Review Questions Chapter 8: What Were Some Characteristics ✓ Solved

Review Questions Chapter 8: 1. What were some characteristics

Review Questions Chapter 8: 1. What were some characteristics of Native Americans’ sport and what were their polar sports? 2. What were the differences between sporting activities of the Puritans, Dutch, and English settlers? 3. How and why were German gymnastics spread in this country? 4. What program of exercises did Catharine Beecher develop and why? 5. What was Lewis’s system of gymnastics and how was it spread? 6. Which system of gymnastics was most popular with females in the late 1800s and early 1900s and why? 7. What were the components of Edward Hitchcock’s program at Amherst College? 8. What were the two primary characteristics of Dudley Sargent’s program at Harvard? 9. What was the purpose of the YMCA Training School? 10. What was the Battle of the Systems, and what was the outcome?

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

This paper answers ten review questions about the historical development of sport and physical education in North America, focusing on Native American games, colonial sporting differences, European gymnastics influences (especially German and Lewis systems), prominent 19th-century educators (Catharine Beecher, Edward Hitchcock, Dudley Sargent), the YMCA Training School, and the late-19th-century “Battle of the Systems.” Each response synthesizes primary and secondary scholarship in the history of physical culture (Gorn & Goldstein, 1993; Guttmann, 1978).

1. Characteristics of Native American sport and their polar sports

Native American sports were multifunctional: deeply social, spiritual, and practical. Games and contests—such as footraces, stickball (baggataway), archery contests, canoe races, and various gambling and hunting-related contests—served training, ceremonial, conflict resolution, and communal entertainment purposes (Gorn & Goldstein, 1993; Sachs, 2002). They emphasized skill transfer to hunting and warfare, had ritual meanings, and often included wagering and community feasts. “Polar sports” here refers to contrasting forms elsewhere—European organized team games and spectator competition that emphasized rules, fixed playing fields, and commercial or institutional structures rather than ritual and subsistence training (Guttmann, 1978).

2. Differences among Puritan, Dutch, and English settler sporting activities

Puritans tended to limit or regulate leisure and sport, favoring morally approved activities and often discouraging games considered frivolous or sinful; their approach emphasized sobriety and work (Putney, 2001). Dutch settlers, particularly in New Netherland, retained more permissive communal festivals, gambling, and ball games, reflecting Dutch civic culture (Rader, 2008). English settlers outside Puritan communities varied widely: rural folk games, informal contests, and later more organized recreational pursuits took root. Thus differences arose from religious norms, cultural traditions, and socio-economic contexts—Puritans restraining play, Dutch more tolerant, English settlers showing a middle or plural range (Gorn & Goldstein, 1993).

3. How and why German gymnastics spread in the United States

German gymnastics (Turnen), founded by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, spread to the United States through immigrant Turnverein (Turner) societies starting in the 1830s–1840s. These societies promoted physical training, nationalist identity, and civic engagement through gymnastic clubs, apparatus work, and festivals (Turnfests). Turners established clubs in cities with German immigrant communities and influenced public and collegiate physical training by supplying trained instructors, equipment, and a club model that emphasized disciplined apparatus work and communal physical culture (Guttmann, 1978; Wittke, 1952). The movement’s organizational model and apparatus pedagogy made it influential in shaping American physical education practices.

4. Catharine Beecher’s program of exercises and rationale

Catharine Beecher advocated a program of calisthenics and light indoor exercises for women that stressed posture, respiratory health, muscle tone, and domestic efficiency (Beecher, 1869; Park, 1987). Her system was designed for respectability and practicality—women were to maintain health for family and social duties without compromising Victorian norms of femininity. Beecher framed exercise as morally and politically useful, improving women’s capacity for teaching and maternal responsibilities, and she promoted structured in‑school training for female teachers and students (Beecher, 1869; Park, 1987).

5. Lewis’s system of gymnastics and its diffusion

Dioclesian Lewis developed a “Light Gymnastics” system in the 1860s that emphasized simple calisthenic movements, free exercises, and drills accessible in schools and community settings (Lewis, 1869). Unlike heavy apparatus Turnen or strict Swedish systems, Lewis’s approach was adaptable, modest, and suitable for mixed-sex instruction in schools and YMCA programs. He spread the system through teacher-training institutes, published manuals, lectures, and demonstrations—making it popular in public schools and YMCAs across the United States (Lewis, 1869; Park, 1987).

6. Most popular gymnastics system for females in late 1800s–early 1900s and why

The Swedish system (Ling) and adapted light calisthenic programs (including Beecher’s and Lewis’s variants) dominated women’s physical training because they were perceived as orderly, health‑focused, and socially appropriate for women (Guttmann, 1978; Park, 1987). Swedish gymnastics emphasized posture, controlled movements, and therapeutic aims—qualities aligning with medical and pedagogical authorities who promoted female respectability and health. Consequently, institutions teaching women’s physical education favored lighter, medically endorsed regimens rather than heavy apparatus work (Park, 1987).

7. Components of Edward Hitchcock’s program at Amherst College

Edward Hitchcock’s Amherst program combined anthropometric measurement, structured calisthenics, and an academic approach to physical education (Hitchcock, 1860). Hitchcock introduced systematic health examinations, exercise prescription based on measured fitness, and required exercise classes integrated into the college curriculum. His program emphasized scientific measurement and individualized improvement, laying groundwork for a quantitative approach to collegiate physical education (Hitchcock, 1860; Gorn & Goldstein, 1993).

8. Two primary characteristics of Dudley Sargent’s Harvard program

Dudley Sargent’s program was notable for (1) individualized exercise prescription based on anthropometry and medical assessment, and (2) the use of specialized equipment and progressive resistance devices (Sargent, 1898). Sargent combined laboratory assessment with practical training, creating a systematic, machine‑assisted approach to developing strength and posture in both men and women. His methods emphasized scientific measurement, tailored programs, and institutional professional training (Sargent, 1898; Putney, 2001).

9. Purpose of the YMCA Training School

The YMCA Training School (founded in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the late 19th century) aimed to train leaders for youth and community physical and moral development through physical education, Christian service, and recreation leadership. It professionalized physical education and recreation leadership, supplying instructors for YMCAs, schools, and community programs, and it became a crucible for modern physical education pedagogy and organized sport (Springfield College Archives, 2010; Guttmann, 1978).

10. The Battle of the Systems and its outcome

The “Battle of the Systems” was the late-19th/early-20th-century debate among proponents of German (Turnen), Swedish (Ling), and various American calisthenic or mechanical systems over which method should define physical education. The eventual outcome was pragmatic eclecticism: U.S. physical education incorporated elements from multiple systems—structured apparatus and teamwork from the German model, therapeutic and posture-based exercises from the Swedish, and adaptive calisthenics for schools and women—leading to a pluralistic, professionally oriented field rather than a single dominant system (Guttmann, 1978; Rader, 2008).

Conclusion

The history surveyed here shows how cultural values, immigration, medical authority, and institutional needs shaped the form and meaning of sport and physical education in North America. Native American games influenced early indigenous physical culture; colonial differences reflected religious and cultural priorities; European gymnastic methods spread through immigrants and reformers; and multiple 19th-century leaders and institutions professionalized and pluralized physical education, culminating in an eclectic modern system (Gorn & Goldstein, 1993; Guttmann, 1978).

References

• Beecher, C. E. (1869). Physical Education and the Care of Health for Women. Boston: Author.
• Gorn, E. J., & Goldstein, W. (1993). A Brief History of American Sports. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
• Guttmann, A. (1978). From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Hitchcock, E. (1860). Report on Physical Education and Medical Inspection at Amherst College. Amherst College Archives.
• Lewis, D. (1869). Light Gymnastics: A Practical System of Exercises. Boston: Lee and Shepard.
• Park, R. J. (1987). “Catharine Beecher and the Development of Women’s Physical Education.” Journal of Sport History, 14(3), 221–238.
• Putney, C. (2001). Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880–1920. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Rader, B. G. (2008). American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
• Sargent, D. A. (1898). Personal Training and the Sargent System. Boston: Sargent School Publications.
• Springfield College Archives. (2010). History of the YMCA Training School / Springfield College. Springfield College Special Collections.