The YMCA organisation and its physical education and sports activities in Europe during the First World War

• Authors: Tomáš Tlustý

Title variants

PL

Organizacja YMCA i jej działalność poświęcona kulturze fizycznej i sportowi w Europie w okresie I wojny światowej

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper discusses the history of the YMCA in Europe at the time of the First World War. During the period in question, this international organisation spent a large amount of money on voluntary aid for soldiers and prisoners of war. Of all National YMCA groups, most financial support for its activities came from the United States of America, where the organisation had also reached its peak in terms of physical education and sports development. Even before the United States of America had entered the First World War, American YMCA secretaries had been involved in European battlefields and prisoner of war camps, despite having first been rejected by local military leaders. These functionaries offered soldiers and prisoners of war a number of ways to spend their free time, including physical education and sport. The American YMCA’s efforts were to increase significantly after the United States of America had entered the war. There followed a transfer of a huge amount of sports equipment and sports instructors from the United States of America to Europe. After the war had ended, the YMCA in France initiated the Inter-Allied Games and subsequently attempted to spread its program into other countries around the world.

PL

W pracy przedstawiono historię YMCA w Europie w czasie I wojny światowej. Ta międzynarodowa organizacja w omawianym okresie wyasygnowała bardzo duże środki finansowe na pomoc żołnierzom i jeńcom wojennym. Ze wszystkich narodowych oddziałów YMCA największe wsparcie finansowe przekazała YMCA ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, gdzie w rozwoju kultury fizycznej i sportu organizacja osiągnęła najwyższy poziom. Jeszcze przed przystąpieniem Stanów Zjednoczonych do I wojny światowej wolontariusze YMCA pracowali na polach europejskich bitew i w obozach jenieckich. Wolontariusze ci oferowali żołnierzom i więźniom wiele różnych sposobów spędzania wolnego czasu, wśród których były kultura fizyczna i sport. Po przystąpieniu Stanów Zjednoczonych do wojny działania amerykańskiej YMCA przybrały na sile. Ze Stanów Zjednoczonych do Europy przetransportowano ogromną ilość sprzętu sportowego i sprowadzono instruktorów sportowych. Po wojnie francuska YMCA zainicjowała Inter-Allied Games, a program tej imprezy starała się rozpropagować w innych krajach

Keywords

EN

YMCA, First World War, prisoner-of-war camps, sport, officials.

PL

YMCA, I wojna światowa, obozy jenieckie, sport, urzędnicy

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jana Długosza w Częstochowie
• Journal: Prace Naukowe Akademii im. Jana Długosza w Częstochowie Kultura Fizyczna
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 27-44

Contributors

author

Tomáš Tlustý

• Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Department of Kinanthropology and Humanities

References

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Identifiers

DOI

10.16926/kf.2015.14.02