The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-10-14
THE GAMES WE KNOW

] HE LANES WE KNOW
What plays and games do Berea
students know? How much ground
work will it be necessary to do be-
fore play programs made to reach
every student in the Institution can
be constructed and put to work?
/ have for some years made a
study Of the plays and games of the
young people Of the rural Southland
and have discovered that no elabor-
ate made-to-order recreation pro-
gram is ever necessary to insure
/ plenty of fun and recreation among
the players. There is a great wealth
of play material ready for any one
who will assemble Il and go to using
I il.
recently asked a class Of about
forty students TO write out a list of
the plays and games the young folks
in their neighborhoods use. The
lists run from a dozen to eighty.
A Kentucky girl hands in a list of
thirty-four, all of which she can
play. A young man from North Car
olina presents a list of twenty-eight.
adding, Il can't think of half know"
A young man from West Virginia
lists thirty-six; a North Carolina boy
and a Tennessee girl working to-
/ Uatbar fftuopa. N Tor-u..u. IL
who has forgotten many, lists forty;
A West Virginia girl knows fifty
six; Berea boy knows thirty
seven; young man from Oklahoma
knows forty; girl from Central
Kentucky knows fifty; young wo-
man from West Virginia stretches
out her list TO eighty, most Of which
she knows how to play, and has
played.
In these lists are games for all
sorts of occasions-indoors, out doors,
school, athletic field-and for folks
of all ages from tots to grandfathers.
There are running games for those
who have legs, skipping games for
the nimble-footed, rough-and-tum
Bile games for boys, interesting games
Of action for girls, games a-plenty
for grown-ups, and a variety Of
games for those dear souls who pre-
fer to get their exercise by looking
at somebody else run, grow strong,
and have a good time.
There are plenty of games that
make folks sweat-that's what we
need to do when we play. There are
others for both boys and girls
circle games, singing games, running
games, skipping games, games where
fun and joyous laughter abound.
While we are spending a lot of
time trying TO work out an athletic
program we ought to remember that
the students themselves know enough
games to have hundreds playing every
day from now till June. This supply
Of recreation material is always on
tap. Most of these games require
no referees; they require no elaborate
rules; they require no elaborate ap-
paratus; and, what is best of all, they
require no expensive clothing. The
student who plays doesn't have to
pay $500 or $1,000, or more for per
sonal equipment. And when he plays,
he is not likely TO break an arm, or
a leg, or dislocate an elbow, or a
shoulder.
Young men and women can play,
many Of them together. This is the
ideal kind of recreation. II is the
kind our students have at home, and
it is the kind we ought to foster
here on the campus. All the world
over men and women play together
and they play with zest that needs
no special contests of rivalry to fos-
ter il.
These are the kinds of games Miss
Geister has used so successfully all
over the country. She has demon
strated that people will play without
athletic fields, without expensive
clothing, without long lists Of rules
which are quarreled about so much.
And our students will inlay the games
they know in the clothes they now
have on the campus that we all en-
joy-play them without having to
leave Berea, or squabble over rules
II they only have a chance. The
only equipment they need is an ordi-
nary suit and a good pair Of legs
and most Of them have all three.
John +. Smith