What do you understand by the Olympic movement ? Explain how value education can be imparted through physical education programmes.
Olympic movement : Ancient Olympic Games : The first recorded Olympic contest took place in the stadium of Olympia in 776 BC. This stadium stood in valley of Olympia in Western Greece. For many years, the Olympics were for male contestants and male spectators only. Olympics are held every four years.
Modern games : The above discovery gave Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator, the idea of organizing a modem, international Olympics. Coubertin believed that athletics played an important part in forming a person’s character. He also thought that international sports competitions would promote world peace. In 1894 Coubertin presented his idea to an international meeting on amateur sports. The group voted to organize the games and it formed the International Olympic Committee.
The first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Women first competed in modern games in 1900. The winter games began in 1924. No games were held in 1916, 1940, 1944 because of World War I & II. The Olympic Games consisted of the summer games and the winter games. Both summer and winter games took place in the same year after every 4 years. But after 1944, the summer and winter games were scheduled to occur in four years cycle, two years apart. The summer games have grown tremendously since 1896, when about 285 male athletes, representing about 13 nations, competed in the first modern Olympics. Ten thousand athletes now take part in summer games. They represent more than 160 nations. The athletes of Greece march into the stadium first, in honour of the original Olympics held in ancient Greece.
Objectives of Modem Olympic Gaines : The important thing in Olympics is not to win, but to participate in an activity. This is an Olympic ideal. According to the founder of
Modern Olympic Games Baron Pierre de Cubertin the following objectives can be achieved through Olympic Games :
(i) All the countries should pay special attention towards physical education and sports competitions through participation.
(ii) To develop leadership qualities in a sportsman.
(iii) To develop overall personality, character and citizenship qualities.
(iv) To develop the feeling of equality irrespective of caste, creed, race and religion. Everybody is given equal chance to participate. .
(v) To develop international peace and fraternity between countries. Values education through physical education : The development of values such as co-operation, self-discipline, justice, equality, self-respect, respecting others, respect for authority, hard work, team work, honesty, emotional control and self-confidence etc., are the outcome of participation in games and sports. These values modify our habits, behaviour, ideas and thoughts. The programme of physical education includes many activities which develop the following values :
Social adjustment: A player has the ability to adjust well with every member of society, his family, team, coach, officials, opponents and spectators. A good sportsman behaves well with everyone.
Sympathetic attitude : Whenever anybody is in problem (injury or accident) a good sportsman comes up for help. Such type of sympathetic attitude is seen often during matches when someone gets hurt.
Helpful attitude : To win a match collective effort is required. And for collective efforts one has to develop a helpful attitude. This attitude is required for success. One has to forget being selfish especially in case of team games. Helpful attitude should become the part of one’s habit.
Tolerance and patience : A good player has high tolerance and patience. An individual often faces situations where he has to show his patience and tolerance in the face of unfair decision, incorrect umpiring, comments by spectators and wrong gestures of opponents. If his tolerance ability is lost, he may lose patience that may lead to lack of concentration. But he learns to overcome these situations and develops very strong patience and tolerance and remains concentrated towards the task.
Harmony and Group Cohesion : The players of a team belong to different castes, creeds and religions but they harmonize themselves, when they become the members of one team. They live together. They understand and adjust with one another. They all co-ordinate with one another as one team for the attainment of a common goal. It is very important in case of team games. All the members of a team make a combined effort toward the attainment of the goal. Harmony is necessary for group cohesion. If there is no harmony there can be no group cohesion. An individual sacrifices his interest for the sake of the team.
Self-discipline : Games and sports make a person self-disciplined. He becomes punctual, hard working and respects others’ opinion. Games and sports are played with rules and regulations which makes the person disciplined in life. This discipline helps him in future life also.
Conclusion : It is the duty of the coach to provide positive environment in sports for an individual only then the above mentioned values can be developed through the physical education programme. Proper sports environment is necessary because nowadays emphasis is given to winning alone by hook or crook. The coach must have these values himself so that his trainees follow his footprints.