Transcript The Case Studies

The Case Studies
Bathing and Swimming
The Spec Says….
• For each case study activity candidates should be
able to, with reference to the content specific to
each activity:
– analyse the activity as popular recreation
– assess the influence of 19th-century public schools on
the development of the activity
– demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
activity as rational recreation
– demonstrate knowledge and understanding of both
participation and barriers to participation in the
activity today
Independent Learning
•
Make sure you read pages 50 – 52 of your text books. This will give you an
understanding of factors relating to opportunity, provision and esteem that
influences participation, and barriers to participation today. This will help with the
Then and Now comparisons of your answers
Learning Objectives
• All: Identify the developments of swimming
from a popular recreation to today
• Most: Explain reasons for participation in
swimming throughout the different times in
history
• Some: Analyse why swimming was less valued
by public school boys as an sporting activity
Bathing and Swimming as a Popular Recreation
• In pairs, try to interpret this 16th Century English verse in order to
understand one persons view of swimming in the 1500’s
Bathing and Swimming as a Popular Recreation
• In the middle ages (c.1200-1500) towns were built at defensive sites
and river crossings
• Bathing for pleasure was common
• It was a natural playground, as well as a ready supply of food, a
means of transport and a place to wash
• Learning to swim for safety became a necessity in a natural
environment
• The English aristocracy considered the ability to swim part of their
Chivalric Code: the courteous, gallant and gentlemanly behaviour
associated with the upper class
Bathing and Swimming as a Popular Recreation
• Aristocrats would
sometimes sponsor
outstanding lower class
swimmers to represent
them in wager races (link:
popular recreation
characteristic – wagering)
• Charles II established a
series of fashionable
swimming contests on the
Thames and the 1st open air
swimming bath was built in
London 1784
Near the River
• Various other sports and pastimes have featured by the river, or on
the river itself
• The land around rivers often provided a flat surface for casual,
informal games
• Liable to flooding, so in frozen conditions they provided a shallow,
relatively safe surface to sliding or skating
• When the river froze, multi-sport festivals called frost fairs took
place
• The Thames froze in 1813 and a 4 day frost fair was set up – how
does this link to popluar recreation charactersitics?
Can you spot any Popular Recreation Characteristics, games, sports or pastimes?
Bathing and Swimming: Influence of the Public Schools
• Beginning of the 19th Century, bathing was spontaneous,
unorganised and centred around natural facilities (rivers,
ponds)
• Boys swum in the open at home and brought the culture
to the school, swimming with no supervision or master
input
• River was a place to wash and have fun
Bathing and Swimming: Influence of the Public Schools
• As the century progressed and athleticism developed, swimming became
more structured and regulated with natural facilities (Duck Puddle at
Harrow below) which were transformed (often by ex-public school boys)
into major bathing facilities with Changing huts, diving boards, swimming
instructors and competitions
• In terms of value and status, headmasters increasingly regarded swimming
as a necessary athletic, safe, hygienic pursuit, as well as believing water
immersion to be therapeutic
Bathing and Swimming: Influence of the Public Schools
• A well maintained a safe bathing place gave a good impression
at a time of stiff competition between schools – any links to
today?
• In comparison to team games, the overall status of bathing
and swimming was limited – Discuss why this would be the
case…
Bathing and Swimming as Rational Recreations
• The belief in the therapeutic effects of immersion in
water was known as the water cure and was popular in
inland spas such as Bath and Cheltenham
• The Gentry (lesser nobility who owned land) moved
onto continental spas and the English seaside
(considered the most therapeutic)
• Victorian era meant beaches were socially exclusive
and single sexed to ensure modesty
• Bathing facilities in river towns started to become
organised – floating baths built
• Swimming became fashionable for the middle class –
amateur swimming events began and clubs formed
Bathing and Swimming as Rational Recreations
Urban Industrial Towns:
• 18th and 19th century industrialisation and urbanisation led to
overcrowding and disease
• In 1846, central government attempted to improve this with it’s wash
house acts
• This was whereby loans were offered to major towns if they built public
baths to encourage the lower class to wash
• The Baths and Wash-Houses Act of 1846 was really the start of bathing
and swimming in Industrial Britain
• In 1869 various middle-class clubs met to establish laws for amateur
swimming and in 1874 they were renamed the Swimming Association of
Great Britain, which became the Amateur Swimming Association in 1884
Bathing and Swimming Today
Learning Objectives
• All: Identify the developments of swimming
from a popular recreation to today
• Most: Explain reasons for participation in
swimming throughout the different times in
history
• Some: Analyse why swimming was less valued
by public school boys as an sporting activity