Summary

This unit introduced Physical Education as a broad, growing field and traced the changing trends and careers around it. The key ideas, in the textbook's order:

• Meaning of Physical Education (1.1) - Physical Education uses physical activity and movement to bring about positive changes in the body, mind and emotions; it is the systematic training of a person through his or her own body, and is now also called movement education (locomotor and non-locomotor movements).
• Definition (1.1.2) - scholars (Oberteuffer, Bucher, Williams, Nash) define it as education through movement and selected activity; the working definition is a teaching-learning process using physical activities as the medium to improve fitness, motor skills, knowledge, sportsmanship, emotional stability and healthy behaviour.
• Aim and Objectives (1.1.3) - the single aim is the optimal, all-round development of the individual for complete living; it is reached through sixteen objectives covering physical, mental, social and emotional development, neuro-muscular coordination, motor skills, health, character and citizenship.
• Development in India after Independence (1.2) - a national system grew through committees (Tara Chand 1948, Central Advisory Board 1950), institutes (NIS Patiala 1961; LCPE/LNCPE/LNIPE Gwalior from 1957), councils and schemes (All India Council of Sports 1954; coaching, fitness and talent-search schemes), and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) 1984, with SNIPES merged into it in 1987.
• Changing trends in sports (1.3) - modern materials, design and science have transformed:
  • Playing surfaces (1.3.1) - natural (grass, clay, cinder) versus synthetic (synthetic tracks, polygrass, astroturf, MUGA, synthetic/wooden courts), for outdoor and indoor sport.
  • Wearable gears and sports equipment (1.3.2) - improvements for Safety, Performance, Monitoring & Judgement, and Aesthetics.
  • Technology in sports (1.3.3) - officiating aids (LED stumps, Hot Spot infra-red, VAR, laser) and training/analysis tools (timing systems, GPS tracking, biomechanical and force-plate software).
• Academic courses and careers (1.4, 1.4.2) - the three NCTE courses (D.P.Ed., B.P.Ed., M.P.Ed.) plus many diploma, bachelor and master programmes; and a wide range of careers from teaching and coaching to physiotherapy, management, nutrition, journalism and adapted physical education. …