PHYSICAL FITNESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22972, 25 February 1938, Page 13

PHYSICAL FITNESS

THE VALUE OF GAMES TOO MANY TAKE NO PART BOY WHO PREFERRED CARDS [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Thursday Far too many pupils in the school took part in no organised games, stated the principal of Wellington College, Mr. W. A. Armour, in a report to the board of governors. "I feel convinced that many parents are very remiss in this matter," Mr. Armour stated. "When one considers all the publicity recently, given to the value of physical fitness one is astonished how lax many parents are in the matter. To go to the seashore or to a public swimming pool amd lounge about there on nearly every afternoon of the week cannot in my opinion be considered as a development of physical fitness. Organised games help to develop physical fitness, and even more valuable and important, they.develop character.

" A parent is making a great mistake in allowing boys, without sufficient reason, to omit participation in games organised for them in the school. "One pupil actually told me that he did not play games because he wanted to go home and do his lessons in the afternoons so that he could spend the evenings playing cards. Yet for such a pupil does a beneficent Government provide a free place. "Happily, such flagrant cases as this are very rare. Parents should realise that, provided there is not overindulgence, participation in games will perhaps do as much as anything else to develop character and enhance the chances of their sons for preferment in examinations and in any walk of life. The value of a testimonial from me is, I believe, strengthened if I can say that a boy takes his part in some of the extra-classroom activities of the school. Indeed, I have found that many employers do not desire to employ a boy without such participation. I have never yet found an employer pass over a boy because of his interest in manly sport and in other activities connected with a school."