The Amateur Sports Act

The United States and Soviet Union had a strict competition going in the medal race of international sport. The country that lost in the medal count was a sign of that country’s weakness, and the winner earned respect internationally as a strong country. As President Ford said “I don’t know a better advertisement for a nation’s good health than a healthy athletic representation.” I completely agree with President Ford. America was falling behind in international athletics and something had to be done about this. Having healthy, drug free, strong athletes that dominated at the Olympic games would be an awesome representation of America. Hunt mentions in his article that the Amateur Sports act of 1978 was passed in response to policy proposals provided by President Gerald Ford’s Commission on Olympic Sports, and provides the framework for amateur sports in the U.S. and serves as one of the bases for the nation’s current international athletic success. Poor performance of the American team at the 1972 Olympics was the ‘focusing event’ this act was based off of. While this act focused on the U.S. having elite athletics, it failed to look at the other important issues in the U.S. such as decreasing physical activity and increasing obesity rates.  As the rivalry between the Soviet Union and U.S. developed it became increasingly apparent that the American team was not prepared to compete with the Soviets, so this act was put into effect to act as a system that prioritized the production of elite athletes to win international prestige for the U.S. rather than a promoter of a system that contributed to the basic fitness and equality of athletic opportunities of the general public.  However, during the Kennedy and Eisenhower administrations, a sports system founded on mass participation was envisioned as a means to promote national health and, by doing so, maintain the nation’s preparedness for war. Eisenhower became alarmed at our country’s extremely low average fitness level, especially when compared to that of European countries. The president’s came up with the creation of the President’s Council on Youth Fitness. To advise Americans on these low fitness levels, and what can be done to reach a happy, healthy America. President Kennedy, agreeing with Eisenhower, claimed that “the fitness of our citizens is a vital prerequisite to America’s realization of its full potential as a nation..” I completely agree.  I really like how our president administration (especially Nixon and Ford) really believed that sport encompassed the positive values of mainstream America and that elite athletes were especially note worthy for their high character.” I like how we had presidents around this time that came to realize this. The president I must say I am in most agreement with is Kennedy. In that he realized it was very important that they started to realize that not only elite athletes needed to improve their athleticism, but America as a whole needed to. As Hunt mentioned, perhaps we should focus more on adults in our country, since they have less exercise resources at those in other countries. American needed to become more physically fit as a nation, to represent our country well, and even though we still have a LONG way to go, the presidents of that time made great leaps in promoting that fitness for the mass.

Sports and the Cold War

The tension between countries during the Cold War was represented through sports, and specifically, in the Olympics, since they were an international competition. The quest for dominance in the Olympic medals led to the creation of highly sport systems that utilized the latest scientific advances in athletic training and exercise physiology. This led many countries to turn to drugs for their athletes. Drugs were very common in the 1960s and 1970s during sport and even in the Olympics. Although it became an issue many started to notice was getting out of control, little was actually done about it right away. When the issue started to become something that was very difficult to ignore, and after much debate with the International Olympic Committee, a test finally did come along for amphetamines in the 1972 Munich games. The next worrisome drug was that of hormones, considering it was problematic and hard to detect. Avery Brundage, president of the IOC, claimed that hormones could be undetected if the athlete took them early enough before the competition. Hunt tells the controversial story of swimmer Rich DeMont in his article. He explains how DeMont was stripped of his medal for being tested positive for a drug found in his asthma medicine. Many people were unhappy about this because in another doping scandal in the 1972 Munich games fourteen athletes participating in the pentathlon tested positive for tranquilizers but were not disqualified from their events as DeMont was. U.S. officials were infuriated. Basically, to be competitive, all athletes were using some sort of drugs. Hunt also mentions Dr. John Zeigler, a U.S. team physician in the 1960’s who was very unhappy about the teams drug use. He quit after finding out some men on the team were taking 20 times the recommended dosage of various ergogenic drugs. I feel he made the right choice. He took a stand for something that was unhealthy, and un-American. Something should have been done about the drugs of the Olympic games of this time. I understand our countries were in a tense race athletically, as well as non-athletically, however drugs are a form of cheating in my opinion. It provides the body with something that it naturally could not attain on its own. Although I feel something should be done... It is such a tough problem that I honestly do not know what could have been done. Perhaps it was handled in the best way possible? No… I still think more could have been done… but what? How do you solve something the whole world is involved in?... This issue started back then.. and remains today.. A LOT has been done, however drugs still are around in sports. Therefore, these are unanswered questions.

Race and Role Models in Sport

Several of professional sport's greatest athletes were/are African American. In his article, Dorinson mentions several of the greatest athletes of all time who were also black. He opens with speaking of boxer Jack Johnson, who I, personally did not particularly like because of his flashy ways and cocky attitude. However, what he represented for not only black athletes, but the black community as a whole, cannot be denied. He provided them with a hero. He paved the way for other black athletes and black citizens. He was able to deflate white supremacy and increase "black pride" so, for his community, he was a quite a hero, because this had not yet been done by an athlete around those times. (Early 1900's). Johnson lived recklessly, he had white prostitutes, three white wives, and went to jail, for these reasons he is not someone I would choose as my personal hero, however he definitely was one to many. Joe Louis Barrow is the second fighter Dorinson mentions. If I enjoyed boxing I would say he is more along the lines of my type of hero. Unlike Johnson, he was very humble and let his fists do the talking. The third athlete Dorinson mentions is Jesse Owens, he is definitely one of my favorite sports heroes. Owens won 4 gold medals in the 1936 Olympics. And represented something I appreciated learning, that his dominance was sort of "in Hitler's face." After all, Hitler believed in the ideal (white) race, and this African American showed up, blowing everyone away. Dorinson goes on to talk about another one of my favorites, the famous Jackie Robinson. What Jackie did for African Americans in sport is truly tremendous. He took a lot of racial slurs and violence with a calm manner so that he could continue playing his game and showing what he had to offer. For that he is a true hero. Not many people could have taken that torment with the grace that he showed. He let his performance do the talking. He is the black athlete associated with breaking the color barrier in professional sport. He joined the predominately white game of baseball, and was one of the best in the league, many were unhappy about this, but for his race and many others, he was a true hero. The last athlete Dorinson mentions is Cassius Clay aka Muhammed Ali. One of the greatest boxers of all time. He refused service in the war and this made many people unhappy. By him taking this stance he associated himself with the anti-war movement. While it can be admired that he took a stand for what he believed in..  I still wonder if he should have fought for our country in the war. However, war fighter or not, he was one heck of a boxer, and was yet another famous black hero.These men went down in history because of something they excelled in and the struggles they faced. Although they all handled it a little differently, they all had to face adversity while paving the road for blacks in sport. Heroes like Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and Joe Louis, proved that no matter your race, you can excel in any sport that you want to excel in, as long as you have the talent. Equal opportunity was not available for these men, but, because of them, equal opportunity is now available for other blacks and minorities. These men accomplished great feats and opened a huge door in sports.

Race and Sport

The race and sport article mentions an excerpt from a 1971 article of "An Assessment of Black is Best" that was featured in Sports Illustrated. The information that is mentioned from the article is that environmental factors have a great deal to do with excellence in sport, but so do physical differences, and that it is likely that blacks may have an increased/ enhanced potential. This created madness in the American public. While I feel that it is definitely certain that some physical qualities provide better performances in certain athletic areas, and even though these qualities might  be more prevalent in specific ethnic groups as a whole, I feel that these qualities are not limited to only one specific ethnicity. Environmental factors and genes, in my opinion, play a much larger role. For example, it is stereotyped that the Hispanic, or Mexican ethnicity are awesome soccer players, have great stamina, and that is "their sport." Similar to basketball being predominately blacks. It is not necessarily that these two ethnicity's have any qualities that make them any better than whites at these two sports, however, it is often times due to their environment and the socioeconomic status' they had growing up. Those two sports started as relatively inexpensive, basically all you needed was a ball, so their less fortunate family members or ancestors most likely started those sports and it somewhat has just passed through the genes as a family hobby, or even career. I really appreciated the anthropologist W. Montague Cobb's argument that "proper training and incentive were the key factors in the making of a champion." I completely agree with this. Because as I said, I believe successful athletes are a mixture of genes and environment. The right person and the right sport. I do not agree with the other comments in the article such as blacks wanted revenge on whites and other statements such as that. Any black could excel in golf, any white person could excel in basketball, any Mexican could successfully participate in equestrian. However, it is a matter of socioeconomic status, environment, and tradition that has guided the ethnicity's participation.

Making Sense of Muscle

In Molly George's article she interviews soccer players from a division D1 university. She asks them questions about their muscles and body and how they feel about their images and being more muscular than the average woman. The players talk about having trouble wearing shorts, because they are hard to find sizes that fit, but also because they are self conscious about their legs in any other shorts than athletic ones. In my own opinion the girls should embrace being fit. There should not need to be a "trade off" for women athletes juggling the dilemma "Do I play sports and lift hard to get better, and sacrifice my body by turning it very muscular?" I do not think this should be an issue. If you are fortunate enough to have the skill of playing not only sports in general, but specifically D1 sports, I feel you should embrace the way your body is able to perform. Some people admire that talent and will therefore admire that body type. The athletes have accomplished something that several women cannot accomplish so maybe they should think more towards that aspect rather than thinking of the aesthetic side. Soccer players are very healthy athletes because of the cardio workouts they get in addition to the muscle building. These athletes should appreciate that! One athlete mentions that her boyfriend's friends ridicule her for having big muscles and tease her by saying she could probably beat up her boyfriend. Comments like these are what make female athletes feel self conscious. There are several males out there who like that body type, and they should surround themselves with ones who do and who boost their confidence. Everyone feels self-conscious about their bodies now and then.. However these elite women athletes  in exceptional shape who do very healthy work-outs and acquire muscle should not at all feel as if they look manly, or unattractive, they should embrace the talent they have been given.

Obesity Epidemic

As Baker Harrell mentioned in his guest lecture during class we live in a bubble here at UT when it comes to realizing the percentages of the obese across the country. I read in an article on Yahoo.com that college graduates are 14% less likely to be obese than high school grads. The article also mentions adults ages 25-34 with a college degree are nearly twice as likely to exercise regularly than those without a college degree. This explains a little why here on such an elite campus we are not quite exposed to such a serious problem the rest of the world faces. However, you do not have to go too far off of campus to witness overweight and obese people. Just yesterday when I was eating at Mr. Gatti's I noticed two families each with a child under the age of 9 who was apparently 30-40 pounds or more, overweight, eating at the "All-you-can-eat Buffet." It was a little upsetting, considering there are much healthier choices for overweight children than eating at the all you can eat, carbo-filled, Mr.Gatti's buffet. Both of these families were Hispanic, which is the ethnicity that Harrell claims has the highest percentage of obese and overweight youth. Baker Harrell seems to think the obesity problem is detrimental to the progress of our society and country and I completely agree. People who are overweight and obese have a greater number of health problems, and if these people are uneducated, and unable to get insured, they are using and borrowing tremendous amounts of money to fix a problem that can most times in the first place be avoided. We must demand a change claims Harrell. Several families do nothing about this, such as the families I saw at Mr. Gatti's. However it is a complicated problem to solve when considering today's families are working longer hours and are unable to cook meals every night and are often times resorting to sugary, extremely unhealthy fast foods. Along with the change of schedules, budgets also lead families to resort to fast food. At McDonald's a salad is around $5 or $6 whereas a burger and fries can each be ordered off of the dollar menu.
Harrell brings up a depressing fact in his article that this generation of youth is the first in 100 years to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Today's society contributes greatly to that statistic. Children play video games and play with technology much more as opposed to running around and playing outside until dinner time like their parents and grandparents did. Crime level's rising since "the good ole days" could also be to blame for the lack of children playing outdoor activities. I strongly feel technologies such as elevators, and other machines that have turned previous manual tasks into tasks that can be done with a simple push of the button are also small things that add up to not getting the exercise and movement our previous generations did. Harrell also mentions that other environmental changes such as schools offering more sodas, lower participation rates in Physical Education classes, and also a lower percentage of schools offering recess contribute to the rise in overweight children. Not only the school environment, but the home environment, as I had mentioned earlier, is partly to blame for the obesity problem. A significant increase in the "single parent home" is a statistic which in turn leads to producing overweight children. These children are much more likely to be obese than children who grow up in a two parent home. Mainly because of the amount of meals eaten away from the home, and the busy schedules of a single parent leading to not as much education and precaution to their children about their health. Lastly Harrell mentions the "Built Environment" which are the neighborhoods, roads, buildings, food sources, and recreational facilities in which people live, work, are educated, eat and play. He says in these built environments there have been changes such as, children no longer walking or biking to school. He also mentions that in these built environments there are less supermarkets, and more fast food options in minority and low-income neighborhoods. As I said earlier, Harrell says this health problem could be detrimental to the progress of our country, and that "as a society we must all commit to end the cancer of obesity if we are to save generations of young people from a life that will be less active, less socially satisfying, and significantly shorter."

Kinesiology in Historical Perspective

This lecture along with the "Modern Marvels; The Quest for Health" Video we watched in lab on Sept. 29, were one of my favorite days so far! Dr. Dio Lewis was one of the first men we talked about. Basically, he can be considered as creating one of the earliest forms of our Kinesiology programs today. He started the first school for the training of physical education instructors in 1861. Dr. Dio Lewis swore by the method of exercising because when his wife got tuberculosis, instead of laying around in bed, he had her exercising and doing work around the house and yard. She was cured of her tuberculosis. Although Dio's intentions were good and he really did have some intelligent ideas; such as pointing out that exercise truly did make you healthier, his title of Dr. Dio Lewis, was actually a fraudulent one. He never actually received his M.D., making his practice of medicine illegal. Fraud or not, he was extremely intelligent, and came up with one of my personal favorite beliefs that exercise truly does do the body very well. It was very interesting to hear of the invention of basketball and volleyball in the 1890's. Dr. James Naismith and William G. Morgan, both faculty of Springfield College, came up with the two sports. Springfield College has huge origins in the kinesiology department and became the most important PE school in the US. If you wanted to get involved with Physical Education, that is where you went!
The "Quest for Health" video also had some very neat history. Through that video we learned yoga was invented in India. Also, that the Ancient Greeks had the earliest connection between health and exercise. They used the earliest form of dumbells. John Harvey Kellogg was, as you can tell by the name, the first man to invent cereal. He worked at an elaborate fitness center, nicknamed "The San." It was very fancy, had 1400 guests and 1800 staff and was today's equivalent of an elite fitness gym. Kellogg wrote an entire book on the importance of breakfast. He wanted to invent something to take the place of fattening bacon, sausage, and biscuit breakfasts, so he came up with Kellogg's Shredded Crumbles, (Cornflakes).
Switching back to the lecture, and mentioning a few people whose names we may recognize, is when this really starts to hit home and get interesting. L Theo Bellmont (whom Bellmont Hall is named after!!) was hired by UT in 1913 as our first director of Athletics. He was in charge of the Department of Men's Physical Training and Intercollegiate sports for men. At this time there were no intercollegiate sports for women. Anna Hiss was not the first woman to oversee women's physical training, however, she is the first to make a huge impact. She served from 1921-1956. Gregory Gym and Anna Hiss gym were gender specific places, men to Gregory, and women to Anna Hiss. Around the 1970's physical activity classes were no longer required for all UT students. As old school of a view as this may be, it would not hurt to still require PE classes for every student at UT. Maybe not as strict as not allowing students to graduate, but they should at least be a requirement for each student to take one or two credits of PE for the health aspect.
Learning some of the country's earliest sports programs, and then venturing into UT's kinesiology history, and how it has evolved throughout the past and will most likely continue to change over time was neat and very important to learn.