H

The author, happy on skates.

AVE WE overlooked figure skating as a recreation activity to be offered in schools and colleges or in community recreation programs? Certainly, it meets the criteria of a desirable activity. Why, then, isn't it included in more school and community recreation programs?

I believe that figure skating can be started with the elementary school child. It is fun and good exercise; it gives the children an opportunity for expression through movement that is difficult to find. INSTRUCTION

Instruction for beginners could be given in groups, the number in keeping with the available space and the instructor's ability. The approach is important, particularly during the child's first introduction to the activity. Make it fun, provide opportunity for an early sense of accomplishment, and let them enjoy each other's company by playing such games as "Shoot the Duck," "Follow the Leader," and "Tag."

As the children develop a certain amount of control, co-ordination, and confidence through practice of the basic skating positions, such as the outer forward, inner forward, outer back, and inner back, they can be taught simple movements beginning with the bunny hop, waltz jump, waltz turn, basic spiral, and figure eight.

Learning how to stop worries some children in the early stages. They

Figure Skating for

Recreation

by TENLEY ALBRIGHT

World Ladies Figure Skating Champion as told to J. BERTRAM KESSEL Boston University

find it easier to move than to stop. Thus, it is necessary for the instructor to offer several possibilities: the snow plow, done by pushing the heels apart, the T-stop, done by placing the stopping foot at a right angle to the other foot; and the ski stop, where the skater swings his whole body to one side with feet kept together. All of these stops are performed with the skating blades held flat on the ice.

POSSIBILITIES

Figure skating, like other sports that call for the acquisition of basic skills, builds on progressions. There are four basic figure eights, for example, but 67 figure-eight variations. These, coupled with the spirals, jumps, and turns in different pat

About TENLEY ALBRIGHT

MISS ALBRIGHT, a winsome personality and unpretentious despite her many laurels, is a junior premedical student at Radcliffe College. She started skating at nine years of age and began competing at 11 when she won the Eastern United States Ladies Juvenile Championship at Philadelphia, four months after an attack of non-paralytic poliomyelitis. From that date on, she acquired a series of skating championships, and at the age of 17 was World Champion, North American Champion, and United States Ladies Senior Champion. Last year, in Vienna, Austria, she won the World Ladies Figure Skating Championship. This month she will appear in Cortina, Italy, for the Olympics and in defense of her title at the World's Competitions at Garmisch, Germany, in February.

terns, give one a myriad of combination possibilities. Apply these to the interpretation of music and one has another expressive form of figure skating. Dancing in couples on ice has become increasingly popular during the last decade. Ice shows and revues such as those promoted and performed by Sonja Henie, Olympic Champion of 1928, 1932, and 1936, have added greater impetus to the interest in figure skating.

SKATING TO MUSIC

The innovation of music and its interpretation on ice has become a part of the Olympic competition in relatively recent years. When a skater appears in this international event, the judges ask for a certain (Concluded on page 56)

TH

HE WHITE HOUSE Conference on Education was convened November 28 as "the most thorough, widespread and concerted study that the American people have ever made of their educational problems," in the words of President Eisenhower. More than 1,200 lay persons from every state and territory met with some 500 educators for three days of hard thinking.

BACKGROUND

As the White House Conference pattern developed over the past two years, AAHPER members were informed through bulletins, the JOURNAL, and through professional meetings. State Association leaders were encouraged to participate in conferences in their own states and to serve as delegates to the White House Conference.

Prior to the conference, the Headquarters Staff prepared material in the areas of health education, physical education, and recreation on the six major topics. Members of the staff worked closely with NEA staff members in order to insure a coordinated approach to these special areas and to add support to the allover goals of education. Copies of these materials were sent to State Association presidents and to other professional leaders nationwide.

IMPLICATIONS OF REPORTS

The final report of the White House Conference on Education will be in

18

three parts. The first part will include the official report of each state and territorial conference.

The second part of the report will include the consensus of delegates attending the conference on each of the six topics discussed. The third part will summarize the first two parts and add the conclusions of the Committee for the Conference.

In order to bring to your attention those aspects of the consensus reports which relate to health education, physical education and recreation, pertinent material has been excerpted. As might be expected at a conference concerned with general education, relatively few of the Association's specific recommendations appeared on the brief consensus reports.

However, the fact that considerable emphasis was placed on the need for health education, physical education, and recreation in some of the state reports reflects the work of AAHPER members with state delegations. It also points the direction if further progress is to be made. EXCERPTS FROM CONSENSUS REPORTS

What Should Our Schools
Accomplish?

It is the consensus of these groups that the schools should continue to develop:

11. Physical and mental health. 12. Wise use of time, including constructive leisure pursuits.

In What Ways Can We Organize Our School Systems More Efficiently and Economically?

3. A study should be made of a 12-month school year.

4. There should be co-operation between public and private authorities in efforts to provide school facilities for a given area.

5. Since pupil-teacher ratios are an important factor in achieving educational goals, class size should be large enough to permit an optimum program but small enough to permit attention to individual needs.

What Are Our School Building Needs?

Basic and Desirable Facilities: 1. The basic facilities for every satisfactory school building should include housing for all functiona services required to carry on th educational programs anticipated.

O

4. Some felt that this report should also be particularized. Basic facili ties for an elementary school: Ade quate site, classrooms including kin dergarten, office facilities, space fo assembly and cafeteria activities multi-purpose room, physical educa tion and playground facilities an equipment, health unit, teacher room, service and sanitary facilities toilet rooms, custodial and storag rooms. Desirable, but not mandatory facilities should include special serv ice rooms, library, and visual aids.

5. Basic facilities for secondar schools: Adequate site, genera

classrooms, special classrooms for science, art, homemaking, music, industrial arts, and for vocational education, boys and girls physical education, offices, library and textbook rooms, cafeteria, auditorium, health unit, teachers lounge, locker facilities for students. Desirable, but not mandatory: Swimming pool, visual aid facilities.

It is the consensus that the buildings can be more effectively used for school and community purposes:

1. The possible use of buildings for the entire 12 months by children and adults should be explored for educational, civic, and recreational

purposes.

2. Buildings should be open for adult evening classes, recreation, and general civic and community purposes, with school purposes having high priority. Proper supervisory control over use should be exercised so as to cause no interference with school operation. There should be supervision and budget provision for this extra use.

3. Some felt that activities should include use of buildings during school hours on holidays and weekends.

a

5. On the question of extending the school-day or school-year use of buildings: some recommended study; some were instructed to omit the topic; and some recommended caution in considering such proposals.

How Can We Get Enough Good Teachers-and Keep Them?

We believe that, to increase the supply of good teachers from any Source, three basic considerations must be kept in mind:

1. The prestige and status of teaching must be comparable to other professions within the community.

2. The salary structure must be high enough and flexible enough to compete effectively with other fields bidding for quality manpower.

3. The teacher's job must be so defined as to challenge and attract the interest of talented people.

A good teacher is one who has an active interest in children and youth; has a broad educational background; is professionally qualified and competent; possesses good physical and

mental health; has a good moral character; manifests a desire for self-improvement; can work constructively with other professional workers, parents, and the community; and is proud of teaching.

How Can We Finance Our SchoolsBuild and Operate Them?

Federal Aid for Schools

A substantial majority felt that some states do not have sufficient financial resources to take care of the essential needs of the schools.

The participants approved by a ratio of more than two to one the proposition that the Federal Government should increase its financial participation in public education. Of those favoring such increase, the overwhelming majority approved an increase in Federal funds for school building construction. On the issue of Federal funds to the states for local school operation, the participants divided almost evenly. A very small minority was opposed to Federal aid for education in any form.

A majority agreed that all states and territories and the District of Columbia should be eligible for Federal funds but that they should be granted only on the basis of demonstrated needs.

Federal aid should never be permitted to become a deterrent to state and local initiative in education.

The administration of Federal funds should be through the appropriate state agency for education. This state agency should determine the relative needs of local school districts. There was some opinion that Federal administration of financial grants for education should be vested in the U. S. Office of Education.

How Can We Obtain a Continuing Public Interest in Education?

In the final analysis, a fine-quality educational program through the radiance and enthusiasm of its teachers and pupils is its own best ambassador. However, there are many activities at the community level which we have observed help create public interest in education. Some of these activities are: the organization of such associations as the parent-teacher organizations, educational associations, and various similar groups; observance of special days and weeks devoted to education; wide use of television, radio, and newspapers; formation of study groups; local conferences; Boardappointed lay advisory committees; counsel groups; safety patrols; scheduled individual parent and teacher conferences; school newspapers; community use of school buildings; extracurricular activities; illustrated annual reports by school boards; class reunions; student participation in community activities; teacher participation in community affairs. Opinion divided on the use of school-community public relations directors. OUR CHALLENGE

was

Each member of our profession must accept as a personal challenge the interpretation of the role of health, physical education, and recreation to his colleagues and to representatives of the general public.

Association publications are useful tools for interpreting programs. Putting PR into HPER and the new physical education film, They Grow Up So Fast, are specific examples. ★

Hockey

SKAT

KATING is ice hockey's most important fundamental; with it a player develops all-round balance, agility, and co-ordination, enabling him to react properly to any type of game situation. Most of the player's time is spent in skating, especially under college regulations which permit a more wide open style of play than do the professional rules. The hockey player and coach should work continually to improve skating until it is the most polished of all his skills.

An analysis of hockey skating reveals several types. A player must learn to skate frontwards and backwards, clockwise and counter-clockwise; he must be able to turn quickly in any direction and at varying rates of speed. The following is a breakdown of the ordinary forward skating action.

Body Position. Since hockey is a bent leg activity, body position, or a general weight distribution that produces maximum efficiency, should be considered as the most important item for the hockey skater.

The forward body lean should be from the hips. It should be noted here that each body type indicates a

different degree of lean. Failure to use a forward body lean is one of the most common faults of the average ice hockey player. The essential point to keep in mind is the center of balance as placed in the hips, for normally the hip is in a straight line with the middle of the skate. A flexible knee action will enable a skater to change direction more quickly and with greater ease. A skater should always keep his knee ahead of his foot, so that he will have a greater tendency to place his weight on each forward stride.

Arm and shoulder action in skating should be co-ordinated with leg action in a smooth rhythm. Only thus can the glide and momentum possible on ice be attained. Posture. It is evident from the accompanying pictures that long competitive playing of ice hockey may in some cases cause unfavorable changes in a player's posture. In order to avoid bad body condition and to prevent young players from developing poor posture through hockey, the author suggests participation in other sports, such as swimming, in the summer session. Too, exercises charac

terized by extension, such as pullups, in the training program can be valuable.

SKATING DRILLS

1. Skating Push Drill. Players line up in pairs, one behind the other, at one end of the rink. Player number ONE places his hands, or his stick, on the hips or back of player number TWO, and pushes him the length of the rink. When the players get to the end of the rink they change places. This drill will help to develop the body position in lean, knee action, and push-off skating stroke

2. Figure Eight and Four Skating Drill. Players skating behind one another take four gliding strides, then burst all out for four, continuing this procedure around one goal cage and then back around the other, forming a figure eight. This drill helps to develop a player's ability to cut to both sides as well as quick break and a change of pace.

3. Scramble, Forward and Backward Skating Drill. Players line up along the side of the rink. On the first whistle they skate forward; on second whistle they stop and scramble back to the starting point as fast as possible; on the third whistle, players break skating forward to the other side. On the fourth whistle, players return skating backward to their original position.

PASSING

Passing is an action involving several skills, mainly stick-handling and skating. Practice should aim to coordinate body action with the techniques which come under the general heading of stick-handling. The present-day emphasis on speed and rule changes for advancing the puck has made accurate passing more important than ever.

To make a good pass, the arms and shoulders should be loose and relaxed, for the stick must be regarded as an extension of the arms and hands. The upper hand is worked against the lower hand, the latter acting as a lever. Giving the stick a quarter turn causes the blade to have a better puck-contact, thus improving control and accuracy. Accuracy is the keynote in efficient passing and involves proper timing, proper direction, and proper speed. The blade of