MUSCLE MATCH : Simi Pupils Put in Good Showing on Soviet Fitness Test

Many of the 480 Simi Valley schoolchildren who underwent a Soviet-designed series of fitness tests Friday worried that they would not measure up to their Soviet counterparts.

“They’re better athletes, and more built,” said sixth-grader Kenneth Wilson, 12. “And there’s no TVs.”

But by the end of the day, the children at Hollow Hills Fundamental School had put in a good showing for typically out-of-shape American youngsters, said former football coach George Allen, who initiated an exchange of physical fitness tests between the United States and the Soviet Union.

“I’m really impressed with them, tremendous,” said Allen, who started the exchange in 1987 as then-chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Allen, a former coach of the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins, signed an agreement with the Soviet chairman of the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports that called for 20,000 children in each country to be tested using the other’s standard fitness test.

Hollow Hills Fundamental School in Ventura County is one of 252 elementary and middle schools nationwide that are participating in the program. Students in about 150 Soviet schools are taking the California Health Related Physical Fitness Test, Allen said.

On Friday, boys and girls between 8 and 12 ran sprints and distance events of up to 2,000 meters, did pullups, swam, long jumped and threw balls for distance and accuracy.

Before Friday, about 500 U.S. children had been tested using the Soviet program, with about 60% failing overall, Allen said. The tests indicate that American children are weak on exercises that tax the cardiovascular system and upper body.

Test results were not available Friday for a comparison between the Hollow Hills children and Soviet children, but principal Susan Parks said that her students did well on most of the seven individual events.

About 54% of those tested nationally before Friday failed the Soviet swimming test. But all except one of the 80 Hollow Hills children who swam Friday received an “acceptable” rating or better, Parks said. “Must be the California influence,” she said.

About two-thirds of the 10-year-old boys managed to jump the minimum distance of 260 centimeters--about 8.6 feet--required to get an “acceptable” rating in the long jump. But only 12 of 33 sixth-graders managed to do the minimum of two pullups, with many failing to do even one.

Parks said four of the about 30 girls in the 9-year-old age group received ratings of “outstanding” for their times in shuttle runs--sprints back and forth between lines 10 meters apart.

A majority of the children recorded satisfactory results on the other tests, Parks said. Although a few walked at the end, all of the 10- to 12-year-olds completed the 2,000-meter run.

“I won’t say they’re in great shape, but overall I think they’re above average,” Parks said.

Typically, American children lack the strength and endurance of Soviet children who have hourlong physical education classes five days a week taught by trained physical education instructors, Allen said. In contrast, California public schools are required to provide three hours and 20 minutes of physical education every two weeks, Simi Valley Supt. John Duncan said.

“They’re in great shape,” Allen said of Soviet children. “And they’re disciplined. They don’t have the math teacher teaching PE. They’re all business.”