University of Virginia Library

PHYSICAL CULTURE.

John S. Hitchcock, A. B., Instructor

The work, under the personal supervision of the Instructor, consists
of:

I. Class Exercise with light (wooden) dumb-bells.

II. Class Drill with chest weights.

III. Class Exercise with Indian clubs.

Each student is examined physically and measured at least once a
year. On the basis of this examination a hand-book of developing
exercises is made out and given to him, with exercises marked that are
adapted to his individual needs.

The concurrent judgment of all authorities on Physical Culture is
that the true aim of gymnastic exercise should be to develop not athletes,
but sound men; not to encourage professionalism in athletic
sports, but to make them a means by which a healthy development of
mind and body is secured. Therefore, such exercises are given as will
increase the respiration, quicken the circulation of the blood, stimulate
the abdominal viscera, and make the muscles and limbs elastic. In this
way, and in this way only, the gymnasium and physical exercise become
valuable and necessary factors in education.

The appliances for Physical Culture consist of the Squibb Gymnasium,
with its apparatus for light and heavy gymnastics, and the
Rives Boat-House, with a number of boats and appliances for rowing.
In addition, ample space has been provided for out-door sports.
A running-track, a base-ball and foot-ball field, and numerous tennis-courts
have been laid out; and the grounds will be brought each year
into a better state of improvement. The subject of Athletics is under
the general control of a Committee of the Faculty, and under the special
direction of the Students' Athletic Association, which appoints
boards of directors for Foot-Ball, Base-Ball, Tennis, Track-Athletics,
Rowing, etc.

The Instructor in Physical Culture will give help and information to
students training for any of the athletic contests.

Students who enter the Squibb Gymnasium pay a fee of $8 to the
Proctor. This is applied to the maintenance of the Gymnasium and
the compensation of the Instructor. Well-furnished baths have recently
been added to the Gymnasium.