ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the circumstances, environment, and culture of 1950s Poland in which rural and small-town children and young adults grew up. This generation, just after the Second World War, was the first to be introduced to and captivated by sports on a massive scale. Physical culture, as an educational element implemented in post-war schools, aimed at creating a new type of person, and introduced to rural communities a value that had originated in the world of the affluent and educated. Participation in sports brought individuals closer to the ideal of such a lifestyle. Success in sports could enhance the self-worth of village children and motivate them to build their future independently. Hence, sports, as an element of cultural transmission at school, played a minor but important role in the mental revolution and social transformation that pervaded the Polish provincial regions, especially villages, in the first two decades following the war.
