When was ymca formed

Paul, who was one of the greatest pioneer and visionary of the Indian Movement, rural reconstruction work was initiated. This did a great deal to make the YMCA movement mindful of the needs of the village community; and in many ways initiated the present rural community work and the National extension service to the union and the state governments.

In a plan was outlined for the development of rural welfare in India, with the aid of the cooperative movement, very much in line with the present plans of the government. Lighthouse centres for training and demonstration towards rural recon-struction were established in various places, notable among them are the centres of Martandam and Indukurpet.

This hostel flourishes even today and is still a home away from home for the Indian students who go to London for studies. The efforts of K. Paul was largely responsible for this achievement.

The first training batch commenced in January at Calcutta. The YMCA brings together people of all faiths. In the Indian movement, a majority of its members were members of religious faiths other than Christian. However, full members — those who are entitled to vote for and be elected to the governing bodies of the associations — must on a constitutional basis be professing Christians. During the last quarter of the century, the Indian YMCAs moved out of its buildings to the community-based activities for the empowerment of people, Community development programmes were initiated and civil societies have been started.

It was realised that India was a nation of vastly diversified people in terms of language, culture and religion. Moreover the caste system and the levels of wealth and poverty prevailing needed to be seriously considered. It was also accepted that except in a few isolated cases, the movement was generally still following the old system of service.

This was a thrust formulated to cater to the Nations need. The convention also recognised the urgency to undertake decisive initiatives. The problems of survival and denial of opportunities to enable one to experience the fullness of life in a larger but oppressed section of the society.

Globalisation and its threats to the existing socio-economic structure and many other such issues. The Indian YMCA is committed to strive for a just society where op-pression, exploitation and denial of life is confronted and transformed.

Uni-Y representatives serve on the National Board; an increasing number of young people serve on local board and committees. The objectives are to provide financial and social support to refugees until a durable solution is found. The Indian sub continent is a country of vastly diverse people comprising of many different languages, culture, religion and caste background.

Therefore the programmes of the YMCA in the different parts of the country are also diverse in response to the local needs of the people. Some of the main programmes of the YMCAs are as follows :.

It drew thousands to that YMCA in to "unite unemployed young men who desire to maintain their physical and mental vigor and wish to train themselves for greater usefulness and service to themselves and the community," reported the association. The program offered a wide range of free services such as medical assistance, physical programs, school classes on a dozen subjects and recreation.

As conditions improved even slightly, they went back to work. A few were left behind -- in most cases, those considered unemployable. The YMCA offered them vocational training.

The idea spread widely and YMCAs discovered they could survive handily if they served a large number of people and had low building payments.

In fact, the Chicago Y was able to organize a new South Shore branch in the depths of the Depression. It also helped form the United Service Organization USO , which ran drop-in centers for servicepeople and sent performers abroad to entertain the troops. Ys worked with displaced persons and refugees as well, and sent both workers and money abroad after the war to help rebuild damaged YMCA buildings. After more than two decades of study and trial YMCA youth secretaries in agreed to put a national seal of approval on what was already widespread in the movement to focus their energies on four programs that involved work in small groups.

There would eventually be all-female and coed models as well. At the close of the war, the Ys had changed. Sixty-two percent were admitting women, and other barriers began to fall one after the other, with families the new emphasis, and all races and religions included at all levels of the organization.

The rapidly expanding suburbs drew the Ys with them, sometimes abandoning the old residences and downtown buildings that no longer were efficient or necessary. In , the U. The result was 98 Y buildings renovated, improved or built new in 32 countries.

In what could be called the Great Disillusion of , the nation was rocked by turmoil that included the Vietnam War, urban noting, the forced resignation of a U.

He said the choice was "either to keep learning or to become 20th-century Pharisees clinging to forms and theories that were once valid expressions of the best that was known, but that today are outdated and irrelevant. With national YMCA support and federal aid, new outreach efforts were taken up by community Ys in cities.

The Ys poured their own money and talent into outreach as well. Outreach programs were not new to the organization, but the size and scope involved were new. The four-fronts youth programs withered for lack of attention, dying out entirely in many major centers, but holding fast in YMCA camping and in parts of the Midwest and much of the South.

When federal aid dried up, money troubles began to reappear, as Ys struggled to keep faith with those they were helping. An even more insidious problem was in the mix. Long schooled in conciliation, Y people found themselves being confronted aggressively both at home and abroad. It was particularly hard to deal with and discouraging. Beginning in the fraternal secretaries serving YMCAs overseas were being called home.

Some buildings in U. Y leaders were urged to become more businesslike in both their appearance and their operations, a topic raised by Y boards since the s. After , the old physical programming featured by YMCAs for a century began to perk up as interest in healthy lifestyles increased nationwide.

By , pressure for up-to-date buildings and equipment brought on a boom in construction that lasted through the decade. Child care for working parents, an extension of what YMCAs had done informally for years, came with a rush in and quickly joined health and fitness, camping, and residences as a major source of YMCA income. During the s and '90s, the ideas of "values clarification" were slowly replaced by ideas of "character.

But by the mid to late '80s, this was seen as contributing to a morally bankrupt society, in which there is no notion of virtue or of vice , just different points of view. The ideas of character development and civic virtues became central, with Bennet's The Book of Virtues hitting the best-seller lists and organizations such as Character Counts!

The YMCA movement had been involved in character development from the beginning, but in an implicit and practical focus rather than an explicit one. George Williams stated this perfectly in his response to how he would respond to a young man who said that he had lost his belief in Jesus, by saying that his first act would be to see that the young man had dinner.

The YMCA movement studied the issue and emerged with four "core values" -- caring, honesty, respect and responsibility -- and promptly began to incorporate these in all programming in an explicit and conscious way. During the '90s, a tremendous change occurred in the field of youth development. Previously, the focus had been on the "deficit model," in other words, what went wrong with the youth who got into trouble, and how could they be corrected. But the same way that prevention and development of health, rather than just the cure of disease pervaded the medical world, youth workers and academics started to look at what contributes to healthy development and prevents problems -- an "assets model.

The research showed 30 later increased to 40 developmental assets that positively correlated with pro-social and healthy behaviors in youth, and negatively correlated with anti-social and unhealthy behaviors. The more assets a youth has, the more likely he or she is to behave well, the less likely to engage in risky behaviors.

This not only provided a "road map" for Ys to follow in creating healthy kids, families and communities, but also was an inherent proof of the effectiveness of youth programs.

It also showed a wider focus than had been thought possible. It doesn't matter if a program consists of sports, music, a teen center, mentoring or aerobics, or if it's aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, smoking or crime. If it provides one or more of the developmental assets, it will reduce the overall risk of any kind of negative behavior, and raise the likelihood of positive behavior. Ys have been so integral to their communities that organizations have been founded at meetings at YMCAs without being part of Y programs.

So we say that the Gideons was founded at a Y, but not that a Y started Gideons. It would be impossible to list all of the individuals and organizations contributing to this document. We received information from sources ranging from trade associations to university professors to current and retired YMCA employees.

The only things they had in common were a deep respect for Y traditions, a love for what the YMCA stands for and a desire to help. Their efforts and irreplaceable resources provided needed details when no one else knew where to look. The reason to look at what YMCAs did in the past is to inspire today's YMCA staff and volunteers to serve their communities with the same concern, dedication and courage. They may not make a list of firsts, but they will keep YMCAs foremost with their accomplishments.

Millions of people have been introduced to sports at YMCAs. Many of the sports people play were introduced at YMCAs, too. Volleyball was invented at the Holyoke Mass. Morgan blended elements of basketball, tennis and handball into the game and called it mintonette. In , YMCAs held their first national championship in the game.

This became the U. Open in , when non-YMCA teams were permitted to compete. Racquetball was invented in at the Greenwich Conn.

YMCA by Joe Sobek, a member who couldn't find other squash players of his caliber and who did not care for handball. He tried paddleball and platform tennis and came up with the idea of using a strung racquet similar to a platform tennis paddle not a sawed-off tennis racquet, as some say to allow a greater variety of shots.

After drawing up rules for the game, Sobek went to nearby Ys for approval by other players, and at the same time formed them into the Paddle Rackets Association to promote the sport. The original balls Sobek used were half blue and half red.

When he needed replacements, Sobek asked Spalding, the original manufacturer, to make the balls all blue, so they wouldn't mark the Y's courts. Softball had been played for many years prior to , under such names as kittenball, softball and even sissyball. In , however, the YMCA state secretary, Homer Hoisington, noticed both the sport's popularity and its need for standardized rules. After a gathering of interested parties, the CASA was formed and Hakanson moved to settle on the name softball for the game.

The motion carried, and the name softball became accepted nationwide. Shortly thereafter, the Denver YMCA adopted a declaration of principles for softball, adhering to noncommercialized recreation open to all ages and races and demanding good sportsmanship. Professional football began at a YMCA. In , in Latrobe, Pa. Years later, however, Pudge Heffelfinger claimed that he was secretly paid to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association in The NFL elected to go with Pudge's version of events.

Gulick needed a game to occupy a class of incorrigibles -- 18 future YMCA directors who, more interested in rugby and football, didn't care for leapfrog, tumbling and other activities they were forced to do during the winter.

Gulick, obviously out of patience with the group, gave Naismith two weeks to come up with a game to occupy them. Naismith decided that the new game had to be physically active and simple to understand. It could not be rough, so no contact could be allowed. The ball could be passed but not carried. Goals at each end of the court would lend a degree of difficulty and give skill and science a role.

Elevating the goal would eliminate rushes that could injure players, a problem in football and rugby. Introducing the game of basketball at the next gym class Naismith did meet Gulick's deadline , Naismith posted 13 rules on the wall and taught the game to the incorrigibles. The men loved it and proceeded to introduce basketball to their home towns over Christmas break. Naismith's invention spread like wildfire. Not only was basketball invented by a YMCA institution, but the game's first professional team came from a Y.

The Trenton N. YMCA had fielded a basketball team since and in its team claimed to be the national champions after beating various other YMCA and college teams. The team then severed its ties with the Y. It played the season out of a local Masonic temple, charging for admission and keeping the proceeds. YMCAs run programs of all types, from activities for older adults to Zen aerobics.

Some of the biggest are camping, swimming and child care. Here are some stories of their development. Camping has been a part of YMCA programming for more than a century. What YMCAs can claim is having founded the first continuously used camp.

The first school camp was started in by William Gunn, and Gunn camps became well known. A camp for weakly boys was organized in by Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock. The first church camp for boys was started in , and in the first private camp to meet special educational needs was established.

None of these camps was a YMCA camp, and none of them operates today. The national headquarters was situated in Calcutta between and , finally shifting to New Delhi in The National Council celebrated its centenary in The first Indian Bishop V. The India YMCA Movement has affiliated and non-affiliated local associations across nine Regions of the country with the membership standing at around 2 lakhs, comprising both men and women.

The first Indian National Committee comprised 17 persons. The headquarters for the national committee was in madras for one year and the convention unanimously elected Mr S. Satthinadhan as Chairman, W. R Arbuthnot as Hon. Treasurer and David Mc Conaughy as its firt secretary.