THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO 1790

CHAPTER XV
I. COLONIAL OUTDOOR GAMES

I. Colonial outdoor games

A. No organized gymnastics
1. The population was 95m rural
2. The conquests of forests
3. The agriculture life
4. Little leisure time left
5. Towns were far apart
I. COLONIAL OUTDOOR GAMES

B. The Puritans- The only section without games

1. Their religion and social teaching made life very serious affair
2. The common belief
a. Not wise, nor righteous, nor profitable to waste in such idleness
b. Game might lead to greater felly and waywardness
I. COLONIAL OUTDOOR GAMES

C. Governor Bradford on Christmas Day, 1621

1. Ordered the men of Plymouth out to their daily works

D. The butch in New York

1. Formed a great contrast
a. Game and sports for all
(1) Bowling- Originally nine pins, and the ten to obeyed the gambling
law
(2) Skating and coasting – most popular winter sports
(3) Hunting and fishing
(4) Backgammon, track and hiking

E. In Virginia – Hourly all British sports flourished

1. Muster day – all men report for military instruction. It was playground.
2. General Haidimand ordered the boys unmolested in their play.
II. The School and Physical Education
A. Elementary Schools – through private tutors
1. Teachers, unprepared
2. Books, few
3. School hours, long
4. Discipline, severe
5. Curriculum
a. Reading c. Ciphering
b. Writing d. Spelling
6. Teachers hired to keep school
7. Pegtalessi and basedow had no influence in America
a. No sciences in education
b. Play and it’s significance, not understood.

B. Secondary Schools
1. Provide by the grammar schools
2. Located in large towns and supported by tuition and by subsidy from the local
government
3. Curriculum
a. Latin, Greek, Hebrew
b. Led to the career of doctor, lawyer, or minister
4. Method- hostile to the ideas of physical education or even play
C. Drummer School at Springfield, Massachusets, Managed
by Samuel Hoody
1. Encouraged the boys in their sports, and participated in them
2. Had modern ideas on the need and value of play and recreation
3. It’s influence led to the establishment of the Philips and Luiceater
Academies