1932 Cedrus Yearbook

CEDRUS THE NEW PHYSICAL EDUCATION The new physi.al training must fit the man to the new age. What does the new age demand? What kind of energy does it require? Not muscular energy, but nervous energy. Not muscular power, but organic vigor. The new physical training will de- velop not large muscles, but strong muscles. It will not burn up nervous energy,as much of our athletics has done, but it will seek to store up nervous energy. The new age demands men of initiative, men who are alert, men of imagina- tion. Therefore those types of activity that develop these qualities will be used. These qualities are usually developed in play. Play is creative, poetic, stimulating to the imagination. The new age demands men who will play the game and play it fair and ac- cording to rules. Hence, the ethical side of physical training will be stressed. The new physical training will be objective rather than subjective. The old gymnastics was subjective. The new athletics is objective. Gymnastics deal with form and the way the exercise is performed. Athletics deal with accomplishment as, for illustration, the putting of the ball over the line. The old emphasis in physical training was upon materials used. The new emphasis is upon the individuals served. The new age, because of much of its monotony of work, sordidness, and arti- ficialty, will require of its physical training that it will enrich life, deepen the emo- tions, enrich the feelings. The new physical training will select those forms of physical expression which develop the emotional life. The new age demands social leaders, team play, ability to work with others. The new physical training will be highly social. It will place emphasis upon the group, upon leadership, upon coordinate action. The old emphasis in athletics was upon the spectacle. The new emphasis will be upon participation. The new physical training should produce men slender in type, graceful, not heavy muscularly, clear-eyed, supple but not tense, alert, enthusiastic, happy, force- ful, imaginative, self-controlled, true, clean, and with a sense of fair play. R. M. BORST Thirty-five