VALUE OF GAMES.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20789, 24 February 1933, Page 14

VALUE OF GAMES.

1 — A DOCTOR'S VIEWS. TOO MUCH COMPETITION. (raou ou& owtr coebebpokimkt.) LONDON, January 10. Before the Conference of Educational Associations ended a discussion arranged by the Medical Offieer of Schools' Association took place on Sports for adolescents of school age. Mr Oove-Smith, a medical practitioner and a former captain of the English Rugby ±V., emphasised the value of games, not only from the physical but from tho mental and moral points of view. Most English people, he said, sympathised warmly with the playing of games, which played a big part in character-development and bulked large in the curricula of most schools. In actual practice, in some circumstances, games became a tyranny. The attention paid to physical training was narrow in many parts of the country, and too often such training was in the hands of unintelligent or Uneducated people, whose knowledge of anatomy was very slight or nil. He believed that harm was done in many cases by physical exercises Buch as were advertised for physical development an 4 increasing the stature. -What was the use of having the muscles of a Bandow-if they were to die of fatty hearts at the age of 551 It was the actual participation in games that really mattered, not the standard of performance. Instead of at* many people watching games there ought to be more .participation. Too many of the rising generation were too apt to bo watchers instead of participants. The competitive character of games tended to take away a great deal of their value. This was nowhere inore manifest than at so-called sports days at schools. Running anr* jumping were crammed into a fow weeks or even one day, and often regardless of the weather. They often, resolved themselves into occasions for house and class rivalry; orgies of record-breaking and cup-hunting.

Field sports were sadly neglected in this country, but there was a lot mtfre fun to be got out of throwing the discus or the javelin than out of running 100 yards trying to beat the other fellow. Camping experiences and scout craft could be very well substituted, for competitive games. More spontaneous play was not only essential but really necessary, because one of the most dangerous things was the killing of spontaneity by competitive games. Friendly games of Bugby were a joy to play, but when they reached cup standard they deteriorated and the pleasure was practically nil. The competitive spirit crept in and cramped the joy of the whole thing. The true end of education was to produce active and suitable citizens, yet the competitive spirit tilted against this, and consequently was a hindrance rather than an asset to education, Tkere should be as little emotional strain as possible, yet the competitive spirit added emotional to physical strain and mental fatigue was increased. Illplayed competitive games became a tyranny. As ideals they were all wrong, for the emotions they fostered were ruthlessness and hostility. No one liked "the win-at-any-price merchant." What the world really needed was cooperation, not competition. Dr. J. Lambert deien-led {he team spirit of competition as a welcome break in the monotor.y of routine, exercise and drill, and asked if games and sports in childhood were ever anything but competitive f As to the effect of games, he said, a youth's heart was not likely to be damaged by ex«rciee if tie heart was healthy at the start. He 1 ■' felt that any dissociation of the competitive spirit from games would bo a retrograde step, *nd ho would not like to

see games dropped because of the risk involved. Dr. Friend, who presided, associated himself with the view that competitive games wore valuable in so far as they fostered the team spirit. ni'■ i i d—»■■»—— yam