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 progressed 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 gladiatorial 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 meet 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?