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我不是很灵活,腿很长,躯干也短,所以 V Sit and Reach 不是我擅长的领域。弯曲的手臂也不是我的专长。除非我参加田径比赛或其他涉及跑步的运动,否则定时英里跑对我来说也没有多大意义。我还记得站在一根长绳子旁,看着同学们试图把它一直爬到健身房天花板的顶部,天花板似乎有一英里高。总会有一些瘦弱的农场小孩穿着牛仔裤从绳子上飞过来给我们所有人留下深刻的印象。总统体能奖要求在五项赛事中设定基准:1 分钟内仰卧起坐/仰卧次数、穿梭跑、V 坐着伸手(或坐着伸手)、一英里跑、引体向上或直角俯卧撑。根据1985年的学校人口健康状况调查,显然,在这5个时代表现出色是6至17岁儿童健康状况的标志。我不确定这是否是衡量自己和同学健康水平的准确标准,但我确实记得在总统体能测试中表现不佳,因为我对自己缺乏体能感到羞愧。小时候,我想知道为什么我需要能够做引体向上才能保持健康?我步行去学校或者骑自行车,跑来跑去外面玩耍然后去当地的游泳池游泳。我很活跃。但是除了总统体能测试日以外,我从来没有做过拉力训练。那么,为什么这是衡量健康状况的有用指标呢?艾森豪威尔总统于1953年12月发表了一份对美国青年体能不足表示担忧的出版物,此后,艾森豪威尔总统于1956年成立了总统青年健身委员会。艾克在1956年6月举行了关于美国青年健康状况的总统会议之后,成立了该委员会,目的是作为一个专注于提高公众认识的 “催化剂”。林登·约翰逊出任总统时,更名为总统体能与运动委员会,“以鼓励通过体育和游戏实现持久的健康状况,并在行政命令中增加了五个目标。”总统体能测试于1966年推出,旨在鼓励儿童的健康和运动。根据今天的总统青年健身计划,它 “强调在学校及其他地方过上积极和健康的生活方式的价值。该计划最大限度地减少了孩子之间的比较,而是支持学生追求个人健身目标,实现终身健康。”我希望这是真的,因为我们都生活在不同的身体中,具有不同的能力和兴趣,随着孩子的成长和变化,这种能力和兴趣会进一步放大。我记得我小时候喜欢上体育课,因为玩耍和四处走动感觉都很好。我还记得我很快得知自己的运动能力或协调能力不如其他人。在大多数运动中,我天生就没有天赋,也从来没有被提早选入球队。我必须学会如何耸耸肩,我很快学会了嘲笑自己,避免发生涉及接球或投掷的情况,这样我就不会让自己感到尴尬。我一直很活跃,对活跃有纪律,因为我很喜欢,直到 30 多岁和 40 多岁才意识到活跃并不需要运动。我可以享受散步、跑步、轮滑、举重、骑自行车、动感单车课、普拉提、徒步旅行、追孩子和在厨房跳舞的乐趣,而不必觉得自己需要 “运动” 或是一名优秀的运动员。如果每个人都能按照自己的条件进行健身,体育会是什么样子?

Rebecca Koerselman

Rebecca Koerselman teaches history at Northwestern College in Orange City, IA.

4 Comments

  • Rebecca, This is the age-old question of who is in charge of the definitions. Who is fit? Who is righteous? Who is pure? Who should make these definitions; a regulatory agency or the individual? I don’t think that this question is an easy one to answer.

  • Dawn Alpaugh says:

    I’m pretty sure I still have feelings of trauma from these physical fitness tests 🙂 I remember hanging from that pull up bar for a 10th of a second, before dangling, unable to pull myself up. I can go back there in an instant and remember how uncoordinated and un-athletic I felt. But like you, I’ve realized that being active and having fun while doing it is the best way for me to be. But that’s tough to realize in middle school 🙂 Thanks for your honesty.

  • Jack Ridl says:

    Rebecca and . . .

    Poetry is taken from nearly everyone for similar “reasonings”—placing the value on accomplishment rather than enabling students to discover the worth that comes in the creating.
    Thank you!

  • Daniel Meeter says:

    I hated phys ed, as one of those uncoordinated unathletic kids. Our phys ed teachers were interested only in the jocks, and saw kids like me as rabble to be tolerated. But then I reflect on how my experience of phys ed was no different than many other kids who had terrible times in the academic classes, which were so easy for me. How they must have felt humiliated in the classes that I enjoyed. I can’t even imagine how a modern American high school could design a phys ed program that would serve a runt like me. I used tot think that one step would be to end inter-scholastic sports in high school, so that phys ed programs would be less competitive, but I don’t know if that would make any difference.

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