ela”
Recreational Sports in High School

by
Josephine Young, Junction City High School, Junction City, Ks,

Previous to the past few yoars the team type of eames and contest has reccived
most of our attention and interest, Recently, however, a change has beon apparent
and individual sports have gained in popularity. This change has been due to severo]
factors: 1. Organization of local and national groups to foster intcrest in individ~
ual sports, 2. Interest in the carry-over value of activities, 3. Problem of leisu:s
time causcd by charge in our social order,

These factors have definitely brought about a change in our activity programs or
schools and colleges. Curriculums havo had to be changed to include both team sports,
for our more athlctic type, and recreative sports which will satisfy the needs of the
individual interested in activities domanding a lesser degreo of skill, You can sce
how the latter would appeal to the girl with a physical handicap.

Recreational sports are not limited by the factors of proper playing spaco,
equipment, and enough players to make two tcams. A backyard, basement, stretch of
level lewn, school grounds, driveway will provide adequate space, A net or cord
stretched between two trees can be used for badminton, deck temis, or paddle tennis.
An official is not necessary, and except for badminton, the equipment is relatively
inexpensive. The cost of equipment in even badminton can be cut to a minimum es I
shall explain later.

The aims of a recreational program are: 1, To equip students with skills in
recreative sports, 2. To stimulate sufficient intercst to insure continued partici-
pation, 5. To devclop desirable attitudes toward sports.

I have tricd to give you so far information that I believe will be useful to you
in trying to convince your school board that money spent on new recreative equipment
is not poorly invested. Your school in order to be considered progressive must re~
alize that there is a definite trend today toward the inclusion and participation in
recreative sports as an important part of the physical education program,

In our school we introduced recreational sports in the following manner; class
instruction was given in each sport; mimeographed rulcs were given each student, and
they were read and discussed. Not until the following year did we make these sports
a part of our intramural program, and in shuffle board alone three hundred and twonty~
one girls out of approximately 450 participated.

Now let us discuss individually some of the sports that you might like to include
in your program. |

While it takes you years to become an expert at badminton, it takes only a few
minutes to become an enthusiast in paddle badminton, The game is active and calls
for courtesy, understanding, and honesty, The element of danger is at a minimum, as
both paddles and birds are very light in weight. A perfect playing surface is not
necessary, as no bounce plays are permitted. The low cost of installation and main-
tainance should aid in making badminton an ideal carry-over sport,

Instead of buying racquets, we had wooden paddles made by the manual training
department for approximately ten cents cach. Instead of using badminton rules, we
use five on a tcam and follow the rules of volleyball, Thus the game develops indi-
vidual skill and yet instills cooperation,

Rather than buy a bird, you can trim down an ordinary sponge to about the size
of one's closed hand, or you can place a small sponge rubber ball in the center of a
7-inch square of cloth. Twist the cloth and tie close to the ball and Shes cut into
tailelike strips. Such a substitution answers the purpose niccly.

Paddle tennis is a year round sport and is played with rogular lawn tennis rules,
singles or doubles. The court is one-fourth the size of a tennis court, and the
equipment consists of a wooden paddle, a sponge rubber ball, net, and standards.
Except for the bird your paddle badminton equipment may be used,

A shuffle board court can be laid out on any hard surface, The length of the
court is twenty-eight feet and the width three feet. Eight six-inch discs, four red
and four blue, are used to play this game. The cue is used to propel the discs,

- .
int
‘
i re