GAMES AND ATHLETICS FOR GIRLS
The finest type of physical vigor is developed from playing vigorous outdoor games. This applies to girls as well as to boys. Games have the great advantage over drills and gymnastics that they are worth while for the fun alone. Play is a necessary and natural activity for every individual. Unless each one of us gives the proper share of her time to wholesome forms of recreation, she cannot be cheerful and happy, and thus she cannot influence those around her toward greater happiness. Each one of us should so plan each day that we shall spend at least one hour playing vigorous games outdoors. The younger girls should use the whole afternoon for play and recreation. No girl can become a normal woman without having had her share of joyful and active play.
Girls nowadays are playing more and more, and growing stronger and more athletic. As a result they have better health and greater beauty. No beauty parlor can produce the perfect complexion and bright eyes which nature gives to the out-of-doors girl.
There are certain cautions which girls should use in practicing games and athletics. After they are twelve or thirteen, they should avoid sports like high or broad jumping, which cause a heavy jar upon landing. Girls should not compete in long distance running, or in games which call for violent and long-continued exertion. Basket-ball may easily be too severe if played according to boys' rules or for long halves. In such games there should be a gradual preparation for the competition. An examination of the heart by a physician is very desirable, before this type of game is played. Girls frequently overdo rope-skipping. No girl should jump more than fifty times in succession. Excessively keen competition under trying conditions frequently has a bad effect upon girls of a nervous temperament. Of course, girls should rest and not take part in active games when they are physically incapacitated. There are, however, a wide variety of games and sports in which girls may find both pleasure and profit. The ideal type of exercise for girls is found in swimming, walking and similar activities in which the exertion is not excessively violent, and which call for long-continued or repeated efforts. Girls excel in endurance in such sports.
Team games are especially valuable for girls as they need the moral discipline of learning to efface themselves as individuals and to play as a member of the team. That is, they learn to cooperate. Among the team games suitable for girls are: field hockey, soccer, baseball played with a soft ball and basket-ball.
Among athletic events that may be used for girls, are: short sprints, usually not over fifty yards, throwing balls for distance, relay races and balancing competitions.
Walking is a delightful sport when done at a good pace, in the country. All girls are fond of rope-skipping and skating.