Recreation Major is
Instituted at Abbey
February, 1977 - CROSSROADS - Page Eleven
Belmont Abbey College this
year is offering a recreation
major.
Mike Reidy is chairman of the
department, and is assisted by
Pam Allison. The department
has 27 students, 10 of whom are
seniors.
Miss Allison is head of the
outdoor recreation section of
the major, a popular feature of
the program.
The general objective of the
program at Belmont Abbey is to
prepare persons to serve in a
society in which recreation
plays a more important role.
The student will have more
versatility and capacity to
handle a variety of professional
The Need for
Recreation
Leadership
Editor’s Note: The following article, written by Jimmy Raffa, a
recreation major at Beimont Abbey Coliege, discusses how the new
recreation program fits into the curriculum at BAC.
Since the end of World War II, sharp progress has been made in
developing a formal academic education for'recreation leaders.
Recreation leadership must take its place among professions by
setting standards of education. These opportunities and methods are
designed to ready people for recreation leadership, and most of the
preparation is from colleges and universities, such as Belmont
Abbey College.
The recreation profession has adopted standards that make a
college degree necessary. Recreation has just recently shown an
academic concern for preparing men and women for recreation
positions. Even today little consideration has been given to the
problems in administration and organization of municipal recreation
departments.
Administrative and organizational knowledge are the key issues
that make recreation an academic subject. Many people hear
Irecreation and automatically think of sports or physical education.
Recreation is not a sport or physical education, but it’s a profession,
just as history, philosophy, literature, and languages are.
Liberal arts colleges offer the recreation professional the well-
rounded training he or she needs to perform competently in his or her
field. Personnel in the recreation major should not be restricted
solely to courses in recreation, but they should be distinguished from
the sciences and technical schools, which dwell on only a few sub
jects that relate principally to one field.
Recreation is theoretical because it needs plans to work smoothly
and effectively, and the knowledge must be present before the
practicality can take place.
The need for academic recreation professionals is great. The
growth of cities, with their crowds and congested neighborhoods,
where playgrounds are few and have little professional supervision,
demand well-trained recreation professionals. When the cities get
too crowded many people move to the suburbs, where recreational
facilities and professionals are frequently small in number, and a
new need is created.
Changing home conditions in communities also increases the need
for the recreation professional. Washers, vacuum cleaners,
refrigerators, electric light, stoves and telephones revolutionized
house keeping trends. Hours that were needed to keep the house in
order are now leisure hours for many, and trained recreation per
sonnel are needed to fill this void. The 40-hour or less work week
creates more leisure time for most Americans. Specialization and
automation in industry creates more leisure time. Approximately 99
percent of the total useful work energy of our country is performed
by machines. This percentage also lowers the demand upon the
worker’s physical and mental powers.
With the demand being less, a beneficial program must be
established to make their surplus of energy perform up to the in
dividual’s standards.
The l^pulation change has created the problem of developing
recreational services for more people of all ages. A rising economy
gives the recreation movement another shot in the arm, because a
rising economy allows individuals to spend more of their income on
recreational activities.
The above shows why the recreation movement needs professional
people. Recreation’s potential has just started to be felt. No longer
can a physical education instructor be asked to deal with man’s
leisure time.
Physical educators deal directly with the human body. Recreation
is concerned with man’s mind and spirit as well as with his physical
attributes. While the shift turns from physical education to
recreation, the importance of having trained personnel in the field is
mandatory.
A liberal arts'college such as Belmont Abbey offers the recreation
professional basic needs that a specialized college cannot offer. It
offers courses in psychology, philosophy, English, history, sciences,
languages, mathematics, sociology, political science, art and other
basics.
These courses are needed by the recreation professional because
they offer the individual many tools he or she needs to handle the
growing need for recreation in man’s leisure time.
roles, or to enter into advanced
study.
“I am very pleased with the
overall program in so far as the
wide variety of academic
subjects in the curriculum.
There are also practical courses
that are useful to the recreation
professional,” said Reidy of the
new major.
The program is designed for
those students who wish em
ployment in governmental,
commercial, voluntary, and
private recreational programs.
A great deal of emphasis is
placed on understanding and
appreciation of organizational
procedures; leadership
techniques; scope of activities;
psychological, social, spiritual,
physical, and mental values;
motivational techniques;
resources; safety procedures
and practices, equipment and
material.
Each student, prior to
graduation, is required to spend
nine weeks in an internship
program at a recreation
department in Gaston and
Mecklenburg counties. This
enables the student to use the'
skills in a practical situation
and allows the student to gain
practical experience.
“We have a great deal of
interest in the program,” said
Reidy. “There are inquiries
coming from areas all along the
east coast. It is a growing
profession because people have
MIKE REIDY, head of the new Recreation Department, and
professor Pam Allison discuss ideas for the new program.
more leisure time. Recreation
is a science. People are going to
spend their leisure time in some
type of recreational project.
This is the reason for the in
terest in this area.”
The program is young, but
Reidy sees it growing, “I can
see us expanding in the future.
I’m satisfied with the number of
majors we have in the program.
Growth of the program will
depend on the interest of the
students. Needless to say,
we’re very happy with the
support the Administration has
shown toward the program, and
hopefully we can continue to be
a viable part of educational
programs at BAC.”
Please Help Us Update Our Alumni List
You will notice below
an expanded form which
requests information we
have not attempted to
gather in several years.
As you may surmise, we
at the Abbey look upon
the Centennial year 1976
as a year of opportunity
for the College in many
directions, and we hope,
with your help, it will
become also a
memorable time for all
Name,
those who have passed
through.
Our need for this in
formation stems from (1)
a sincere desire within
the several departments
to evaluate and seek to
^improve the quality of
instruction and career
preparation; (2) a
renewed effort to involve
alumni in a greater
numbers as we plan
Centennial events; and.
(3) the hope that we can
effectively organize a
Belmont Abbey Alumni
association as a working
arm of the College, as
well as a resource for its
members.
I cannot refrain from
adding that we sincerely
hope the response to this
plea through Crossroads
will be better than ever.
We are eager to serve
you.
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