilation)
o Commonalities
o Preadolescent children
o Summer months initially
o Outdoor equipment
o In urban (populated) areas
o Philanthropic support (donated land); later cities financed
o Police-supervised; mothers, too
o South Park in Chicago--fields, gymnasium, other activity spaces
o Sport was used as a means of social control for the assimilation of
immigrants' cultures and the socialization of American youth
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Playgrounds for children into recreation for all
o 1906--Playground Association of America
o 1906--Boys' Clubs of America
o 1910--Boy Scouts of America
o
1911--Playground and Recreation Association of America
o
1912--Girl Scouts
o
1913--Campfire Girls of America
o
o
o
1930--National Recreation Association
1965--National Recreation and Park Association
Clark Hetherington--The Normal Course in Play--to train recreation
workers
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Depression--increased leisure time--softball and bowling
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Industrial Recreation--1940s facilities and equipment provide for leisure time
usage by workers--softball, bowling, and basketball
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1950s--beginning of outdoor education movement--hiking, camping, and
backpacking
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1965--Lifetime Sports Foundation--carry-over sports to play throughout life
o Archery
o Bowling
o
Badminton
o
o
Golf
Tennis
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1970s--Fitness boom--jogging; tennis; racquetball; aquatic sports
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Organized youth sport
o 1920s--American Legion baseball
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o
1930--Pop Warner Football--Joe Tomlin
o
o
o
o
1939--Little League Baseball--Carl Stoltz
1950--Biddy Basketball--Joe Archer
1950--AAU age-group swimming and 1967--AAU Junior Olympics
MEN'S ATHLETICS
Early American Sport--English influence
o
Socially elite--horse racing, dancing, gambling, cards, and yachting
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Baseball (1744 in England, not 1839 in America by Abner Doubleday)
Cycling--late 1800s
Tennis--1874 from England
Golf--Scotland
Cricket and croquet clubs--late 1800s
1891--Basketball--James Naismith at YMCA Training School
1896--Volleyball--William Morgan at YMCA

Amateur Sports--1850-1900s
o Athletic clubs (especially the New York Athletic Club)--provided sports
opportunities for members (especially track and field)
o 1879--Amateur Athletic Union (1888)--"check the evils of professionalism
and promote amateur sport"
o 1912--538 athletic clubs and the AAU had 19,000 members
o Competition offered (and said to control) 40 sports; later 16 sports-especially basketball, track and field, and boxing

Early collegiate athletics
o
o
o
o
o
Students promoted, financed, and controlled athletics--faculty and
administrators did not want to be involved (no standard rules or eligibility
regulations)
Rowing--1852--Harvard over Yale
Baseball--1859--Amherst over Williams
Football--1869 (actually rugby)--Rutgers over Princeton
 Social function
 Winning=fans=money=winning=fans=money
 Recruiting
 Professional coaches
 Newspaper coverage
 Graduate managers
 Walter Camp (1879-1925)
Control established in colleges
 Injuries; property damage; class absences; rule confusion;
gambling; drunkenness; professionalism; commercialism; and loss
of values
 Benefits--improved health, taught values such as fair play and
teamwork, diminished use of tobacco and alcohol, reduced
rowdyism, improved discipline, and enhanced school spirit
 Late 1800s--students unified various rules of sports
o
Harvard faculty attempted to control class absences and to
regulate athletic abuses--failed initially but in 1882
established the Harvard model with three faculty committee
to oversee athletics; in 1885 they added two students and
one alumnus; in 1888 this committee had three faculty,
three students, and three alumni
o
1895--Midwestern colleges (Intercollegiate Conference of
Faculty Representatives)
Required to be students
Six months residence for transfers
Must remain eligible academically
1905--meeting to investigate the future of football due to
deaths and injuries, as well as dishonesty, gambling, and
eligibility; representatives from 13 colleges attended initial
meeting in December called by President MacCracken of
New York University; in January, 1906, a second meeting
led to the establishment of the NCAA; reform football to
prevent injuries and deaths; legalized forward pass
1906--National Collegiate Athletic Association (28
colleges)
Faculty control-institutional or home rule
Conferences--save money; fewer classes missed; equal
philosophy and size; rivalry
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
No seasonal coaches--with departments of physical
education to gain faculty status
Rules of sports standardized and provide national
tournaments (track and field--1921)
Recruitment and scholarship policies--Sanity Code (194851)
1929--Savage study of college athletics found problems in
commercialism and loss of educational values--American
College Athletics
1981-1982--NCAA began women’s championships
AAU and NCAA conflicts
 Olympic team selection (1920s to the present)
o
National Amateur Athletic Federation-1922
o
o
o
Sanctioning of events
Certification of records
1978--Amateur Sports Act
o
Intramurals--1913--NCAA favored
o
National Junior College Athletic Association--1938
o
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics--1940 (from only
basketball in 1952)
o
o
High schools
Following the examples of the colleges in structure
o
1922--National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations
WOMEN'S SPORTS

Late 1800s
o Croquet, cycling, and hiking with clothing restrictions
o Tennis--1874
o Gymnastics in bloomers (Sargent)
o Basketball
o 1892--Smith College (Senda Berenson)
o 1896--Stanford vs. California--first intercollegiate game
o 1899--Standardized rules
 No snatching the ball
 Could hold ball only three seconds
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o
o
o
o
Could bounce ball only three times
Divided court into three areas to limit exertion
1936--two-division game
1949--rover game in AAU; 1962 in colleges
1970--full court game in colleges
Colleges played track and field, field hockey, archery, rowing, and golf
Preferred events by physical education teachers
Field Day--within a school of interclass play
Play Day--mixed teams competed with a social emphasis
Sports Day--within own team competition with a social emphasis
Telegraphic Meet--send scores to a central location
Philosophical justifications for the opposition of women in competitive
sports
Competition might be physically and emotionally harmful
Undesirable examples from men's programs
Philosophy of mass participation
Societal belief of women as homemakers, not athletes
o
Participation rather than competition
o
1909--about half colleges had intercollegiate competition, especially in the
West and Midwest--allowed only if the following conditions were met:
 Women officials and coaches
 Audience by invitation only
 College-financed only
 No "win-at-all-costs" attitude--for fun and social interaction
 Outside schools--AAU sponsored leagues and tournaments
High schools followed the colleges--but problems arose:
Male coaches and boys' rules
Spectators allowed
Newspaper coverage
Intense competition--all the above meant pressure to win
1917--APEA Committee on Women's Athletics--set standards and rules of
sports
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
1917--Athletic Conference of American College Women
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Opposed intercollegiate competition
Emphasis on participation by all
Aligned with physical education departments and teachers
1923--Women's Division of the National Amateur Athletic Federation
Opposed international competition
Favored play days for girls and women
A sport for every girl, and every girl in a sport"--National Section on
Women’s Athletics
o
1941--National Tournament in golf--opposed by NSWA
o
o
Increased Competition
Olympia development thrust after defeat by Russians in 1956 and 1960
Olympic Games
 U. S. Olympic Development Committee in 1961--"to broaden the
base of participation for girls and women in Olympic sports and to
provide better experiences for the skilled athlete."
o
1963-1969--National Institutes on Girls' Sports--to train
teachers and coaches
o
1963--University of Oklahoma--track and field; gymnastics
o
1965--Michigan State--advanced gymnastics, advanced
track and field; canoeing; kayaking; diving; fencing
o
o
o
1966--Salt Lake City--skiing; figure skating
1966--Indiana University--advanced volleyball; basketball;
coaching
o 1969--Illinois University--advanced basketball; advanced
track and field; officiating basketball and gymnastics
1966-1967--Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women--set up
by the Division of Girls and Women's Sports
 Encourage and govern intercollegiate competition for women at all
levels
 Sanction intercollegiate events
o
o
Hold national tournaments --first national tournaments in
track and field and in gymnastics
1969--Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
 Members were colleges
 Educational goals and purposes
 Set standards and policies for women's athletics
 NAGWS game rules
 Separated from NAGWS in 1979
 Ended June, 1982
 39 championships in 17 sports
PHYSICAL FITNESS

1953--Results of Kraus-Weber Minimal Muscular Fitness Test: 58% of U.S.
youth failed one or more items while 9% of the European youth failed (flexibility)
o
o
o
o
o
o
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On stomach - Raise legs
On stomach - Raise upper body
On back - Raise legs 10 seconds each
Straight leg sit-up
Bent-knee sit -up
Touch toes
1956--President Eisenhower through an Executive Order established the
President's Council on Youth Fitness as an outgrowth of the President's
Conference on Physical Fitness
1956--AAHPER Fitness Conference
1957--AAHPER's National Research Council developed the AAHPER Youth
Fitness Test
o Pull-ups (boys)
o Flexed-arm hang (girls)
o Sit-ups
o Shuttle run
o Standing broad jump
o 50-yard dash
o 600-yard run-walk
o Softball throw
o June 1-7, 1958--National Fitness Week
o 1958--Operation Fitness sponsored by AAHPER to stimulate fitness
nationally
1958--Results of the AAHPER Fitness Youth Test showed poor performance by
youth (8500 boys and girls tested in grades 5-12)
1961--President's Council on Youth Fitness published the "Blue Book" with
suggestions for a school-centered program
o Identify the physically underdeveloped student and work to improve
o Provide at least 15 minutes of vigorous activity daily for all
o Use valid fitness tests to determine abilities and evaluate progress
1963--President Kennedy changed name to the President's Council on Physical
Fitness
1965--Retesting of youth with AAHPER Youth Fitness Test showed
improvement in students' fitness levels
1968--Aerobics published by Kenneth Cooper
o males = 30 points per week
o females = 24 points per week
1974--Retesting of youth with AAHPER Youth Fitness Test showed no overall
improvement in fitness levels since 1965
1981--AAHPERD Lifetime Heath-Related Physical Fitness Test
o Body composition using skinfold measures
o Function of heart and circulatory system using a 1.5 mile or 12-minute run
o Strength using bent-knee sit-ups in 60 seconds (number done)
o Flexibility using straight leg with arm extension

1994--Physical Best (AAHPERD’s educational materials) combined with the
Prudential FITNESSGRAM developed by the Cooper Institute for Aerobics
Research
o Aerobic capacity in a one-mile walk/run or pacer for young children
o Body composition
o Muscular strength and endurance using curl-ups, push-ups, or alternatively
pull-ups, modified pull-ups, or flexed-arm hand and trunk lift
o Flexibility using the back-saver sit-and-reach