PHYSICAL TRAINING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20851, 18 April 1931, Page 8

PHYSICAL TRAINING.

[DEMAND FOR INSTRUCTION.

DRILL STOPPAGE A FACTOR. POSITION IN THE SCHOOLS. ' One result of the suspension of the territorial training system has been an increased demand on the part of young jnen who have been released from military duties for facilities for physical culture and gymnastic training and exercise. Formerly, classes for this type of training wore handicapped because many of the young men who were anxious to undertake it' were compelled to attend military parades on the evenings when they were likely to have been otherwise free. This tendency toward increased attendances has already been noted by the inI structors attached to the Y.M.C.A. Gymnasium and Physical Culture School.' March is the opening month for the winter classes, and although the peak months for enrolments are April and May, the enrolments and attendances already are yew much in' excess of those recorded /Jast year.

The director of the school, Mr. Frank Rogers, stated yesterday that, in the past, boys and young men employed during the day were often prevented from joining classes owing to their military duties, but now that they were free from those services, and in spite of depressed conditions, there was a decided increase in the number's desiring to benefit by controlled physical training. The aggregate attendance at all classes for the year ended March 31, 1930, was 579, .whereas the number up to the end of March this year was 719. Many Willing to Pay lor Training.

The employed boys and young men who had enrolled for their special classes so far this year/numbered 45, as against 29 for last year, and Mr. Rogers said he anticipated that this ratio of increase ,would be maintained when the enrolments

for the months were received. It was a significant fact, said Mr. , ORogers, that so many young men were prepared to pay for these aids to good health. The increased demand for this training was not confined to the iY.M.C.A. organisation, for they were constantly receiving requests from church and other organisations which catered for their young men in this way for assistance, and their class leaders were giving ;what help they could. Training for health was the principal object aimed at, and while they devoted considerable attention to boxing, wrestling and gymnastics, these were regarded moro as recreations and were consequently treated more /or less as side lines. This increased interest in physical cult ture for young men naturally raises the question of what is being done in the schools to give the primary children proper instruction in exercise for health. Present System Deemed Unsatisfactory. That the system in vogue' is far from Satisfactory is borne out by the experience of Mr. Rogers, who controls instruction of this Mature at the Auckland Grammar Schools. He says he finds that many boys coming from the primary schools are not ready for the somewhat advanced training suitable for secondary school pupils and have to be taught the rudiments of the system, which they should have acquired in the lower classes at their primary. school. Time and money have been spent on various systems in the schools in the past 17 or 18 years arid recently there have been suggestions that yet another method of training is to be tried. Referring toj this unsatisfactory state of affairs, Mr. Rogers, who was formerly advisor and examiner in physical culture for State education departments in Australia and// was supervisor of physical training and lecturer with the Australian military forcw, said there was no need for New Zealand to experiment in this important national question, because the people had to, and could use, any of the several national systems of physical

education now in existence. In fact, the syllabus issued by ihe London Board of Education was absolutely ideal-for iNew Zealand conditions, and it was a '\vaste of time and money to attempt to compile a syllabus for the Dominion. Medical inspection and treatment, as well as dental treatment, in 'schools had' their own important place, but there still remained the need for exercise' of the right type.