Sports and recreation facilities in schools – history and present state

The tradition of school sports facilities has its roots in ancient civilizations, primarily in ancient Greece. The preserved ruins of gymnasiums at Delphi, Olympia, Millet, Priene, Dedina, Pergamon, Ephesus or Thermessos, document well that sports facilities were a major part of the education system. They served not only for students and sports training but were opened to the public, used for social gatherings, political meetings and disputes. Contemporary school sports facilities derived from the 19th-century concept of the school’s educational program. It also included the indoor and outdoor physical education classes and facilities used for ‘body-building exercises’ - as it was named. In Poland, according to the current basic curriculum of the Ministry of National Education, the goal of physical education is to shape the long life habit of physical activity. The school activities should develop the appropriate interests and attitudes of students. Therefore, school activities should meet the needs, interests and abilities of the individual student as fully as possible. The present regulations of the Ministry of Education demand, that such classes should take place in a well-equipped sports hall or on a school playground.

Profile of a Participant in Mantrailing in Poland

The aim of the study was to determine the profile of people practising mantrailing on the territory of Poland. The study covered people who practice or have practiced mantrailing – members of the group „Mantrailing Poland”. The scientific method applied was a diagnostic survey – a questionnaire consisting of questions designed by the authors. People interested in mantrailing in Poland are a relatively young and well-educated group, the vast majority come from the city. In the case of tracking, the predominance of women in dog-related activities is also confirmed. The main motives for practising tracking in Poland are determining the needs, predispositions and activity of the dog and the desire to learn about its performance directly in the field. It is not, however, about passing exams and obtaining certificates in tracking, or the aspect of competition. The list of breeds with which people practise mantrailing is extremely varied with no strict list of breeds that they consider preferable for this form of recreation. The main inhibitors of tracking in Poland are financial resources and lack of time.

Movement and Sports Activities through Games to Enhance the Skills of Creative Thinking and Quality of Learning Process for Children Aged 14–15

The study aims to develop mobile exercises through games to strengthen students’ creative thinking. To achieve the goal of learning a sports and health subject, teachers may use optional teaching methods. It is carried out using an experimental research and development project called The Postest-Only Control Group Design. When analyzing the quality of the learning process, a quantitative descriptive analysis technique based on Formative Class Evaluation (FCE) questionnaires are used. The implementation rate for all indicators was found to be 89%. The small group shows a probability index of less than 0.05% or 0.000 and an FCE index of 89.35%. The large group reveals 0.000 and the FCE category is 85.26%. It is necessary to research developing the activity of learning the movements performed by games to strengthen creative thinking, another influence on the creative thinking of students from both the product test group and the control group is the transfer of exercises through games. Based on FCE, it shows that learning quality is important for employment, and according to experts, the entire product design is also important to apply.

Slavic Swimming Championships in the Years 1927–1929

In Czechoslovak swimming circles, swimming clubs were often criticized for having active sports contacts with many countries, especially Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Sweden, England, but completely forgot about Slavic nations such as Poland and Yugoslavia. The reason could be found mainly in the fact that swimming in the Slavic countries developed only after the war. There were also financial reasons and greater distances between the states. After the successful European Championships in Budapest in 1926, when it turned out that the swimmers of the Slavic nations were able to compete in Europe, the International Secretary of ČSAPS, Eng. Hauptmann proposed to the South Slavic and Polish Swimming Associations to hold the swimmers’ championships of these nations. The proposal was adopted unanimously with great enthusiasm. This resulted in a convention, signed by the leading officials of the Yugoslavian, Polish and Czechoslovak Associations, in which all participating associations undertook to host the Slavic Championships in three consecutive years: in 1927 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1928 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and 1929 in Warsaw, Poland. According to this convention, the Slavonic Championships were held with a full Olympic program according to the FINA regulations.

Jewish Sports in the Volhynian Voivodeship in the Years 1921–1939

The Jewish population in Volhynia constituted 9.9% of the province’s total population (205,500 as of 1931). Jews were the largest national group living in cities, about 48.6%. Jewish urban population constituted 13% of the total population and were very active in sports activities. They attended instructor courses in various sports areas and actively created regional branches of sports associations in Volhynia. The most popular sports among the Jewish population were football, boxing, cycling, athletics and skiing. Jewish athletes successfully competed in different sports events in the provincial, national and international arenas. Football players of the Hasmonea Równe club won the title of the best football team in the province of Volhynia three times. After winning the Volhynia Regional Football Association football team, the Hasmonea Równe junior football team participated in the Polish Championships for junior teams. Jewish footballers from the province of Volhynia participated in the matches of the representations of the cities, the word of Province Volhynia, and the national sports competitions of the Polish Makkabi teams. Representatives of other sports disciplines such as boxing, cycling and skiing also successfully competed at the regional (provincial) level.

“Kumoterki”, tradition, sport and cultural heritage

In the dialect of Polish Tatra highlanders the word “kumoterki” indicates a small two-person sleigh traditionally harnessed to one horse. It is derived from the word “kumotrzy” which is godparents who used the horse team to get with a newborn baby to church to have the child baptised.Since the mid-19th-century horse-drawn sleighs used by Tatra highlanders have been the masterpieces of woodcarving art. A lot of attention has been paid to the precision of workmanship, the choice of material and ornamentation. Initially, they were used as the means of transport during snowy winters in the Polish Tatra region. During the Interwar period, due to the development of mass motorization, horse-drawn sleighs lost their utilitarian character and people started to use them in racing events. The first horse-drawn sleigh race took place in Zakopane in 1929. It was an annual event until 1939. After World War 2, horse-drawn sleigh races were reactivated in 1962 in Zakopane and after that, after a few-year break, in 1972 in Bukowina Tatrzańska.In the 1970s horse-drawn sleigh races were treated mostly as social events and folk festivities rather than sports competitions. Horses that took part in the races at that time were used to work mainly on the farmland and were not specially prepared for the races. This situation changed completely at the beginning of the 1990s after sport horses had been brought to Podhale. Since then horse-drawn sleigh races have become typical sports competitions; older highlanders started to resign from speed racing leaving the place for young contestants. Sports rivalry and willingness to achieve the best time of a ride displaced the fun and entertainment factor of this event.

Historic Sports Architecture in the COVID-19 Pandemic Time (UNESCO World Heritage Sites)

In Europe, for more than three millennia, the development of individual disciplines has been accompanied by the evolution of sports facilities. It covers the period from the Ancient Olympic Games to modern sports architecture. The sports architecture heritage, as a magnet for cultural tourism, is evident. Millions of tourists visiting the famous sites are the proof how important these places are for our identity and tradition of European civilization. The most important historic sports facilities are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List: ancient Greek and Roman amphithe-atres, thermal baths, antique arenas. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the tourism sector hard. It is essential to reformulate present rules of the historic sports facilities visits and to consider the future directions of cultural tourism re-development at the UNESCO Heritage Sites. Recently there has been a revival of interests in sports heritage and many tourists want to explore famous landmarks of the past. Despite the pandemic time restrictions, it is also possible at present. However, new actions and policies are required to meet sanitary requirements and recommenda-tions, and rebuild consumer confidence.

The war biography of Stefan Csorich – the Olympian and Polish ice hockey representative

The article aims to present the wartime biography of Stefan Csorich, a distinguished Olympian in ice hockey. He was born in Nowy Sącz on September 25, 1921. He grew up in Krynica Zdrój at 422 Lipowa Street. He owes his name to a Hungarian ancestor who was an engineer (built bridges, railway viaducts) and settled in Krynica Zdrój. Until the outbreak of World War II, he managed to graduate from the local primary school, start studying at the newly opened private gymnasium and high school (owned by dr. Roman Molęda). After the Ice Hockey World Championships in 1931 organized in Krynica, he began his adventure with this sport discipline. The war interrupted a brilliantly heralded career. He was a participant in the September 1939 campaign. As a result of the turmoil of war, he was in France, Switzerland and England, among others. After the war, in 1946, he returned to Poland to his hometown. There he continued his career in ice hockey. He appeared 52 times for the Polish national team (1946–1957). He was the scorer of 34 goals. He participated in the World Championships in 1947 (in Prague, where he won the title of the king of goalscorers), 1955 (in the Federal Republic of Germany) and 1957 (in Moscow). He was at the Olympics in St. Moritz (1948) and Oslo (1952). For the 1956 Olympics in Cortina dʼAmpezzo he did not receivea passport for political reasons. He died on July 15, 2008, and was buried in Krynica-Zdrój.

Horseback riding in the history of Poland – selected moments and reflections

Background. The cavalry was the primary armed force of Poles and their legendary ancestors from ancient times, especially in historical formations. It also functions as an element of national history in culture in its various areas. Problem. How this fragment of the old Polish military culture manifests itself in high and mass culture, in the world of film, in the city space, in pictures and numismatic values, and how is it displayed in the field of martial arts cultivated today? Method. The answers will be formulated based on an analysis of 30 selected works of art, value or cultural artefacts and illustrated with examples. Examples include films of Polish cinematography (Teutonic Knights, The Deluge, Hubal and others), a series of commemorative medals and paintings by outstanding Polish painters that inspired the authors of these medals. Therefore, both great paintings by outstanding artists (Jan Matejko, Wojciech Kossak etc.), monuments and films, and small graphic forms (coins, medals). Results and conclusions. This Polish tradition of military culture manifests itself even today in high culture (painting, literature) and mass culture (films, songs), in urban space (monuments), and the artistic qualities of medals. It is also cultivated in the Polish martial art practised today – in teaching one of the schools. It is about horse fencing in Signum Polonicum.