Physical Education and sport in

the ancient world.

• China
• China in its past, was mainly an agrarian culture,
as it still is today. Tradition and superstition
controlled many of the tasks carried out in daily
living just as it had been completed by their
ancestors. The very cohesive society was based
on a strong family unit, which was controlled by its
eldest member. Every individual had close family
ties and followed the traditions of ancestor
worship. Obedience and subservience to the
family or group were stressed, rather than
individuality.
 China

• Education attempted to develop a student’s

intellectual, moral, and aesthetic senses. In many
cultures military needs are the reasons for developing a
physical training programme. This was not the case for
China, which has many natural barriers including the
great wall (built 200 BC). Although it should be noted
much fighting went on internally.
• There was an early version of soccer, polo, archery and
wrestling. Much of China’s exercise forms are based on
oneness with their surroundings. This is shown in many
of the martial art forms. These forms of exercise
enhance the philosophy of moderation in view of
keeping an unchanging society.
 India

• When looking at India it is impossible to do so

without understanding Hinduism as its
religion. This was a social system as well as a
religious practice. The caste system of this
religious faith fixed people at birth socially
and educationally. The emphasis in
Education was on the concept of the re-
cycling of life.
• Exercise was used for health similarly to
China’s culture. But the Indians had games
and recreational sports such “Karabadi.”
Egypt

• Although physical education was

not a major part of Egyptian life,
physical activities were very
important to the Egyptians. They
enjoyed many games and sports,
and woman frequently participated.
Swimming was popular (in the
Nile), as were gymnastics activities,
hunting, games involving skills of
fighting and war, and many types
of ball games. Boating and dance
activities were extremely popular.
 Ancient Greece
• The following quotes are from the writings of the ancient
Greek’s, which gives us a great deal of information
concerning physical training.
• 1) Plato Laches 182a
• [182a] Since it is as good and strenuous as any physical
exercise--but is also a form of exercise which, with riding, is
particularly fitting for a free citizen; for only the men trained
in the use of these warlike implements can claim to be
trained in the contest whereof we are athletes and in the
affairs wherein we are called upon to contend.1 Further, this
accomplishment will be of some benefit also in actual battle,
when it comes to fighting in line with a number of other men;
but its greatest advantage will be felt when the ranks are
broken, and you find you must fight man to man, either in
pursuing someone who is trying to beat off your attack,
 Ancient Greece

• Lach.,182a,n1. I.e., in regular warfare.

• 2) Plato Philebus 30b
• [30b] and the element of cause which exists in all
things, this last, which gives to our bodies souls and the
art of physical exercise and medical treatment when
the body is ill, and which is in general a composing and
healing power, is called the sum of all wisdom, and yet,
while these same elements exist in the entire heaven
and in great parts thereof, and area moreover, fair and
pure, there is no means of including among them that
nature which is the fairest and most precious of all.
 Ancient Greece
• 3) Xenophon Cyropaedia 1.6.17
• [1.6.17] "In the first place, by Zeus," said Cyrus, "I try never
to eat too much, for that is oppressive; and in the second
place, I work off by exercise what I have eaten, for by so
doing health seems more likely to endure and strength to
accrue.""That, then, my son," said he, "is the way in which
you must take care of the rest also.
• "Yes, father," said he; "but will the soldiers find leisure for
taking physical exercise?" "Nay, by Zeus," said his father,
"they not only can, but they actually must. For if an army is
to do its duty, it is absolutely necessary that it never cease to
contrive both evil for the enemy and good for itself. What a
burden it is to support even one idle man! It is more
burdensome still to support a whole household in idleness;
but the worst burden of all is to support an army in idleness.
For not only are the mouths in an army very numerous but
the supplies they start with are exceedingly limited, and they
use up most extravagantly whatever they get, so that an
army must never be left idle."
 Ancient Greece
• 4) Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 1143b
• Knowing about them does not make us any more capable of
doing them, since the virtues are qualities of character; just as
is the case with the knowledge of what is healthy and
vigorous--using these words to mean not productive of health
• 5) Aristotle Politics 1322b
• On the other hand, peculiar to the states that have more
leisure and prosperity, and also pay attention to public
decorum, are the offices of Superintendent of Women,
Guardian of the Laws, Superintendent of Children, Controller of
Physical Training, and vigor but resulting from them: we are
not rendered any more capable of healthy and vigorous action
by knowing the science of medicine or of physical training
Boxing
 Ancient Greece
• 6) Isocrates Antidosis 181
• [15.181] Since this is so, certain of our ancestors,
long before our time, seeing that many arts had
been devised for other things, while none had
been prescribed for the body and for the mind,
invented and bequeathed to us two disciplines,
physical training for the body, of which
gymnastics is a part, and, for the mind,
philosophy, which I am going to explain.
• 7) Plato Republic 468e
• [468e] and also with 'seats of honor and meat
and full cups'1, so as to combine physical training
with honor for the good, both men and women."
 Ancient Greece
• 8) Plato Republic 547d
• “… and the devotion to physical training and
expertness in the game and contest of war--in all these
traits it will copy the preceding state.”
• 9) Xenophon Constitution of the Lacedaimonians 1.4
• [1.4] But Lycurgus thought the labour of slave women
sufficient to supply clothing. He believed motherhood to
be the most important function of freeborn woman.
Therefore, in the first place, he insisted on physical
training for the female no less than for the male sex:
moreover, he instituted races and trials of strength for
women competitors as for men, believing that if both
parents are strong they produce more vigorous
offspring.
 Ancient Greece
• 10) Xenophon Ways and Means 4.52
• [4.52] For the classes undergoing physical
training will take more pains in the gymnasium
when they receive their maintenance in full than
they take under the superintendents of the torch
races;1 and the classes on garrison duty in a
fortress, or serving as targeteers, or patrolling
the country will show greater alacrity in carrying
out all these duties when the maintenance is duly
supplied for the work done.
• The Iliad and the Odyssey are the first written
accounts of sport competitions, along with the
first coaching advice given to his son.
 Spartan Education
• Sparta was a military state. They lived for war and
consequently allowed weak children to die. Education
was given by the state, and it was a harsh system of
physical training for males beginning at seven where
they left home and lived in the barracks.
• They trained in-groups under a youth leader until they
were 14. Then from 14-20 years old they underwent
more vigorous military training. They lived in barracks
until they were thirty years old, when they were able to
marry and leave, but they were still required to eat
their meals with other soldiers.
 Spartan Education
• For girls training also began at seven years old until they
were eighteen, with weight control and conditioning to
prepare the girls for motherhood. The girls participated
regularly in athletics and proud fathers and brothers
placed many memorial markers, honoring their sporting
achievements. When she married her athletic activities
ended as she was expected to stay at home.
• Boxing was discouraged because men fought to the
death, because Spartan’s were taught never to admit
defeat. Much physical training was conducted to the
sound of music. The sole emphasis of their training was
purely on the physical, and consequently they were not
able to govern effectively through poor development of
the intellect.
 Athenian
Education
• The Athenian model of education has long
been the theoretical balance in modern
western education. The motto for
education was ”a sound mind in a sound
body” (mens sana in corpore sano).
• The philosophy of the education system
was the “beautiful and the good.” This
represented the ideal characteristics of
the Athenian citizen: aesthetic
sensibilities, knowledge, physical skills
and a strong sense of ethics. These
philosophy’s culminated in the
inscriptions on the temple of Delphi-
“know thyself” and “nothing in excess.”
 Athenian Education
• Plato suggested boys begin physical education at 6 years old,
grammar at 10 and music at thirteen. At 18 years old, boys
entered the military.
• The program of physical education for older males was
concentrated at the gymnasium. Greek athletes competed
without clothing (hence the word gymnasium, from the Greek
word meaning "naked," gymnos ).
• The physical education teacher was called a paidotribe, and the
coach was called a gymnastes. The aim of these professions
was to produce the qualities of the physical and intellectual
through the physical. The training was similar to the Spartans
except the Athenians sought a harmonious development of the
individual.
 The athletic games and
contests of the Greeks.
• The word Olympiad means a four-year period, and the Olympic
games were help every four years. The festival lasted for five
days in late August.
• Excellence (arete) as a competitive value for male Greek
aristocrats showed up clearly in the Olympic Games, a religious
festival associated with a large sanctuary of Zeus, king of the
gods of the Greeks.
• Although, the Olympic games were not exclusively the domain of
the wealthy Greek aristocracy, with many poorer persons
participating. The sanctuary was located at Olympia, in the
northwestern Peloponnese (the large peninsula that forms
southern Greece), where the games were beginning in 776 B.C.
• During these great celebrations the men competed in running
events and wrestling as individuals, not as national
representatives on teams, as in the modern Olympic Games. The
emphasis on physical prowess and fitness, competition, and
public recognition by other men corresponded to the ideal of
Greek masculine identity as it developed in this period. In a rare
departure from the ancient Mediterranean tradition against public
nakedness, the Olympic games grew.
 The athletic games and
contests of the Greeks.
• The primary foot race was the stade (192 meters). A second race was
twice this distance at 384 meters. Other running races were held up
to 5 kilometers long. Field events included the long jump, the discus,
javelin and wrestling.
• In later Greek athletic competitions prizes of value were often awarded. Admission
was free to men; married women were not allowed to attend, on pain of death, but
women had their own separate festival at Olympia on a different date in honor of
Zeus' wife, Hera. Although less is known about the games of Hera, literary sources
report that unmarried young women competed on the Olympic track in a foot race
five-sixths as long as the men's stadion.
• In later times, international games including the Olympics were
dominated by professional athletes, who made good livings from
appearance fees and prizes won at various games held all over
Greece. The most famous of them all was Milo, from Croton, in
southern Italy. Winner of the Olympic wrestling crown six times
beginning in 536 B.C., he was renowned for “showy” stunts, such as
holding his breath until his blood expanded his veins so much that
they would snap a cord tied around his head.
 The athletic games and
contests of the Greeks.
• Moreover, an international truce of several weeks
was declared so that competitors and spectators
from all the Greek communities could travel to
and from Olympia in security, even if wars were
otherwise in progress along their way.
• In short, the arrangements for the Olympic Games
demonstrate that in eighth century B.C. the
Greeks had developed the aristocratic values of
individual activity, and the pursuit of excellence
by one's self efforts. These ideas were beginning
to be channeled into a new context appropriate
for a changing society.
 The athletic games and
contests of the Greeks.
• Greek athletes were extremely serious about their
training. This is evident in part from their lengthy
careers, and a 6 months a year competitive season.
Professional coaches appeared, and the athletes
training programs were coordinated with medical
advice.
• A coach’s handbook on training was written by
Philostratus in the third century B.C. Amateur was
not a word in the Greek language until the end of the
1800’s of our era. The athletes of that time received
great benefits from their victories.
• Theodosius 1 abolished the Olympic games in A.D.
394. As a Christian he considered them pagan events
as they honored Greek gods.
The Roman Empire
• Roman civilization grew by
the Tiber River in the central
part of the Italian peninsula.
It was founded by shepherds
and traders. As the city
grew it conquered the whole
of the Italian peninsular, and
then progessed further into
other parts of the
Mediterranean . The
essential characteristic of
Roman civilization was
pragmatism- “if it works do
it.” Where as Greeks were
thinkers and philosophers
the Romans were doers.
 Roman education
• The object of early Roman education was to produce
children who would be true to the ideals and religion of
the state. During a child’s early years the education
took place at home.
• Physical training for boys was directed almost entirely
toward military goals. In contrast to the Greeks the
Romans had no real interest in beauty, harmony or the
balanced development of the individual, although a
strong sense of morals were considered important.
• Literature study came from the memorization of the
Twelve Tables, Rome’s codification of their laws.
 Roman education
• As the power and influence of Rome grew they saw a need
to educate their citizens in being able to administer their
empire. The military orientation now was more of a full
time army made up of mercenaries, and non-citizens who
were paid to serve in the army.
• Schools were developed outside the home as Rome grew.
Greek slaves, who had a broader educational background
than the Romans, now provided the education.
• The study included: grammar, but the Romans saw no use
for gymnastics or music so these were discarded. The
educational system was unbalanced, from the arts to the
sciences. The Romans made great contributions in law and
engineering, as they saw these were of practical use. The
Roman baths were more like modern health spas although
exercise was taken at them, but not on the scale of the
Greeks.
 Roman education
• As Rome grew more wealthy slaves completed
many of the tasks of the former poor.
• Roman moral climate declined as Romans did not
have to work to survive. Food was provided free
for all that were in need of it by the state.
• In the latter stages of the Roman Empire, the
Romans saw little reason for physical training and
became a nation of spectators.
• They would attend the circus or the amphitheater
and watch gladiatoral fights to the death. These
events became more and more debauched as
time went on. The early Christian’s receiving
many painful methods of dying for their faith.
Roman Sport
• Romans were not interested in the
intrinsic value of sport as the Greeks
were.
• The Romans primary practical pursuit
for physical training was in regard to
war and entertainment.
• Romans were mainly spectators and
there is great debate whether to call the
participants athletes or entertainers.
• It most be noted that the Romans did
not consider these events as cruel. The
gladiators were criminals or slaves and
not free persons. The arena was a way
of entertaining the masses and
distracting them from the less pleasant
realities of their own lives.
 Roman Sport
• The difference between the Greek and Roman
cultures is shown in how they viewed sport by the
words they used for it. The Greek word is “agon”
meaning contest, whereas the Roman word is “ludi”
which meant game, amusement or entertainment.
The Roman Empire lost the concept of mind-body
balance, and the idea of all-around bodily
development.
• The Greeks emphasized the honor of victory and the
joy of competition, but this changed over the Roman
era to victory alone. Few sought after this type of
competition and so consequently the majority
became spectators and gambled on the outcome.
 Questions
• Why did sport and games emerge in these
societies?
• List differences and similarities between
the different societies.
• Using the differences and similarities
between the different societies explain
why certain sports and games emerged in
some societies and not others?
• Can you note any differences or
similarities between the ancient world and
today?
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe.
• The Roman Empire fell, and the growing
Catholic church (in the west) was then the
only stable institution in Europe during the
medieval period. The feudal system was
the dominant social structure.
• Education begun at seven years old for
noblemen. The boys served as a page in
another Nobleman’s home. This stage
lasted until they were fourteen years old.
• Woman and household workers trained the
page during this phase of his education.
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe.
• At fourteen he became a squire until he was twenty-
one years old. This phase of training involved
serving a Knight or a group of Knights.
• He trained in learning the arts of war, developing his
body and performing acts of obligation to his lord.
At twenty-one years old or younger if noted for
bravery, he was knighted. This was a serious
religious ceremony.
• Physical training lay at the core of the training for
knighthood at all the stages, with the goals of
acquiring military prowess and developing social
graces and sports skills.
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe.
• It is believed the Catholic Church was
opposed to Physical Education for the
following reasons:
• The debased character of the Roman sports
and games consequently were view as an
evil activity, which disturbed the early
Medieval Church.
• It closely associated the Roman games with
pagan religions.
• The church was growing in the belief of the
evil nature of the body. The body and soul
were becoming viewed as two separate
entities. The soul should be preserved and
strengthened but the body should not be
catered for in any way. It should not be
given entertaining or beneficial exercises.
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe.
• The church attempted to suppress many games
and sports at this time as they were considered
frivolous and tinged with sin. Dancing was
strongly discouraged because of its sensual
nature. Although Thomas Aquinas advocated
Physical Education being the most prominent
churchmen of his time.
• The role Thomas Aquinas played is crucial to
understanding the development of modern
thought and practice of physical education. There
were two great schools of thought emerging from
the Greek philosophies of Plato and Aristotle.
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe.
• Platonism viewed reality from a spiritual standpoint,
whereas Aristotle viewed reality as the here and now.
• Thomas Aquinas revived the Aristotle world-view in the
middle ages and his teaching was the precursor for the
renaissance period.
• The church was the provider of education in the middle
ages and it consisted of seven liberal arts courses;
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, grammar,
rhetoric and logic.
• Sport during the middle ages (like much of history) was
mainly for the wealthy upper classes. During the Middle
Ages the tradition of chivalry dominated much of the
physical training. These events were tournaments where
knights fought to prove the strength and prowess.
 Physical Education and
sport in medieval and
early modern Europe
• As the middle ages progressed into the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, medieval civilization began to decline.
Towns, education and the arts began to flourish. Nations
in Europe became united under various kings and queens
and began to resemble the nations we know today. This
was the beginning of the renaissance period.
• As the renaissance drew near the middle and lower
classes began to develop their own sports activities
separately from those of the upper classes. These
physical activities resembled throwing objects, running
and jumping. The Middle class that had been steadily
growing since the 10th Century, began to develop their
own games. They developed variations of the Knights
games as they attempted to train to defend their cities.
 Physical Education and sport in medieval and early
modern Europe
• Many of the modern ball games came from this time;
where the masses played games and had goals, which
were often the city gates. One such influence is the
French game "soule" which is similar to Rugby. All
classes began to participate in these contests.
• The Bayeux Tapestry (which illustrates the Norman
Conquest of England in 1066) illustrates a constant
thread through this period of play is ritualized
aggression and that play is training for war. Cock
fighting, stone and javelin throwing bear bating,
hunting, ice-skating and football were some of the
sports played during this period.
Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe
• Due to the influence of Aquinas, the Church began
to accept more worldly recruits into the newer
religious orders.
• Many of the customs and games of the countries
the Catholic Church “Christianized” became
popularized and accepted into the church.
• The Moslem spring ball game became associated
with Easter. The growing number of public
holidays became a natural time for these games
and recreational activities to be played.
• There are accounts of the three-wall handball
game being played up against churches using the
corners of the buttresses as the court.
 Physical Education and sport in
medieval and early modern
Europe
• In the late middle ages both the church and the state began to
make rules and laws against sporting activities partly because
of civil disturbances and occasional deaths that resulted form
sports.
• The other important factor in this was national defense and the
state wanted men to practice archery rather than play games.
• The decline of the Knight was due to the English longbow and
with it the chivalrous tournaments disappeared with the
emergence of gunpowder. The field of cloth of gold in 1520
was the last tournament under Henry V111.
• The view that the body is evil and the emergence of the
popularity of games and sports was played out, right up to the
twentieth century.
 Questions

• Why did the Catholic church suppress

sports and games?
• Why did many sports and games
continue despite the Catholic
churches ban?
• Why did the Catholic church begin to
accept sports and games later on?
 The Renaissance Period
• The Middle Ages did not disappear suddenly;
Medieval life and civilization gradually waned for
more than a century before the Renaissance burst
out in full force in Italy.
• The Renaissance began in Italy in the thirteenth
century and spread throughout North and Western
Europe for the next two centuries.
• The Renaissance required a utilitarian kind of
Education that could not be found within theological
study. The demands of business necessitated the
study of law. Scholars began to search for the
Roman codes and indexes, which led to the study of
other classical works from ancient Greece.
 The Renaissance Period
• The Renaissance was endeared to the ancient philosophy of
stoic-humanism, which combined the life of action and that of
contemplation.
• The men of the Renaissance felt obligated to serve the
community as well as to learn all they could about the rational
world.
• This education was dispelled from the new Universities of
Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna, Salerno, and Paris.
• The increase of humanistic thought brought the decrease of
church-controlled education to a more popular secular
educational model.
• Physical education was a part of these universities at this time,
but it was limited by the belief that physical training would
interfere with academic studies.
• Their sport was more intramural rather than varsity athletics.
The Renaissance helped to bring back the all-round person,
allowing for the development of team games and individual
competitive activities (such as military skills).
The Renaissance Period
• One typically Roman trait that became the
hallmark of the Renaissance man was
universality.
• The complete man had mastery of many facets
of life. Leonardo da Vinci was the epitome of
this ideal. He was a writer, painter, optician,
cartographer, astronomer, geologist, botanist,
and studied anatomy and mechanics. He was an
engineer and inventor as well.
• There were others during this time that excelled
in many fields such as Michelangelo, Cellini and
Lorenzo de’ Medici.
 The Renaissance Period
• The study of the ancient writings that expressed many
humanistic ideas brought a conflict between the church and
intellectuals. The Renaissance perhaps is the clearest example
of the necessity of a balance between freedom and order,
individual interests and social and political stability, rights and
obligations, power and responsibility.
• The education of the period began to develop along the lines
of the Greek ideal; it stressed a classical education combined
with physical education. A major leader was Vittorino da Feltre
(1374-1446). His school for children of nobility taught the
Athenian model of classics but also included swimming,
fencing, riding, and dancing. The universal model was
vigorously promoted in this education program.
The Renaissance Period
• The energy and enthusiasm of the Renaissance found
expression in a wide variety of sports and games.
• Schoolmasters in general considered physical activity an
essential part of the curriculum. Exercise was deemed a
necessity for both young and old.
• The fore-runners to tennis, baseball and bowling were
very popular.
• Physical activity was both utilitarian and enjoyable. It
provided for the sound body in which a sound mind could
exist, and it was fun. Other sports were ball games, horse
races, boxing matches, racquet games, gambling,
dancing, hunts, and dancing.
The Renaissance Period
• A quote from the time by Castiglione reveals the
Renaissance nobleman’s perception of sport.
• “Also it is a noble exercise, and meete for one living in
Court to play at Tenise, where the disposition of the
body, the quickness and nimbleness of every member
is much perceived, and almost whatsoever a man can
see in all other exercises. And I reckon vaulting no less
praise, which for all it is painefull and hard, maketh a
man more light and quicker than any of the rest.”
• War and invasion took the ideas of the Renaissance
Italy to other areas in Europe. Although during this time
other European nations were developing vibrant
cultures.
 The Renaissance Period
• The working masses during the Renaissance were on the
whole able to improve their circumstances and many were
freed from serfdom. Their carnival festivities held on public
holidays, were full of eating, drinking, games and dancing.
• The struggle at this time for people to break away from the
Catholic Church produced men such as Martin Luther and
Calvin. The beginning of the Protestant Church gave a
greater support for physical activities. Protestants believed
that physical activities might help to prevent corruption of
the body in word and deed, and therefore, were of moral
value.
• Also, the Protestant belief that everyone has the right to
read the Scriptures increased the need for general
education to ensure literacy. Education under the Catholic
Church had been for its leaders and scholars.
The Renaissance Period

• As we move closer to the modern era,

sport was still in a low level, informal
state. Games had general forms but
were not standardized.
• Many variations of each sport existed
across Europe. Nationalism was a
product of the Renaissance, but
international sport on the scale of the
Greeks had not yet emerged.
 Questions

• What were some of the changes from

medieval Europe to renaissance Europe?
• What are the arguments presented for
and against sport/PE/games from a
religious perspective during this time?
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw
more progress toward our current educational
practices than any previous time, except perhaps
ancient Greece. To follow this progress of physical
education during this time period, it is important
to look at the educational theorists rather than
organized programs, as they were none.
• This period is known as the age of reason and
enlightenment. The atmosphere was
characterized by optimism. In education “realists”
proposed that that goal of education was to tie
reality to life as it really was.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• The humanistic theories previously
discussed were developed and broken
away from. These were humanistic
realists, social realists, and sense realists.
• Physical education was still a minor part of
the curriculum but as educational theory
developed, physical education began to
become a valuable part of the educational
process. These realists called for physical
activities in education and their primary
motivation was for improved health.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• Francois Rabelais (1495-1553) believed in physical
education’s importance in preparation for war. The
difference in Rabelais’s ideas was he believed a
Knight should also be trained as a scholar. The
physical activities were designed to strengthen his
body and serve as recreation.
• John Milton (1608-1674) the English writer believed
that a classical education was useful, but felt that
eight years of study should be condensed into one.
He divided the study day into three parts: study,
exercise and meals. The exercises were basically
war orientated although play and games were used,
but in a sense of honing skills for war.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• A social theorist Michael De Montaigne
(1533-1592) focused his education theories
on aristocratic boys. He believed that
experience and reason were the roads to
knowledge. He said, “ to know by heart is
not to know.”
• Much of modern educational theory can be
traced to his theories, with his use of
physical activities to further a pupil’s
experiences stressing the cohesiveness of
mind and body. He did not link learning
experiences through games though.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• John Locke (1632-1704) an English social theorist used
the now popular phase of physical educators “a sound
mind in a sound body.” This in fact came from Juvenal,
a Roman writer. Locke believed that mind and body
were separate entities and all ideas came from
personal experiences.
• This may be better translated to the paradigm;
experiences of the senses combined with mental
reflection or thought which is based from those
experiences. He stressed physical exercise as a way of
health and recreation as a beneficial break in the
normal pattern of life. Similar to Jay Nashe’s twentieth
century statement of recreation as “re-creation.”
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• A leading sense realist was Richard Mulcaster
(1531-1611) from England. He believed a tutor at
home should teach students with other students,
rather than individually. Mulcaster was also
convinced that teachers should be trained
professionally. He suggested that both men and
woman should receive education, rather than only
males, and he was one of the first to suggest
coeducational activities among woman.
• He was interested in physical and moral training
through exercise and believed that mass education
could use physical activities to develop social
values. He strongly encouraged physical education
and his works were rediscovered in the 1800’s.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600s
• Wolfgang Ratke (1571-1635) of Germany was
another great theoretician of educational reform.
He developed education on a scientific basis’s by
teaching students what they needed to learn, and
at an age they are ready to learn it. He is
considered the father of modern education
despite his failing to translate his ideas into
practice.
• John Comenius (1592-1670) a Czechoslovakian,
believed that children could learn much through
recreational activities as well as improve their
health.
 The Book of Sports 1618
• The Puritan party mistakenly supposed that
Sunday was to be identified with the Jewish
Sabbath. Their views had aroused great
opposition and King James had ordered the Book
for Sports to be read from the pulpit. The clergy
refused and so the request was withdrawn until
Charles 1 reissued the decree in 1633 (see
handout).
• The realism of the 1600’s was followed by the
enlightenment of the 1700s. This move
attempted to spread rationalism and knowledge
to all people.
Education and Physical
Education in the 1600-1700s
• The educational theorists of the enlightenment
believed in a more general education for all, growing
out of the realist’s theories a century before.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1788) of France
published two books Emile (1762) and The Social
Contract (1767). These books expounded that all
humans are free and equal by nature and that
inequality appeared only after Governments had
developed. Rousseau believed people to be good by
nature but were corrupted by civilization.
• Education was allowing the child to develop as
nature intended and to avoid anything that would
hamper this development. Children were given tasks
that were geared toward learning from nature and
experience and were considered to be age
appropriate. This education was for males only.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600-1700s
• Rousseau regarded play as both healthful and
educational but did not think it should be forced.
• John Basedow (1724-1790) a German educator used
Rousseau’s “naturalism” and made it into an educational
practice. He financed a school, which became known as
the Dessau Educational Institute in 1774. He treated
children as children, not as young adults.
• He placed a heavy stress on physical activity, with the
school day broken into 5 hours of classes, three hours of
recreation (fencing, riding, dancing and music) and two
hours of manual labor that taught a craft for the student.
He organized camping trip, which resembles our outdoor
education programs. Although this school did not survive
it had great influence throughout Europe in regard to the
importance of physical activities for the child.
 Education and Physical
Education in the 1600-1800s
• A school that did survive was the Schnepfenthal Educational
Institute near Gotha in eastern Germany. Christian
Salzmann founded it in 1785. He employed Johann Guts
Muths who taught there for fifty years developing the
Dessau gymnastics program. Salzmann’s book on these
physical activities reached the United States in 1825. Many
of his practices are similar to those followed today.
• Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827) was a Swiss teacher who
taught in Yverdon, Germany. He believed humans to be
social creatures and that education was a natural process
where the child wanted to learn and the teacher was a
guide taking them from easy to difficult activities. He saw
education as having three aspects: intellectual, practical,
and most importantly moral. Physical education was also
important to bring mind and body into full harmony. His
school offered daily one hour of gymnastics five days a
week.
Education and Physical
Education in the 1600-1800s
• Phillipp Von Fellenberg (1771-1844) based his ideas
on Pestalozzi who began a very successful vocational
school of labor. He felt that his students had enough
activity through a planned curriculum of manual labor,
but allowed his students outdoor activities as free
choices in their leisure time.
• Freidrich Froebal (1782-1852) developed a theory of
play based on his observations of Pestalozzi’s school.
He stressed that play was essential to the education
and development of children. He began a
kindergarten in Germany and put his ideas into
practice.
Education and Physical
Education in the 1800s
• From about 1800 onward, educational
theories in Europe moved rapidly to the
United States as immigrants brought many
ideas with them. Many educational
developments were concurrent on both
continents by 1850, but developing American
educational practices were strongly based on
the work of the nineteenth-century European
theorist (Freeman, 1997).
 Questions
• Define humanistic realists, social realists, and
sense realists?
• Should teachers be professionally trained?
• Define the mind?
• Define the body?
• What does a sound mind in a sound body mean?
• Why is this period known as the age of reason and
enlightenment?
• Why do children learn through recreational
activities as well as PE and can it improve their
health?
The seeds of modern sport
• The transition to modern sport began during the
1700s as some sporting activities started to develop
higher levels of organization and standardized rules.
• For example the Jockey Club was formed in 1750 as
an organization of rich owners and horse breeders.
Club members began to write rules for racing,
appoint officials and assess penalties for breaking
the rules. The Marlybone cricket club was founded in
1787 and they quickly standardized the sport.
• The Royal and Ancient Golf Club was founded in
1754 at St Andrews, Scotland and they published
and standardized the rules of golf, with 18 holes
being introduced by 1764. In boxing the
“Broughton’s Rules” were introduced in 1741, which
became the London Prize Fighting Rules in 1838 and
eventually the Queensbury’s Rules in 1867.
The seeds of modern sport
• These sports were held on Monday and
Tuesday to enable spectators to view them.
They were not held on Sundays. The tempo of
the work increased as the week progressed
and so Monday was regarded as a holiday.
• The increase in town population and cities
brought sports events to a greater forum and
a fee paying basis, as people left villages to
work in the towns.
 Nineteenth-century European
Physical Education and Sport
• There is no clear demarcation between the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in European
physical education. The philosophies and
experimental schools of the 1700s produced the
progress of the 1800s.
• During the 1800s Napoleon was put to rest, but
the unrest of the populace during 1815-1850 saw
many rebellions. National pride was at an all time
high. Many sought to establish educational
systems to strengthen their nations. Those
disenchanted with European life were leaving for
the United States.
 Nineteenth-century European
Physical Education and Sport
• Freidrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852) a German educator is often
considered the father of gymnastics. He began using an open area,
which he called the turnplatz or exercise group, which was basically
a playground with apparatus for exercises. It later spread and was
called Turnvereins.
• He went to prison for his political views and Adolf Spiess (1810-
1858) carried his ideas forward. He developed the ideas of Guts
Muth and Froebel into the Gymnastics Manual for Schools. This
manual classified exercises by difficulty and by appropriate age and
sex. He developed exercises that required almost no apparatus. He
used musical accompaniment for those activities.
• He also stressed that professionally trained specialists should only
be allowed to teach gymnastics. He wanted indoor areas as well as
outdoors to ensure all year round activity. He also stressed his
gymnastics was for girls especially the free exercises. His system
also included marching, and this emphasized discipline and
obedience.
 Nineteenth-century European
Physical Education and Sport
• Franze Nichtegall (1777-1847) is the father of Danish
physical education, inspired by Guts Muth in 1804 he
was made director of the newly established Military
Gymnastics Institute, which prepared teachers of
gymnastics first for the military and then later for
schools. He was also a promoter of Per Henrik Ling’s
Swedish system of Gymnastics.
• Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839) was the founder of Swedish
gymnastics, although he was influenced by Nachegall’s
work while living in Denmark. He returned to Sweden
and became the Director of the new Royal Gymnastics
Central Institute in 1814 where he used simple,
fundamental movements for both educational and
military purposes. The system was fully developed by his
son.
 Nineteenth-century European
Physical Education and Sport
• Archibald Maclaren (1820-1884) had a major influence
on physical training in England. He designed a physical
training program for the military, which encompassed
body exercise as well as the use of apparatus.
• Above all, Maclaren stressed a balance between
recreational activities and educational activities. His
gymnastics never took hold in England, but his
writings were a major influence on physical education
in England until the late 1800s.
 Questions

• Define clearly what marks the

development of modern sport?
• What was the background to modern
sports development?
• Define modern sport?