It’s said that most Americans have a YMCA story. Some took their first swim lessons there. Others went to summer camps. At the same time, some regularly went on Saturday mornings with the family.
Then, of course, some folks know it from the Village People song that crashed the radio airwaves in 1978. YMCA buildings, pools, and gyms seem omnipresent in towns throughout the country.
With so much history associated with the YMCA, one can lose sight that it has contributed to innovation. The YMCA’s contributions to sports have been more than impressive.
Now more frequently referred to as the “Y,” what else is there to know about the organization? In this article, we dive deep into the history of the YMCA. We’ll look at its contributions to sports innovation and the impact its legacy has made in the world today.
YMCA: A Review and Perspective on its Impact
Originally started by Evangelicals, the YMCA is one of the U.S’s largest non-profit community service organizations.
Although the idea of it was unusual, as it crossed social and economic boundaries in those days, this openness was a special trait that would eventually lead to the inclusion of women, men, and children.
Despite its religious origins, the YMCA of the USA first grasped the importance of offering physical education to young men. It was a way of meeting the needs of the whole person.
More than sports and recreation, the Y also meets the social need of the community. It engages in various community services such as volunteering, distributing emergency relief, and teenage programs.
The Roots of the YMCA
In the 1800s, London, England, was a growing industrial metropolis. However, life was made incredibly tough during the big arising of the Industrial Revolution. At work, men typically worked every day of the week and over 10 hours a day. Many often slept at their workplaces in crowded rooms.
Outside of work, there were many other worse things to worry about. Homeless beggars, drunks, mobsters, abandoned kids, open sewers, petty criminals, and beggars flooded the streets. Certainly, industrialized London was a place of great turmoil and despair during this time.
YMCA Founder: George Williams
Fortunately, on June 6, 1844, George Williams founded the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). Primarily, it was in response to these unhealthy working and living conditions.
Born a farm boy in 1821, 20 years later, Williams migrated to take a position in a draper’s shop as a sales assistant. Williams was concerned about London’s harsh work-life and negative urban influences. He believed it harmed the young men of London.
Williams, along with his other fellow drapers, decided to organize the first YMCA branch.
Their main objective was: to improve the spiritual condition of young men seeking refuge from the hazards of street life. To accomplish this, the YMCA would provide a safe and secure place and foster healthy ideals through Bible study classes and social prayer meetings.
Together, Williams and the other members of Y.M.C.A. quickly started to organize branches throughout Ireland, Scotland, and more areas in England.
He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894 as Sir Williams and honored with a burial upon his death to honor Williams. But, just how did the YMCA find its way all the way to America?
Thomas Sullivan Brings to the YMCA to the U.S.
Some years later, marine missionary and retired sea captain and Thomas Sullivan felt a similar need in his field of work after visiting a YMCA in England. Sullivan lived much of his life at sea and began to believe that his men, too, needed a secure place to have away from home.
On December 29, 1851, an eager and inspired Sullivan created the first YMCA branch in Boston at the Old South Church.
Currently, there are more than 10,000 YMCA locations throughout the U.S. Amongst its amazing contributions to the history of sports, perhaps the YMCA’s invention of basketball, volleyball, and racquetball are three of the most well-known.
YMCA’s Contribution to Sports
Because the Y has contributed in so many ways to how many of us were raised, it’s easy to forget about its contribution to sports innovation.
Well, the YMCA has put its thumbprints on some significant aspects of sports.
Basketball
Basketball was invented in 1891 by phy ed instructor James Naismith in Massachusetts in YMCA Springfield’s gym. Naismith was asked to create an “athletic distraction” to free his class from boredom during the winter.
The new game he came up with involved a few simple things: two goals and a ball. To limit the roughhousing inherent in other sports, Naismith established certain rules. The rules allowed for non-violent intercepting passes. Initially, Naismith wanted to use a pair of boxes as goals. But, the building superintendent could only find peach baskets at the time.
Since smaller balls required equipment to handle, it was played by nine players split into a team of two using a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed at both ends of the gym. On January 15, 1892, the first rules made by Naismith were published. Thus, the world’s most popular sport, basketball, was born.
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Racquetball
Racquetball is another Y-invented sport created by professional squash, handball, and tennis player Joseph Sobek. Sobek had difficulty finding other skilled squash players that matched him and were dissatisfied with the options for indoor sports in Greenwich, Connecticut.
So, during the 1940s, he started the rules for the racquetball game he called “paddle rackets.” It involved short, stringed rackets, paddles, and a children’s toy rubber ball played in handball courts.
Sobek worked in a rubber factory and designed the original rubber ball, half red and half blue. Sobek would reach out to the original manufacturer, Spalding, to make the balls all blue to prevent marks from being made on the courts when replacements were needed.
Balls, paddles, and rackets of the game had taken many shapes and forms over the years as the search for the ideal model of each continued. Nonetheless, the sport’s popularity grew as more athletes came to notice its high intensity, giving them a great workout and building up a sweat while playing.
Volleyball
Invented by William G. Morgan n Holyoke, Massachusetts, the sport volleyball soon followed after basketball in 1895. The YMCA instructor wanted to create a game for older men with less physical contact than basketball. First called “Mintonette,” the game involved a tennis net, raised 6 feet, 6 inches above the floor, played in gyms, exercise halls, or open air.
The game’s objective was to keep the ball in movement over a high net from one side to the other and, like these sports, encourage participants to work together and forge new friendships.
Since the game’s object was to “Volley” the ball, an observer suggested the name of the sport be changed to “volleyball” after seeing the demonstration of the game. He agreed and provided handwritten rules as a guide for the use and development of the game, appearing in the Spalding Athletic Library Publication in 1917.
Other Sports and Recreational Activities
First group swimming lessons: 1909
In 1909, Canadian swimming enthusiast George Corsan designed group swimming lessons at a Detroit YMCA. Corsan was the first instructor to teach the crawl stroke and also pioneered breathing methods according to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Earliest public fitness workouts, 1881
Historians claimed that the first YMCA buildings included gyms that opened in 1869. A YMCA staff member named Robert J. Roberts first coined the term “bodybuilding” in 1881, also organizing exercise routines that can be seen in fitness classes today.
Oldest summer camp still in operation, 1885
Founded in 1885 in New York, the YMCA’s Camp Dudley is one of the first known summer camps for children in the U.S. It is said to be the oldest operating American summer camp today.
Sport for All
Through basketball, volleyball, and racquetball, the Y has impacted international sports more than any other organization in the world. The Y’s current sports programs — the ones we invented and the ones we didn’t — don’t just promote health and fitness. They also have social interaction, a sense of belonging, and friendship.
These sports have become popular in the United States very quickly. They have spread to other countries as well. They have also been added to the Olympics. Although best known today for its athletics programs, the Y is much more than that.
18 Million Americans Served by the Y
Now serving more than 18 million people in America alone, the Y has made a major impact by standing strong to their mission: meet the needs of the developing person through physical education. According to researchers at Dartmouth University’s Hood Center for Children and Families, this mission was affirmed inside and out.
It was found that playing sports significantly lowers a person’s risk of obesity and diseases associated with being overweight. Besides the obvious benefits of promoting health and fitness, physical education has served many Y. Not only does the organization encourage social interaction, a sense of belonging, and friendship, but it also serves to promote virtuous ideals and values by fostering a team spirit and working together to achieve healthy lifestyles.
Conclusion
Rather than encourage individualism, sports should be about bringing people together. The Y has and continues to leave lasting memories for children, adults, and families. It has left a truly remarkable legacy still being played out today by millions of members worldwide.
By Mel Green with contributions from Mike O’Halloran
Mel is a freelance writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mike, the editor of Sports Feel Good Stories, is a past board member of the Eagan YMCA in suburban St. Paul, where he’s been a member for some 25 years.
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