US Army Infantry School - Doughboy Yearbook (Fort Benning, GA)

Page 193 text:

ing, the benefits and results to be ex- 1 pected from formal and informal ' classes of exercises both from the 5 viewpoint of the individual soldier and of the service. Teaching methods ap- plicable to this sort of training have been emphasized. Calisthenics has covered exercises for the recruit and for the trained soldier, with reasons for the application of each set of exercises to each class to the end that the soldier and the service may get the most bene- ficial results from intelligently directed instruction. No effort has been made to teach intricate evolutions or Ustuntsll on the apparatus. lnstruction has been confined to activities most applicable to the military service and within the soldier's reach, such as vaulting and I yy 1 - p 1 climbing. The buck, horse, horizontal bar, parallel bars and ropes have been used. These types of apparatus are most readily obtained or improvised generally throughout the service. Group games have been arranged and taught progressively, so that an oHicer may be in ag position to provide games suited to any type of soldier and lead the inapt and backward on to games requiring skillful use of all the faculties. Group games afford a high type of physical exercise with the recrea- tional feature added. With a large number at his command the oflicer who knows how to Watch his men and gauge the state of their interest is able by judicious selection and op- Z g g p 1 portune change to keep interest con- 5 1 4 V K 1 stantly at the highest pitch and bring U FWI ,.,A Qp -1 -- U J A. .pq I . . I the Pefwd t0 fl C1086 Wlfh the men UH- Sfltlafedf The controlling and commanding of

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PHYSICAL TRAINING ' I NIFORM and systematic instruc- tion in athletics and physical training has been given student ofiicers in order that they be able to serve as officials, assist in the develop- ment of teams, supervise physical train- ing, and encourage athletics in the or- ganizations Which they may hereafter command. A great deal of incidental value has been derived by the oliicers themselves although no effort has been made in the time available to develop athletes. The work during the past year has been handicapped by the lack of an indoor gymnasium. But future classes Will have the benefit of the new gymnasium, equipped with shower baths and dressing rooms and large enough to accommodate six hundred people in calisthenics at one time. Conveniently located to the swimming W , W ,A W mu , l pool it will ahord all the advantages of , flaw ,1-,A-a:,'w,'4.f52si3?,,a'5 wg . . F: '27'T F' i A 'f-'4f, - 3' a well appointed gymnasium. T5 . . . , ' 1, . , 51. e Instruction has been given in foot- ball, baseball, basket-ball, volley ball, MWLWW I Mil V I soccer and Held and track sports, and in disciplinary gymnastics, games, boxing, Wrestling and swimming. ln the games instruction has been given by lectures, black-board, in- dividual practice in fundementals and elements, in order that oilicers may have an intelligent conception of the possibilities of each game. Stress has been laid on rules, organization of teams and tournaments, and prep- aration of playing fields. The place I I A ' which each game has in the scheme of l , , p military physical development has been pointed out. 3 , Disciplinary gymnastics has been ..Jlg,,.4.:rr,, fig covered by lectures on aims and purposes of this kind of Physical train-

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- large bodies of men in physical train- ing present problems peculiar to them- M,,,,W. , selves. Both by instruction and prac- -r 79 i ,ev1f'2-f-ef' as fi, . 3F'f' tice the student officers have been 5 31 'J-wig!--T, -- -. . ..- I Q i taught the accepted methods for ac- complishing the best results. ln boxing and Wrestling enough of the elements Were taught to enable the student to act as an ollicial. Emphasis was laid on rules and on the organization of bouts and tournaments. Instruction in swimming was confined to a lecture on methods of teaching and its place in military training together With demonstrations of teaching methods, strokes, dives, life-saving, resuscitation and swimming with full equipment. All of this instruction is calculated to bring the officers ofthe Infantry, Which is called upon above all other arms to make the greatest physical effort under the most trying conditions, fo ii i-eaiizaiioii of the possibilities fit it it f and benefits of athletics and physical rffipinlgg- training, r.ot for themselves alone, but -C-' fi for their service at large. . -i