Sport and physical activity are a significant influence on the meaningfulness of life for all cultures. Throughout the course of history culture groups have used sport and physical activity to assimilate themselves into their respective society. Both African American slaves and Japanese Americans held in internment camps along with, young Caucasians have all used sport and physical activity to accomplish three goals. These cultural groups have all used sport and physical activity to build community, achieve recognition and distract themselves from their current situations. The article that I read entitled, Sport and community in California’s Japanese American “Yamato Colony”, deals a lot with sport as a significant influence on the meaningfulness
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Along with the Japanese Americans using baseball to strengthen their communities, they saw it as a way to assimilate and successfully fit into American culture. Baseball presented a fantastic opportunity to Americanize because “the play, the rules, the goals and values, were all American; only the players were Japanese” (Regalado 1992). The Livingston Dodgers were a tight knit and successful team as they only suffered a few loses during their pre-internment years. Yet, the tides turned as all Japanese Americans were ripped from their homes and moved to terrible living conditions in barely habitable areas. The folks on the Livingston Dodgers and their community were moved to Colorado for their time of internment. At the internment camp the facilities were lesser but the competition was still fierce as baseball was still readily available and unfamiliar competition was present. Throughout the years in the internment camp, baseball and other forms of physical activity were used to stay active and ignore the terrible conditions that the …show more content…
The younger generation of Caucasians in immigrant heavy areas in the early 1900s used baseball to gain recognition and accolades that they wouldn’t normally receive. For example, family life at this time was very different. It wasn’t uncommon for the mother to be seemingly constantly pregnant or raising many children and for the father to be away at work. Due to this family dynamic the eldest son would get all of the attention while the younger siblings would get ignored. Luckily, the local newspapers would publish the box scores of local baseball games granting many youth priceless recognition (Story, 1995). This is an almost identical trend compared with the Japanese American ball players on the Livingston Dodgers and similar teams. In fact, the local newspaper, the Livingston Chronicle, would publish the scores and player information of the ball players (Regaldo, 1992). The difference between these two sets of community teams is the dark reality of internment. While the newspapers covered both sets of teams in their papers, the internment camp leagues were the only ones with documented championships and all-star games. In fact, in 1943 the Livingston Dodgers won the championship while their shortstop was selected as the league’s most valuable player as he batted .714 (Regalado 1992). Recognition was an integral part of sport throughout these periods of history and
Along with the Japanese Americans using baseball to strengthen their communities, they saw it as a way to assimilate and successfully fit into American culture. Baseball presented a fantastic opportunity to Americanize because “the play, the rules, the goals and values, were all American; only the players were Japanese” (Regalado 1992). The Livingston Dodgers were a tight knit and successful team as they only suffered a few loses during their pre-internment years. Yet, the tides turned as all Japanese Americans were ripped from their homes and moved to terrible living conditions in barely habitable areas. The folks on the Livingston Dodgers and their community were moved to Colorado for their time of internment. At the internment camp the facilities were lesser but the competition was still fierce as baseball was still readily available and unfamiliar competition was present. Throughout the years in the internment camp, baseball and other forms of physical activity were used to stay active and ignore the terrible conditions that the …show more content…
The younger generation of Caucasians in immigrant heavy areas in the early 1900s used baseball to gain recognition and accolades that they wouldn’t normally receive. For example, family life at this time was very different. It wasn’t uncommon for the mother to be seemingly constantly pregnant or raising many children and for the father to be away at work. Due to this family dynamic the eldest son would get all of the attention while the younger siblings would get ignored. Luckily, the local newspapers would publish the box scores of local baseball games granting many youth priceless recognition (Story, 1995). This is an almost identical trend compared with the Japanese American ball players on the Livingston Dodgers and similar teams. In fact, the local newspaper, the Livingston Chronicle, would publish the scores and player information of the ball players (Regaldo, 1992). The difference between these two sets of community teams is the dark reality of internment. While the newspapers covered both sets of teams in their papers, the internment camp leagues were the only ones with documented championships and all-star games. In fact, in 1943 the Livingston Dodgers won the championship while their shortstop was selected as the league’s most valuable player as he batted .714 (Regalado 1992). Recognition was an integral part of sport throughout these periods of history and