IHPRA Newsletter
June 2002
Children of Clay is
scheduled to be published soon
in the Journal of the Iowa Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and
Dance.
Here it is in both MWord and pdf format.
Exercise Can Boost Brain Function
All Ages Addicted to Junk Food
Negotium populo Romano melius quam
otium committi
The Roman people understand work better than leisure
Appius Claudius
The above remark by Appius Claudius suggests that Rome during its decline did not understand the true nature of leisure. Using these insights as a springboard, we can measure our cultural direction by reviewing the linguistic, historical and socio-cultural roots from which our nation emerged. For a jump start, review this chapter from paradigm 21. Next, search this and other sites for information concerning past and present physical culture, physical training and physical education in the United States, and measure the systems you find using the paradigm 21 model. You will begin to see when, where and why some models were and are better than others.
Physical culture is one of the first casualties of a declining nation. Rudyard Kipling said it well:
"Nations have
passed away and left no trace,
and history gives the naked cause of it--
one single, simple reason in all cases;
they fell because their people were not fit."
Rudyard
Kipling
(1856-1936)
Kipling also wrote:
If
If
you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If
you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If
you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If
you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Area Education Agency 11 and the Ballard Community School District recently hosted four days of functional fitness training for Iowa physical educators. Strength and conditioning coach Steve Myrland taught a variety of drills designed for middle-high school students. Click on the thumbnails above for larger images of medicine ball training highlights. Participants also spent two days reviewing theory and practical application of body basics including static posture, gait and subtle physical development issues including breathing and stress management. Special thanks to Diane Modlin and the Ballard team for hosting the event.
Jennifer Parilla is among the thousands of people today who train seriously on a trampoline. It is great for developing spatial awareness, physical conditioning, muscular balance, and numerous other important aspects of overall physical development. With the exception of a few schools that offer a minimal amount of off-the-ground training, most physical education here in Iowa is taught on-the-ground in the empty boxes that have become our gymnasiums. The modern trampoline, invented here in Iowa, was widely taught in school across the state after WWII, but it disappeared from the curriculum decades ago. Even though the trampoline is commonly seen in backyards across the Iowa, fear of lawsuits is most often the reason schools give for not teaching trampoline skills. Such concerns may not be valid. In 1998, The National Association of Sport and Physical Education published a statement (Read it as a PDF or go the NASPE site) defending the use of trampolines in school physical education programs. According to the statement, poor teaching and supervision, not the trampoline, is most often the cause of injuries.
It was natural that when, under physical education pioneer Charles H. McCloy, the Navy V-5 program came to The University of Iowa during WWII, that the trampoline would play an important role in the training.
Athlete/Author Dan Millman has long been a champion of the trampoline. Click on his name to see some mpegs.
