Poland

When Poland became an independent nation after World War I, play and leisure had undergone significant changes. In the 1920s, individual forms of play, whether children's or adult games, continued. Among the games played was Warcaby, a version of draughts (similar to Checkers) that had been popular since the 18th century. Individuals also frequently played cards, Skat being particularly popular in those parts of the country with a German population.

A significant innovation was the introduction of organized sports and organizations that promoted group activities. These were not professional leagues or clubs, but did lend a degree of organization to activities which involved groups of people. Some of these were political or nationalist such as the Sokol (falcon) clubs that helped develop a sense of Polish identity even as they organized soccer matches or other athletic events. At the same time, segments of Poland's Jewish population through the Bund and other organizations did the same.

World War II and its immediate aftermath brought a halt to all of these activities, and they did not resume in any form until the late 1940s. The Communist state in Poland, from 1947 on, introduced a high degree of regimentation in all areas, and that included play in all its forms. Even the concept of leisure time was changed when factory workers were given the opportunities or were strongly encouraged to take vacations at free resorts. At first workers were reluctant, in part because many of them felt uncomfortable mixing with office workers. The idea of group activities rather than solitary pursuits, such as gardening, was new to many of them.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, collective play programs and state-sponsored activities declined, and individual play and recreation began to assert themselves. Today, after the changes of 1989, individual choices of how to play and spend one's time are the norm, and Poland now sees a combination of both traditional and Western-influenced activities.

Hiking is popular, sometimes with the competitive element of orienteering—that is, taking a map and compass and reaching certain points with the first to complete the circuit winning the competition. Other sports have been popular for years and continue to be common pastimes. These include bicycling, mountain biking, swimming, canoeing, boating, kayaking, and skiing. Soccer, on every level, especially the informal pickup games of amateur leagues, has always been a popular form of play.

In recent years one very non-traditional sport to enter Poland is baseball. When the government changed in 1989, American coaches came into the country and began to teach the game. In the same year, Poland was granted a Little League Charter, and in 2004 the first Polish Little League team entered the Little League World Series. Similarly, in 2006, a Polish League playing American football came into existence. It remains to be seen if this interest will continue and if Poles will be playing informal games of American style football in the future.

At the beginning of the 21st century, it is easy to see how play has become affected by technology and trends in how people want to play. In common with the rest of [Page 569]the world, interest in traditional toys, games and physical activity have declined. Electronic games have taken their place to a large extent, and sales are increasing every year.

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