Introduction to History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education History What are sources of historical information Why study history o It gives us a different perspective on who we are o It helps us forecast what we ll experience in the future Does history change Why would a history book written 30 years ago be different from one written today How does our interpretation or perspective on events change Stadion used by the Greeks as a unit of measure for 600 feet Then the Greeks used it to refer to a foot race that extended 600 feet The word stadion is where we get the word stadium Horseracing is another thing that we have today that is similar to the past In the past there was chariot racing and riders would wear different colors so that fan could tell the racers apart Definitions Sport o Modern term first used in England around 1440 AD o Origin of the word is Latin and French o In French the word de s porter has its roots in the Latin word deportare which means to amuse oneself o Grew throughout England referring to competition in the form of games individual athletic exploits and hunting Play Game o Has three fundamental characteristics Play is intrinsically motivated one is born with the desire to play reality Play involves the temporary suspensions of normal typical Play involves internal locus of control when people play they believe they have control of their actions and the outcomes o Somewhat more organized effort at play where the organized and playful elements of the activity become more evident o Formal definition a play activity which has explicit rules the element of opposition or contest recognizable boundaries in time and sometimes in space and a sequence of actions which is essentially repeatable every time the game is played Arriving at the definition of sport o May not fit into a universally accepted definition because of factors such as religion social class and historical period Example hunting as a sport upper class did it for leisure while lower classes did it for survival o General definition will include the following characteristics Continuity refers to the longevity of the game Division of roles Dynamic interaction with an audience Supporting establishment Engage in Critical Thought Your intellectual and personal growth will be determined by exposure to different schools of thought and the opportunity to engage in the process of critical thinking in other words the ability to assess the value of material information you receive Is it significant insignificant or somewhere in the middle So to use athletics sport play and games as an example o Essential within the realm of human movement and are the cornerstones of the scholarly study of kinesiology and physical education Doing History History is the study of change over time Sport history is the study of how sport has changed or not over time So sport play and physical education as we know them are the latest rendition of all the changes that have occurred in the past It is necessary to understand how the attitudes and behaviors have evolved to understand our current attitudes and behaviors Example Michael Oriard in Reading Football o In 1869 Princeton played Rutgers in the first intercollegiate game o The played for fun but it also served the purpose of hazing new freshman and was a popular form of interclass competition and rivalry o Back then football was played more like soccer or rugby o In 1876 Harvard Columbia Princeton and Yale representatives met to create the rules of football and formed the Intercollegiate Football Association o Referees were needed in American football because Americans had a different attitude towards rules The British had a code of honor that was associated with their upper class Americans wanted to exploit the rules as much as they wanted to adhere to them Philosophies of the Modern World Based on a monist not dualist view of reality Pragmatists regard school as a social institution where the child gains real experiences of actual life which develop in him social sense and a sense of duty towards society and the nation Pragmatism one of the 1st to reject dualism o Late 1800 s and early 1900 s argues that humans are embodied entities this means that the mind or spirit is of the body and that mind and body are integrated into one entity Contribution of Pragmatism in Education o Aims it lays more stress on social and vocational efficiency o Teacher it gives important place to teacher o Student it stresses on child centered education o Teaching Method new teaching methods are the contribution of o Curriculum it lays more stress on experience and learning by pragmatism doing Existentialism brief view of this philosophy and how it might be used to approach physical education and sport o Begins with the belief that the individual is at the center everything outside the individual is evaluated by the individual o Each individual creates him herself through choices and experiences and that a person is the sum of all o Each person should have opportunity to make choices and decisions individual will personally determine what value an activity or experience holds o The individual is responsible for his her actions and behavior Existentialism is premised on the individual It is geared toward the fact that each person s reality is based on themselves There is no universal concept of what is real rather only unlimited variations of personal perspectives of life What might be real to one person may not be the case for the next and so on and so forth until the end of time Summary There is not a single philosophy that explains the mind body relationship or a single approach to sport and physical education So we can expect even more changes in the future as things within our culture become more diverse there will be more explanations for diversity Greece Ancient Greek The Birthplace of Western Civilization Homer s Iliad and the Odyssey o Adventures of Odysseus returning to Greece from the Trojan War and proving himself and his manhood He throws a discus to demonstrate his greatness o What do these stories tell us about Greece They tell us that they valued athleticism very much it was held They describe hand to hand combat and things other than Early contributions tell us that they were a country that valued in a very significant place track and field the athleticism of athletes Athlete a Greek work that s related to athlos which means contest and Athlon which means prize Greek ideal