ATHLETICS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 4 October 1924, Page 12

ATHLETICS.

THE FINNS. their training system. pnd he rf atS 7r- f^Turmi > Lentonen, Myers hnl + her at the 01 >’ m Pic Games have tinned the spotlight on those hardy people. Thus more than ordin- -- y fttaches to the explana- « ° f ,u fundamental gymnastics’’ as a method to produce finished athdescribed by the physical cultuie leader Neils Bukh for the official publication of the Playground and Recreation Association of America a synopsis of which was published in s recent issue of the New York . Times. Moss had obliterated the writing or Swedish physical educator, had laid down the basic principles of physical education m the early years of the nineteenth century, and physical culture m Europe took its first bio- forin practically a hundred jeais, he says, “when we gave gymnastic traditions the axe.” ox] T l lG t ? ! \ no doubt, ’’ he continue? that Ling had been right in principle, that gymnastic exercises should be aimed at harmonious development of the entire body, and that he had developed exercises for this purpose. Bui those who. followed him and moulded nis teachings after their oivn conceptions had strayed far from the origina: inspiration by the opening of the twentieth century, and physical education was faring badly.” This loss in effectiveness, he says was reflected in physical culture circle: throughout all Europe. The vitality had been sapped from Ling’s system he shows, through the desire of hi: latter-day disciples to codify and regularise his methods. And that ig something no physica educator should have as a primary aim. first -of all things to he considered is the need of the individual body Tht method must cop© with that. Wher the method is more important' thar the need, the method has lost its effectiveness. And this was undoubtedly the situation in European gymnastic: in 1912, when I first began, to study the reasons for the slump in physica! education. Furthermore, a philosophy had been built up to glorify these static methods, and little thought wa: given to the requirements of the bodies being trained. “Proof that we have separated the wheat from the chaff in the new ant resulting syjstem known as ‘fundamental gymnastics’ is found in oui achievement by this method in producmg finished athletes year in and veai out from raw country boys and <drh .in. three to .five months.” Neils Bukh tells how his mind wa: first directed to the problem by the high praise showered on the ' team which he took in 1912 to the Olvmpit Games in Stockholm, and which latei went to Antwerp; Brussels, and Paris The desire to find a- better and quickci system was born then. His dream wa: of a system that- would be “all meat/ and no waste, “a system which woulc make this dream of national physica perfection" a practical eventuality.’ Returning to Denmark with this a in clearly fixed, he took over the gymnastic People’s College at Ollerup which thus became the birthplace o; the now famous “fundamental gvmnas tics.” “My first pupils,” he continues “were twelve young men, not perfeci like the Olympic team, but varying ii development and in needs —ordinary Danish boys from the farms anc dairies. Under the Lingen system ] would have given all the same exercises in the same proportion and sel by set as codified and systematised Of course, if there had been any physiological defects the Lingen teacher: would have sought to cure them by correctional gymnastics. But in most instances the deficiencies in these young men were not marked enough to call for such treatment. It was simply evident that the legs of one or the arms of another were not as strong or as fully developed as the other parts of the body.” Under the older system he shows how the teachers, observing this, would have used the complete body exercise, “with the thought that eventually, when all other parts of the body had been developed to their maximum, the weak legs or the weak arms would continue to develop and a harmonious body would finally result.” “But I said no. . . Therefore, in examining each boy, I had constantly in mind the ideal body. If he were a baker, I would find his shoulder and arm muscles highly developed, and nould note a plus in the mind for them. But. perhaps his legs were weak from lack, of use, so I would note that with a minus. I would then centre his gymnastics on filling out these deficiencies. “My plan may he visualised if you think, as I did, of these nlus and minus points arranged on either side of a straight hue representing tlje ideal body. These points, when connected on his entrance to the school, would show a zig-zag line. My ambition was, in the shortest space of time, to change this graphic representation of his physical qualities so' that

J R would correspond with the straight line representing ideal, harmonious physical character. It was the first great discovery upon which our fundamental gymnastics are based that this was an absolutely practical method, and that in as little as three months of exercise designed to this end for but one hour a day the ideal had been obtained. I hesitate even to compute how long such results would require by the Lingen method. “As for our ‘fundamental gymnastics’ being strenuous —true. I designed them with this purpose in mind. Of what use is it to exercise daintily 7 ? You canont make the heart and lungs strong waving a fan. “In my gymnasium we do ten times as much movement in the same time as in the old-fashioned gymnasium. With harmony of the body as our aim, we therefore first correct all faults and mend all deficiencies as quickly as possible, then develop a co-ordination of the mind and the harmonious body. After such a perfect foundation has been laid we are ready for anything. And so we go on to every sort of sport and recreation. It is for this purpose that we built the fine stadium at Ollerup, which was dedicated in the presence of the King of Denmark and leading citizens of the nation. “The fundamental gymnastic work usually requires three of the five months’ winter school term, when the young men can be spared from the farms. The three months’ summer school for the girls gives a like proportion to this foundation work.' Then come the sports and the rhythmic or picture gymnastics, which are so beautiful to the eye. “Of course, the pupils are studying literature, history, languages, physiology, how to teach others, and the elements of leadership, as well as other cultural subjects dictated by the students, hut most important from a social viewpoint ... is the purpose to which this education is put. Following a course at Ollerup or any other of the fourscore people’s colleges in Denmark, each student goes back to his community trained and inspired to become a voluntary community leader. In practically every small parish or district of Denmark there is a parish gymnastic society and a community house. With these keys to the heart of the comtnunity at hand, the newly trained and inspired student, starting with training in the new principles of gymnastics and athletics, which lie learned in the high school, wins a place as his community leader, and soon is in a position to bring the other elements of his training into force for the cultural development of the community. “Tlius we have the 1200 young men and women who have been trained at Ollerup,' for example, giving in 1200 communities the work which they themselves received. So it is that we now see coming steadily nearer and nearer the realisation of the dream born at those distant Olympic Games, but it is now a dream not of physical perfection aone, hut one which has grown to a conception, of social and intellectual harmony, which shall match and go hand in hand with,the body beautiful.” A BURMESE GAME. I watched two Burmese boys play a kind of football with a cane basnet hall, says a visitor to Wembley. The dexterity with which they could hack kick it straight up in the air x fifty feet high, catch it upon the sole of the foot and pass it to their fellow player was astounding. They appeared thoroughly to enjoy the game. If, they could do it with a Northern Union Rugby ball they would be worth while engaging for one of our crack teams.