CHAPTER IT

ORGANIZATION, TOURNAMENT DRAWING, AND CLASSIFICATION

The organization of intramural competition depends upon many things; the
facilities available, the type of sport or contest involved, the number of con-
testants, etc. The type of organization that is to be used should be well thought
out and applied with dispatch. A tournament well begun is half done.

BASIS OF COMPETITION

It is constantly shown that students enjoy intramural competition in a direct
ratio to the evenness with which they are matched. No team or individual likes
to be badly beaten. If a team is continually defeated by big scores, that team
will tend to disintegrate, causing an undue number of forfeits and a general mixup
in the tournament schedules. For this reason one should try to set up and main-
tain teams of equal ability. There are several methods of equating teams though
these vary with the various activities.

For both boys and girls in the elementary and junior high schools McCloy*
developed a formula that has been checked by additional investigators in this
field. The results are nearly identical when translated into the same terms.
McCloy's formula is: 20A+6H+Wt. A is age in years, H is height in inches, and
Wt is weight in pounds. The use of this formula is not a complicated technique
as it involves only three simple additions. The age, height and weight can be
quickly determined at the start of a semester and filed for use or can be taken
from the records of the physical examination.

After the classification index has been computed, the contestant's score is
placed in a single column ranging from high to low. The teams can be picked by
any rotational method, which depends largely upon chance, and no charge of parti-
ality can be held against the intramural director.

The same technique can be used for boys in the senior high school. It was
used in the fall of 1938 by Mr. L. R. Perry, Director of Physical Education, for
the Lawrence, Kansas public schools in his fall playground ball tournament. He
reports that it worked very well and that all teams in the round robin won some
of their games. In the high school range the age (in years) of the formula is
limited to 17 years. If students are older than seventeen the formula becomes
20 X 17+6H+Wt.

A similar technique of classification has been worked out in California by
Neilson and Cozens.** By use of an exponent system, they have reduced the formula
depending on age, height and weight to a system of adding, and have their classi-
fications worked out into eight groups. Their system also lends itself to the
frequency distribution method of picking teams, and for all activities their groups
can be modified to suit the local situations.

 

* McCloy, C. H.: Tests and Measurements in Physical Education. New York:
F. S. Crofts and Company, 1939.

** Neilsom, N. P. and Cozens, Frederick W.: Achievement Scales in Physical
Education Activities for Boys and Girls in Elementary and Junior High
schools. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1934.

D