Madison Lutheran School did not have a gym, but there were many opportunities for physical fitness. For one thing, we had 15 minute recesses in the morning and afternoon, and a longer recess during the noon hour after lunch. See the "Recess" section of this website.

The Madison recreation program offered opportunities in the 1950's for organized boys' teams in touch football, basketball, and softball. I remember going across the street from my home on Ludington Avenue to the gym at Lowell School to watch the MLS basketball team play other parochial school teams in Madison. I also remember a basketball tournament we went to at Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin. I do not remember any of the scores or results!

An arrangement was made with the Eagles Club a few blocks away from Madison Lutheran which had a bowling alley with several lanes. I can't remember how often we went or during which grades, but I do remember my first bowling experience was there with my classmates. I also remember my first "strike." There was a bowling pin that was forward of where the automatic machine that cleaned the pins and re-set them could reach. I was instructed to roll a gutter ball, which I tried to do, but it started toward the left side and curved right. It was a strike!

Some of our parents decided to give us additional experience by enrolling us in the Turner Hall Gymnastics Program. The program was directed by Mr. Stroebel. We would spend over an hour a week at Turner Hall a block away from the old Our Saviour's Church on East Washington Avenue on Thursdays after school and be picked up by our parents after work at 5:30. We had experience with the pommel horse, trampoline, rings, mats for sommersaults and cartwheels, ropes, poles, vault, and a large group activity with bowling pins. I was never very good at any of it, but remember it as a fun time.

added March 28, 2009