NEW SPORTS FACILITIES

The impact of new sports facilities has on the growth of a college



The impact of new sports facilities has on the growth of a college

Introduction

Sport and physical activity for girls and women is experiencing phenomenal growth. In 2008 women's participation in sport reached its highest levels within the nation's intercollegiate athletics programs. The increase in participation by girls and women has been a result of second generation of Title IX beneficiaries, legal decisions supportive of Title IX, societal acceptance of females as athletes, improved and increased media coverage, and advocacy efforts of individuals and organizations. Both physical education and sport management have a rich history of female leaders who shaped these professions (Halsey, 2001).

Discussion

The Emergence of new sports techniques as an Academic Discipline

The Boston Conference, financed by Mary Hemenway and organized by Amy Morris Homans in 1889, is considered by most historians to be pivotal in the development of physical education. The Boston Conference was developed for educators wanting to know more about various gymnastics training systems (Spears, 1986). Physical education at that time was defined as “programs related to physical fitness, motor-skills development, social development, and knowledge—especially K-12 program” (Siedentop, 2007, p. 387). In 1893 male and female members of the Association for Advancement of Physical Education, founded in 1886, and the National Education Association, founded in 1850, came together for the first time to discuss how physical education could become a legitimate subject matter within the school curriculum. Because physical education's roots are found in medicine, the conference marked the first time when physical educators focused on education rather than medicine as their primary discipline. The emergence of sport led to a progressive movement in education in the United States to change physical education and bring sport into the school curriculum (Halsey, 2001).

The additions to the ...