The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-12-16


which all mean physical develop
ment.
All mothers of the girls on the bas-
ketban team know how hard the girls
are working to make money to pay
the expenses of a referee or extra
coach, and all mothers of the boys on
the football team know how anxious
the boys were to raise money enough
to pay the note at the bank which the
Kotarians were kind enough to ar
range for. And we all know how
much we owe to the members of the
faculty who take such an interest in
these two teams and are perfectly
willing to devote their time outside
of the school building as well as on
the inside. to make these two teams
IA success in their contests with other
high schools and when we realize
what such contests mean, we will be
perfectly willing to encourage them.
They not only mean physical per-
lection and the perfect athlete, but
also the coordination of brain and
brawn-of mind and muscle, the de-
velopment of good craftsmanship and
fair play, and how to be good loser
as well as glad winner. These are
only few of the things physical edu-
cation brings out. Even to learn the
discipline of desire and appetite in
their training period is a wonderful
education. You can tell children over
ard over again aoout their diet-that
they should eat certain foods for their
values in proteins or fats or tissue
building or heat-producing properties,
and it seems to have very little effect.
But you tell them they must cut out
I texcuse the slang) tea, coffee, soft
drinks, anything in excess, or
they will not be allowed on the team,
and will promise you they'll have no
trouble in controlling their appetites.
Take the boy who smokes. You tell
him it's bad for his throat and lungs,
affects his heart and stunts his
growth. Sometimes he remembers,
but more times he doesn't You tell
him the coach will suspend him if he
breaks training rules, and that settles
| if. No more smoking. You take any
of the children and show them that
late hours with frolics and parties
will put them out of the running in
the next days practice, and you won't
have to show them more than once. If
you can accomplish this in just one or
two months training, think what it
would mean if they kept it up for one
sport or another during the whole
nine months of their school term.
Why, the remaining three months
would be negligible quantity. When
you consider that if you put physical
education in the schools on the same
| basis as the intellectual education, it
would mean not only the aspirants for
basketball and football honors, but
that every child, boy or girl, would be
physically fit-right there you have
solved the problem of the physically
unfit. Of course. it will take time and
also money, but as l said before, thru
the efforts of the parents and the
teachers the first steps in the right
direction are being taken and the
others will surely follow, just as one
step follows another all through life.
Our first business will be to educate
the general public as well as our
selves along these lines, for it will
take time and money to have special
instructor, which is almost absolutely
necessary for success. That means 3
higher school tax of course. but as
mothers as well as fathers are now
allowed to vote, it means that the
mother will look first to the task OF
keeping her child healthy and happy
and that means physically fit"
| You all know the quotation from
Kipling that is used so often and near
ly always in a sarcastic way, "ThC
female of the species is more deadly
than the male" and we all know it j:
true. Take any animal you know anC
/ watch how the mother will fight al
, long as she is alive to prevent an!
harm to her offspring and how she il
: always watching an opportunity to OBJ
tain food and shelter for it. If thi
5 is true in animals, how much more s,
: in human beings? When a woman
: willingly and gladly goes down int
: the valley of the shadow of death il
{ order that her child may live, then sh
5 has a perfect right to demand tn
: highest and best for that child. VIVA
D ever we have right to, if we go afte
: it altogether and KEEP everlastingly a
it, well certainly get it, and in m
e opinion, the first thing to do is t
f give them such instruction alon
IL