PE Sport Historical timeline

By Paul_martin
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    PE Sport Historical timeline

  • Jamestown

    Jamestown
    The first colony was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. Many of the people who settled in the New World came to escape religious persecution. Colonists found Native Americans leading a very active existence, they hunted, fished, canoed, ran from place to place, and engaged in a multitude of physical activities as they sought food, built shelters, and communicated with other tribes.

  • Physical Education

    In the 1820s and 1830s, Physical education began to be incorporated into school curriculums.

  • Charles Beck Introduced Gymnastics

    In 1825, Charles Beck (1798-1866), a turner, introduced Jahn's gymnastic program of exercise and apparatus to his students at the Round Hill School in Northhampton, Mass. Beck built an outdoor gymnasium and started the first school gymnastics program.

  • Charles Follen organized exercise classes

    In 1826, Charles Follen (1796-1840) organized exercise classes, based on the german system, for students at Harvard University.

  • Catharine Beecher implemented a program of physical education

    Catharine Beecher (1800-1878) was the director of the Hartford Female Seminary in connecticut, an institution for higher education for young women. in 1828, she developed and implemented a program of physical education within the educational curriculum of the school. The program consisted of calisthenics performed to music.

  • Turnvereins

    In 1851, in Philadelphia, the first national turnfest was held. Turners from New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Brooklyn, Utica, and Newark engaged in this competition. As Germans moved westward to settle, they established turnverein societies in their communities.

  • First Intercollegiate athletics

    In 1852, the first intercollegiate competition occurred. A crew race between Harvard and Yale was held, with Harvard winning the race,. Intercollegiate athletics would begin to assume an increasingly prominent role in college campuses.

  • Lewis system of "Light" gymnastics

    In 1860, Dioclesian Lewis ( 1823-1886) developed the Lewis system of "light" gymnastics and introduced it to men, women, and children living in Boston. Exercises to improve cardiovascular system were performed to music. Posture and flexibility exercises and light apparatus, such as wands, Indian clubs, and beanbags, were incorporated into his program.

  • Lewis established the Normal Institute for Physical Education in Boston

    In 1861, Lewis established the Normal Institute for Physical Education in Boston to prepare teachers. Courses in anatomy and physiology, hygiene, and gymnastics comprised the 10-week professional preparation program. this was the first teacher training program in the US.

  • Edward Hitchcock named director of health and hygiene at Amherst college

    In 1861, Hitchcock was named director of health and hygiene at Amherst college. In this position, Hitchcock was responsible for the physical development and health of the students. Classes consisted of developmental exercises using horizontal bars, rings, ropes, ladders, Indian clubs, vaulting horses, and weights. Hitchcock is recognized for his pioneering work using the scientific approach in physical education

  • Dudley Sargent appointed director of the New Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard University

    In 1879, Sargent was appointed director of the New Hemenway Gymnasium at Harvard University. Students who elected to take physical education received a medical examination and underwent a battery of anthropometric tests as the basis for an individually prescribed conditioning program. Sargent developed specially designed exercise equipment, which the students used in conjunction with carefully selected german and Swedish gymnastic exercises to work out.

  • Sargent founded the Sanatory Gymnasium

    In 1881, Sargent founded the Sanatory Gymnasium, a school to prepare physical education teachers to utilize his scientific and comprehensive approach to physical education.

  • First women in US to be a professor of physical education

    In 1903, Delphine Hanna (1854-1941) was promoted to full professor, the first woman in the US to be a full professor of physical education. Hanna's training program for prospective teachers eventually evolved into one of the first professional preparation programs for physical education.

  • playground association of America

    The Playground Association of America was created in 1906, which sought to promote the development of urban and rural playgrounds. By 1930, the Playground Association had evolved into the National Recreation Association.

  • Philosophy of Physical Education

    In 1910, Clark Hetherington (1870-1942) articulated the four objectives of physical education as organic development (fitness), psychomotor development (skill), character development ( social), and intellectual development (mental)

  • World War 1

    World War 1 started in 1914, and the United States' entry in 1918 had a critical impact on the nation and education. The Selective Service Act of 1917 called to service all men between the ages of 18 and 25.

  • "The Principles of Physical education"

    In 1927, Jesse F. Williams (1886-1966) published "The Principles of Physical Education", which emphasized his beliefs about the unity of mind and body. He argued that physical education should be included within the school curriculum because of its ability to contribute to the development of the whole child.

  • Stock Market crash

    The 1929 stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression, which affected education. Unemployment and poverty reigned. Health and physical education had a difficult time surviving in many communities.

  • Jackie Robinson breaks color barier

    Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. When the Dodgers signed Robinson, they heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.

  • Founding of the Special Olympics

    physical educators became more convinced that students with special needs, such as individuals who have physical developmental disabilities, would benefit from participation in physical education and sport. So in 1968, the Special Olympics was founded. Since its inception, the Special Olympics has provided competitive sports opportunities for individuals with mental retardation.

  • Cources

    Walton-Fisette, J. L., & Wuest, D. A. (2015). Foundations of physical education, exercise science, and sport. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.