University of Virginia Library


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PHYSICAL TRAINING.

             
William Alexander Lambeth, M.D., Ph.D.  Director of Physical Training 
Henry Haden Lannigan  Associate Director of Athletics 
Leigh Tucker Jones  Associate Professor of Physical Training 
Paul Otto, B.P.E., M.P.E.  Assistant Professor of Physical Training 
Frederick Virginius Watkins, B.S.  Instructor in Physical Training 
Meredith Erskine Watkins, B.S.  Instructor in Physical Training 
James Porter Baker, Jr.  Instructor in Physical Training 

The method of instruction pursued does not follow blindly any so-called
system, but proper attention is given to all methods which in whole
or in part have proved useful or effective. The importance of individual
training is in every case recognized, especially where an examination discloses
the student's inability to pursue with safety or profit general or
concerted exercises.

Students are entitled, without cost, to a thorough physical examination
by the director, and are urged to avail themselves of this privilege soon
after they enter the University. The examination includes an accurate
measurement of the student's physical proportions, a careful examination
of the condition and action of the heart and lungs, and the strength of the
principal muscular groups. Upon the basis of the facts thus ascertained,
advice is given as to particular exercises and the use of various developing
appliances. The examination is repeated at intervals, note is taken of any
improvement, and new exercises are suggested.

In addition to individual work, daily instruction is given to classes in
light gymnastics—marching, figure-running, calisthenics, dumb-bells, and
clubs—adapted as nearly as possible to the needs of individuals of varying
age and physical condition. The exercises are gradual and progressive,
commencing with the simplest movements and proceeding to others more
complicated and difficult.

During the winter months instruction in gymnastics which require great
strength and agility is given to those who are fitted for it by previous training.
This work is terminated by an annual gymnastic tournament held
usually in the early part of March.

The faculty regulations on athletics require that members of the university
athletic teams shall give evidence of satisfactory physical condition
by passing in doubtful cases a strength test, in addition to the regular physical
examination. For members of the football teams, 1,300 points are required;
for members of the baseball team, 1,100 points.

The New Gymnasium.

The new Gymnasium, completed early in 1924, is situated between the
athletic field and the university golf links, and offers facilities unsurpassed
in any American university. The main exercise room is 180 by 96 feet, with


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a ten-foot running track gallery of twelve laps to the mile. There is also an
auxiliary gymnasium 30 by 70 feet. The swimming pool is 30 by 75 feet,
with a gallery for spectators. A general locker room provides for 1,700 full-length
steel lockers, with two shower rooms. There are also spacious locker
rooms and baths for home and visiting teams, as well as special rooms for
boxing, fencing, and wrestling, and three hand-ball courts. The administration
wing includes offices for the staff, examination rooms and a large lecture
room.

For the course in Physical Training with credit value for degrees, see
page 163.

ATHLETICS.

The Athletic Park contains twenty acres, and includes two athletic fields,
Lambeth Field and Lefevre Field. Two hundred thousand surface feet have
been perfectly graded, drained and fenced, for football, baseball, and track
work. This surface was completed at a cost of about fifty thousand dollars,
and involved the removal of forty-eight thousand cubic yards of earth. A concrete
stadium has been erected seating five thousand persons, and additional
wooden stands provide seating space for three thousand.

Intramural athletics are under the supervision of the Director of Physical
Training and his staff. Intercollegiate Athletics are under the special direction
of the General Athletic Association, a student organization whose object is
to encourage this phase of physical exercise. The faculty exercises a general
advisory control over all athletics, endeavoring to foresee and avert dangerous
tendencies or excess in physical exercise. The development of the general
policies of the University in athletics is intrusted to the Athletic Council—a body
composed of three representatives of the student body, three representatives of
the Alumni Association, three representatives of the General Faculty and the
President of the University. The action of this body is subject to ratification
by the General Faculty.

The Executive Committee of the Athletic Council, composed of one of its
student members, one of its alumni members, its three faculty members and the
President of the University are responsible for the administration of any laws
or regulations governing intercollegiate athletics whether originating from the
Athletic Council, the faculty or from any Conference of which the University
may be a member.

The University of Virginia is a member of the Southern Conference.

EXTRACTS FROM THE BY-LAWS OF THE SOUTHERN
CONFERENCE.

Article VII.

General Code. Section 1. Post-Season Games. The football season shall
close the Saturday following Thanksgiving and no member of this Conference
shall engage in any intercollegiate football game after that date.

Section 2. Freshman Teams. Freshman teams shall be composed of members


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of the freshman class only, and who shall not compete as such for more
than one year, and shall be eligible under the rules of this Conference, except the
one-year rule.

For the purpose of this rule, a Freshman is a student who enters the Institution
from a High School or a Preparatory School.

The freshman football teams of this Conference shall be allowed to play
only five games.

Section 3. Training Table and Training Quarters. No member of this
Conference is permitted to maintain a training table for any intercollegiate team.

Section 4. Preliminary Training. There shall be no preliminary training
prior to the first Monday in September, and no Conference institution shall defray
any part of the living expenses of any student undergoing preliminary
training.

No freshman students shall be allowed to assemble for practice before the
opening of college.

Section 5. Contests with Non-Conference Members. No Conference Institution
shall compete with any non-conference institution in conference territory,
of similar rank athletically, that is, one which competes with any member
of the Conference upon the basis of athletic equality, unless both compete under
the rules of eligibility of the Conference. A list of such institutions shall be determined
from year to year at the annual meeting.

Section 6. Before any student can compete in any intercollegiate contest
the faculty chairman of the Athletic Committee of his Conference Institution
shall certify his eligibility to the Chairman of the Executive Committee. A report
of eligible football players shall be made by October 1, but may be added to
later. All lists shall be made on blanks furnished by the Secretary and such
blanks shall have printed on their face the rules of eligibility of the Conference
and also a certificate in the following form, which certificate shall be signed by
the Registrar of the Institution, who certifies to the competitor's eligibility on a
scholastic basis, and by the Faculty Chairman of the Athletic Committee who
certifies to the competitor's eligibility on the basis of the Conference Rules.

"We certify that the following men are eligible according to the rules of
eligibility of the Southern Conference and the scholastic requirements of (member
institution)."

Article XII.

Rules of Eligibility.

The following rules apply to all sports:

Rule 1. Bona Fide Students. No one shall participate in any intercollegiate
contest unless he is a bona fide matriculated student with at least 15 Carnegie
units, regularly enrolled and doing full work as defined by the regulations of
the institution in which he is enrolled.

A student in special agricultural or other special courses who does not present
the full entrance credits is not eligible under this rule.


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Rule 2. No person shall participate in intercollegiate athletics at an institution
until after the expiration of twelve months from the date of his matriculation
there, and until he shall have completed the scholastic requirements of
that institution.

Rule 3. Attendance. No student having been a member of any athletic
team of his college during any year and having been in attendance less than six
months of the college year shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate
contest thereafter until he shall have been in attendance six calendar months.

Note.—Attendance during Summer Sessions is not counted as "attendance"
for the purpose of this rule.

Rule 4. Migrant Students. (a) No person who has participated in any Intercollegiate
contest in any branch of sport as a member of any college team
shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate contest in the same sport
as a member of a team of any other Institution in this Conference.

For the purposes of this rule an intercollegiate contest is a contest played by
the varsity or the freshman teams.

(b) Students who have pursued courses of study at one university or college
but who have not participated in any intercollegiate contest, shall be eligible
to participate in intercollegiate athletics at another institution, but only when
they have satisfied the conditions as set forth in Rule 2—the one-year-residence
rule.

Rule 5. Limit of Participation. Participation in intercollegiate athletics
shall be limited to one year freshman and three years varsity over a five-year period,
counting from the time of first matriculation. Participation in any intercollegiate
sport in any college year shall constitute one year of athletic participation.

Rule 6. Compensation. (a) No person who receives any compensation
from his institution for services rendered by way of regular instruction shall be
allowed to participate in intercollegiate contests.

(b) No person shall be allowed to participate in any intercollegiate contest
who receives any gift, remuneration, or pay for his services on a college team.

(c) No person shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate contest
who has ever used or is using his knowledge of athletics or his athletic or
gymnastic skill for gain.

Note.—This rule does not apply to any person who has work in connection
with a playground or a summer camp where the requirements do not call for
a man with technical preparation in physical training.

(d) The following persons shall be ineligible to compete on any team in this
Conference:

(1) Those who hold any scholarship, fellowship or cadetship involving
financial benefit which is awarded wholly or in part for athletic ability;

(2) Those who enjoy any loan fund or similar financial benefit which is
awarded wholly or in part for athletic ability;


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(3) Those who hold any position involving financial benefit which is awarded
wholly or in part for athletic ability.

(e) No person shall be allowed to participate in any intercollegiate contest
who holds for more than one year any scholarship, fellowship or cadetship
involving financial benefit, unless the fact of his holding such scholarship, fellowship
or cadetship be published in the catalogue or other similar official publication
of the institution in question.

Rule 7. Summer Baseball. No athlete in any Conference Institution shall
participate as a member of any summer baseball team without the consent of
his Faculty Committee on Athletics; and such player when given permission to
play on such team shall submit at the re-opening of the school term to his Faculty
Committee a certified statement that he has not received pecuniary compensation
therefor.

Rule 8. No student shall be eligible to participate in any intercollegiate contest
if he has played on any summer baseball team which played more than three
games a week while he was a member of it.

To the list of professional teams thus proscribed shall be added all the teams
in any state which the Conference Institutions of such state declare professional
and from which they debar their own players.

In the event said Conference Institutions cannot agree on proscribed teams,
the Executive Committee shall have power to decide the issue and the action of
the Committee shall be final.

Rule 9. Assumed Name. No person shall take part in any intercollegiate
contest under an assumed name.

Rule 10. Delinquency in Studies. No student who is found delinquent in
his studies by the faculty shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate
contest.

Resolution Defining Retroactive.

Be it Resolved, that men who shall have regularly matriculated at any college
by January 1, 1922, shall have all rights and privileges accorded them which
the present athletic rules of that college accord them, shall have their eligibility
judged by those rules and shall be allowed to finish their athletic careers under
those rules except that the right to play in intercollegiate contests after transferring
from one college to another shall cease January 1, 1922.

Transfer after that time shall cause the loss of this privilege.

This rule shall in no way be construed to allow participation of a student
as a summer baseball player after January 1, 1922, on any other basis than as
set forth in Rules 7 and 8 of Article XII.

REGULATIONS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY CONCERNING
ATHLETICS.

  • 1. The Athletic Council is intrusted with the general oversight of athletics, and
    is authorized to forbid any features in these exercises which endanger
    the health or morals of the participants, and to foster the true spirit of
    amateur sport among them.


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  • 2. No student shall play upon the university athletic teams except after physical
    examination by the Director of the Gymnasium (or by a responsible
    expert officer of the University, acting in his stead and by his request and
    with the approbation of the Director).

  • 3. Only students who act as regular or substitute members of the athletic
    teams will be granted leaves of absence to accompany them on trips away
    from the University.

  • 4. The athletic teams shall not have contests elsewhere than upon the university
    grounds with any teams except those from other institutions of
    learning.

  • 5. To be eligible for an intercollegiate athletic contest an applicant must be a
    bona fide student who is pursuing a course of at least ten hours of undergraduate
    work or a course of study certified by the proper faculty authority,
    and must not be on probation. (See page 171.)

  • 6. Before any student can take part in any intercollegiate contest, he shall
    make application in a prescribed form in writing to the Executive Committee
    of the Athletic Council and secure the endorsed approval of his
    application from the committee. It shall be the duty of the Executive
    Committee of the Athletic Council to have the executive officers of the
    University endorse such application to the effect that the applicant is
    eligible under Rule 5.

  • 7. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee of the Athletic Council
    to inquire into and make a record of the athletic experiences of the applicant,
    who shall appear before the committee and answer on his honor
    such questions as the committee may see fit to ask.

  • 8. It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee of the Athletic Council,
    before it endorses an application, to require of the applicant a written
    pledge, certifying on his honor that he has never accepted directly or indirectly
    remuneration, compensatory gift, valuable consideration or the
    promise thereof for or on account of his athletic services, and that he is
    in the proper and strict sense of the word an amateur athlete.

  • 9. No student who is receiving from the University remuneration for teaching
    or administrative services shall be eligible for the university teams.

  • 10. It shall be the duty of the President of the General Athletic Association, the
    Executive Committee of that Association, the Graduate Manager, the
    Manager and the Captain of the team concerned, the Director of the Gymnasium,
    the Associate Director of Athletics, and the Treasurer of the Association,
    to furnish on request a statement to the effect that each member
    of an athletic team is above their suspicion as to his eligibility to represent
    the University as a proper amateur player, before such player shall
    be allowed to take part in any contest.

  • 11. No coach or trainer of any athletic team shall be employed without the sanction
    of the Athletic Council.

  • 12. The members of any athletic team may be allowed not more than eight days'
    leave of absence from the University for the purpose of engaging in athletic


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    contests; but no student who is a member of more than one athletic
    team shall be allowed more than sixteen days' leave of absence during the
    entire session for such purpose, nor more than eight days' leave of absence
    during any one term.

  • 13. Not more than four days' leave of absence from the University shall be
    given to those First-Year Athletic teams which are regularly organized
    by the General Athletic Association.

  • 14. The football team is permitted to play games only on the home grounds of
    one of the contestants.

  • 15. Special reports may be made to the President from time to time by any departmental
    faculty with respect to the class-standing and progress in study
    of each regular and substitute player on the athletic teams, and if the
    President and such faculty are convinced that his class-standing is discreditable,
    such student may be required to sever his connection with such
    team.