The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-09-10

Get Out and Play.

Its application to life, eithsr !.
Preparation for the work pa,t !!
life Or - an enlarging Of ~
portunity to enjoy life. I al ~
one to prove that classroom ~
themes serves either purpo,.
The New Idea.
However, Of late Year, :. ~.
derstanding Of the real yaln. !.
play has been growing nm Is ~
minds Of educators. Physical t,..s
Ing Of any kind Is Z recent inn",.
ton In school life. Not more ~
80 years ago classroom calisthscs..
was ,rst introduced into the schcs,
and the frst public playground :
only 20 years old. II the Ma
ground had only come first. al 4.
time, money and health wasted =
calisthenics might have ~
saved. But calisthenics rs = ~
acea for inefficient human boSi..
was introduced to the school bosrs.
with = lot Of highbrow Language !.
hide its deficiencies. and il vas..s
cepted by school boards because =
its cheapness.
Teachers taught exercises BY MA
without inspiration. No child ~
anything out Of it that he kent ~
cause there was no fun in Il ~
was just q grind he didn't undar.
stand.
The first public playground
founded by private philanthropv'i
proved that the child gains ins'
nitely more in both health and sooA
craftsmanship from playing EsmeA
than from artificial exercise, vithN
the result that schools and city
welfare centers are spending mora
and more on Fairgrounds, and less
on systems Of exercise.
DR.. Angel had a good oppostunJ
ity during the war to prove the i'm.
portance Of play in developing
health and morale, while he served
as lieutenant in the medical corps
at the naval training station q
Great Lakes, Illinois. He also saw
how pitifully lacking many Of u,
are in the ability to satisfy tho
normal play instinct. He says that
he was amazed to discover great
numbers Of men who had never
played any game. Also there were
whole companies of foreign-bon
Americans who could not speak =
word of English. 1t became appar.l
ent to DR.. Angel that a crying need
OF the recruits was simple game
that could be played by large nun,
bers Of men in small space. 81
he straightway invented cage ball.
which was first played in deten.
ton camp there, later went to
France with the army, and now IS
being played from Siberia to Peru.
Cage Ball.
Cage ball is one of the simplest
games in the world, being practic-
ally without rules. 1t is played
with a large ball. 80 inches in diam.
eter and weighing five pounds.
There are two goals, or cages, 100
feet apart, and the object is for
! the players of one side to get the
ball into the cage on the opposite
side, without kicking, carrying or
rolling 1t. The only rule Of the
game, DR.. Angel says, is the rule
of good sportsmanship, and even
this rule is not enforced. When
the game was first tried at the
naval training station, first fights
between some Of the foreign re-
cruits, who had never played a
/ game while the play proceeded.
But after the men had played few
times they got the idea of sports
manship and stopped the fighting
of their own accord.
Americans are a great people
physically" said DR.. Angel" as is
shown by the fact that they have
won the Olympic games ever since
they were revived But they don't
owe their strength and skill to-tbs
feeble and penurious physical train
ing they get in the public schools
They owe them to the natural In
stincts Of a pioneer race in a new
country. Just the same as a conn
try which has a high standard o.
musical or artistic efficiency vii
produce the genius in music or ar
the country that has high physi
cal standard will produce the grea
athlete. A champion of the Olym
pic games is an artist in his par
ticular sport Just as Caruso 10 II
music. But the conditions Of oul
life here, which gave the America
his strong, well-trained body. ar
!. changing. Civilization is stealinl
our natural playground and in TIM
that means our natural skill Il
sports will become lessened, unles
we use our saving instinct for pla.
intelligently, and by giving all th'
children an opportunity to pla
/ hard. keep up the physical stand
/ ards OF our race"