NATIONAL FITNESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27385, 10 May 1950, Page 10

NATIONAL FITNESS

Encouragement Of Sport PLACE IN MILITARY TRAINING By a Special Correspondent In a Press Association message from Blenheim, the Minister of Defence, Mr Macdonald, is quoted as saying: “The basic need in military training is that a man should be physically fit and th3t there should be built into him the aggressive spirit.” This long overdue recognition by a New Zealand Minister of the fundamental principles on which the whole structure of European military might has been founded could have a tremendous significance to sports bodies throughout the Dominion. If the statement is to be supported by practical application of the only means by which nation-wide physical fitness and aggressiveness can be economically developed. a generous share of the huge estimated annual expenditure on defence must be employed in encouraging active participation in specific sports. Neither physical fitness nor aggressiveness can be adequately developed during three-monthly periods of mobilisation. Faced with the same problem, European nations have found a simple and economical solution, and it is high time that this Dominion profited from their experience. Prior to World War I, the fundamental structure of German military power was founded on a movement of elaborat-ly organised gymnastic clubs which aimed to foster unity and physical fitness among the whole able-bodied population. A tremendous system of national development of playing facilities and sport again contributed the’ basic impetus which led to the rapid elevation of German military might prior to World War 11. Tiny Finland, a country which has successfully defended its democratic independence from the aggressive onslaughts of more powerful neighbours for countless generations, owes no small measure of its military preparedness and national virility to the co-ordinated effort of Finnish sports federations and Defence Ministers to foster nation-wide physical fitness through sport. It is no coincidence that the most powerful sports organisations in Scandinavia are those controlling gymnastics- and cross-country orientation. The need for constant military preparedness has dictated national policy towards the encouragement of sports which provide organisation or training which can bo converted instantly ip the event of a national emergency. Gymnastic clubs produce fit men, trained leaders and the almost identical organisation to that required by armies. The Soviet Union is another country which has recognised that military battles of the future may well be won on the sports fields of today. Sport has been organised in Russia on a scale hitherto unparalleled in the world. In the past, New Zealand defence authorities have had the opportunity of holding troops in base camps for the long periods necessary to develop the required fitness. Such opportunities may not occur in any future war. Fit fighting forces may be needed at a moment’s notice. The solution is clear. Every able-bodied New Zealander must be encouraged to keep physically fit through active participation in chosen sports. • This can be accomplished in a democracy only by a full realisation of the potentialities and by voluntary co-operation between all sports bodies and the Ministers controlling the policies of national Defence, Health, Education, radio and Physical Welfare.