Evening star., 1935-01-20
INDIVIDUAL SPORT.
TRAINING IS URGED.
New York U. Physical Edu.
cation Head Addresses
ParIey Here.

What this country needs Is more
empty seats in the grandstand at the
Saturday afternoon athletic events
and concentration on individual
sports, according to DR.. Jay B. Nash,
director of physical training at New
York University.
The spectator, whose most strenuous
effort at foot ball game is uprooting
the goal posts, is more fatigued at
the end of the contest than the player
who has been thrown and pushed
around all afternoon by a 2o0-pound
tackle, DR.. Nash told group Of edu-
Gators, health experts and public ofh-
cials at q conference yesterday at the
Y. M. c. A., under the auspices Of the
District Physical Education Associa-
ton.
If people must 60 to foot ball games.
more goal posts should be erected, so
everybody could get a good workout"
after the final whistle blows, DR.. Nash
says.
While science is rapidly conquering
infectious diseases, the speaker said,
the health of Americans Is breaking
from nervous strains, and citizens are
becoming lethargic for loss of exercise.
Program for individuals.
It is necessary to map a program
of health, to interest every person in
some athletic or bodybuilding pur-
suit, if the United States Is to be kept
from going to sleep, he said. Too
much time is spent listening to the
radio, going to the movies, talking
and reading the newspapers, DR.. Nash
declared, adding there are few news
papers in the country worth spend
ing more than three minutes day on.
There is every reason to believe we
are approaching an era of leisure, the
speaker continued, and it is impera-
tive that children be surrounded with
an atmosphere of joy-an indication
of the absence Of strain.
In a city the size of Washington,
recreational facilities should be con-
centrated to prevent any overlapping,
and every playground, school field and
gymnasium and park should be util-
lied, DR.. Nash said, in recommending
a program of universal participation
in some team game or individual ac-
tivity for children from the time they
enter grammar school until they grad
uate from high school or college.
Fish Is Speaker.
Representative Hamilton Fish of
New York, another speaker at the con-
ference, declared there is a danger
of overemphasizing the importance of
the first team" in schools and COL
leges, and not enough consideration
for the general development of ath-
letics in which every student may par
ticipate.
Fish, a former Harvard foot ball
star, said, however, he believed that
under a good coach the boy who goes
out for the varsity gets more mental
development in a few hours than in
any two courses during semester.
The District is one of the most un-
healthy cities in the country, Fish
stated, because nothing has been done
to protect its citizens from the use Of
soft coal, the dirt, CRIME and cinders
polluting the air "a hours day. He
urged the association to include pro-
test against this menace in its agenda.
Others who addressed the confer
ence were Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle,
vice president of the Board OF Educa-
ton; DR.. Frank w. Ballou, superin-
tendent of public schools; Tucker
Jones, athletic director at William
and Mary College, and DR.. Estella
Warner Of the United States Public
Health Service.
Children's Training.
Mrs. Doyle urged the physical In
structors to give children training
that will "carry over" in years after
they are through with school. Par
ents, she said, expected physical edu-
cation to be made a real part OF o
child's general education program.
Health Is more important than sys-
tematic education, DR.. Ballou stated,
and physical training has an i'm
portant place in unified education.
A class comprising foot ball and
basket ball coaches and physical di-
rectors of local and nearby colleges
and schools was addressed by Glenn
Thistlewaite, former foot ball coach
at Northwestern University, now head
of athletics at Richmond University,
and Valentine Lentz, basket ball coach
at St. Johns College, Annapolis. Fol-
lowing their talks, Max Harrington.
assistant athletic director at George
Washington University, led a discus
sion group.
Miss Ruth II. Atwell, president Of
the District of Columbia Physical Edu-
cation Association, presided at Q
luncheon at which DR.. Nash and
ofharc snnLe