1. Introduction

1.1 Topic Choice

The significance of sports and culture within a globalizing country is essential for

the country to efficiently prosper. Poland will continue its efforts to become a more globalized nation since it significantly increases the annual GDP percentage annually as shown by the National Bank of Poland (Gradzewicz, 2008). As the trend continues, Poland is bound to be a host for a myriad of immigrants who will make it their home. This trend can already be seen through immigration statistics and the rise of international students in the country (Sas, 2019). Poland being the tenth-most monoethnic culture at 96.9% Polish ethnicity may make assimilation for said immigrants much more difficult especially if they do not speak Polish. English is only spoken by 37% of the Polish population (this is double the amount of what it was in the late 1990s), which also can make assimilating into the culture and country not so appeasing (How Widely Spoken, n.d.). At the same token, it is vital that immigrants assimilate without impeding on the already established Polish culture.

People can easily be torn apart by conflicting ideologies, political beliefs, religion, and class structure but join in comradery to attend a football match or play on the same pitch as their teammates. Having said comradery helps stitch together society and without it nations are easily divided. Poland benefits immensely by being a mono-ethnic society in this regard. Its people have a common ethnic background that ties them together, however the same cannot be said about all immigrants living in the country. Sports, notably team sports can help in making the transition for first generation immigrants more fluid and manageable as shown in the study by the University of Illinois’

Department of Leisure Studies in the United States (Stodolska, 2004). This concept was

also supported by Pierre de Coubertin who was considered to be “the ‘father’ of the Modern Olympic Games”:

"Participation in sport can promote human rights through generating shared interests and values and teaching social skills that are necessary for democratic citizenship" (Council of Europe, n.d.)

Sport is a universal language. Just like music, it does not require spoken language to understand and can be understood by all if the pre-existing rules are established. This is the reason why the FIFA World Cup is such a large global event. The Olympics bring the world together every four years so the world’s best athletes can compete for their home country while immersing themselves in the host-country’s society for the minimum time of the competition.

While there are sporting facilities and stadiums within Warsaw, their reach is quite limited to only the most popular sports such as football. Sports such as baseball, which are quite unpopular according to physical education statistics from 2017 and 2018 by GUS (GUS, 2019) do not have adequate facilities of their own.

Architecture should not just be thought of as a means for developing for the vast majority of people (even though this is an important aspect of the design), but also for individuals and the minority at the same time.

A multi-purpose stadium designed for the purpose of bringing people together through sports is the solution for the problem of assimilation within a homogeneous mono-ethnic society is the intended design outcome of the thesis. This paper will focus on the importance of culture through sports through a shared learning process. The idea of the future of the stadium will be challenged as well since in recent history many stadiums only have had a life span of approximately 35 years. Of course, there are

exceptions to this such as the infamous Coliseum, but newer stadiums have a shorter life span and are overwhelmingly underutilized day in and day out.

A stadium is a place for social interaction, whether it is from the fans to the players or from the players to the game itself. The human psyche has an inherent need to play at all stages of our lives making it ever the more important to create a sufficient space for creative freedom of sports play.

“In sociology, a minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage as compared to members of a dominant social group. ” (Healey, 2014)

1.2 Purpose of Paper

The purpose of this paper is to raise awareness to particular issues such as minority groups within the community and to evaluate the importance that sports will contribute to society’s everchanging needs in the future. Specifically, Warsaw and Poland’s

baseball associations are the prime focus in this particular thesis with the hopes of getting them their own space which can be specifically used for the game they love, baseball. Baseball is becoming more popular in Poland as time goes on with new stadiums and facilities being constructed in cities such as Łódź, Katowice, and Wrocław. Warsaw has four unique clubs of their own and Poland has over twenty with more than three respective leagues, including a national team. The thesis project takes a look at sociological problems that are faced and creates an architectural solution based on said problems. The architectural design is meant as a solution to help tackle the problem at hand while also challenging the idea of what a stadium might look like in the future.

Architecture has a direct impact on how people interact with society, so it is important to design to accommodate all people in society for their needs to be adequately met.

1.3 Methodology

This paper is divided into two sections: a theoretical analytical study focused on stadiums and culture, and the architectural design solution that is proposed for the theoretical study at hand. The theoretical analytical study section will look at sociological problems such as lack of exercise in a

Optimization design tools are an important component for establishing the architectural form of the building through genetic algorithm solvers and will be commonly used throughout the analysis portion of this paper. This way environmental factors such as sunlight can be used in order to create the optimal form of the building.

Primarily the architectural design study will be broken down into the construction phases of the project explaining how and why each phase could be adapted into a real project. This part is essential for the possibility of creating a field or stadium for the intended users of the site (the Warsaw baseball teams).

In the eastern part of the Mokotów District in Warsaw there is a neighborhood named Augustówka which is near the river. There are many residential homes in this area and paths for urban walking to greenery. Overall, the area is underdeveloped in terms of recreational activity with the exception including walking, cycling, and gardening (which is more apparent just north of the neighborhood in the adjacent Siekierki neighborhood). Right on the edge of these two neighborhoods is a historic fortress, Fort X. This fort is a modern park and the proposed site for the baseball facility and stadium is directly east of the fort. The proposed site is illustrated in FigureX, the main area being the part highlighted in a red-orange color. The orange and yellow-orange colors indicate how the site is currently being used through their respective recreational

activities. In the northwest is the fortress, where it is now being used for practicing sharp shooting primarily through bow and arrows and airsoft rifles. In the southwest there is an area of hills for BMX bikers to perform bike jumps and tricks.

The two dichotomies of the recreational activities make the site idealistic for a program for additional recreational sports in the area. The methods used for choosing the site are briefly explained in this section and are important concepts for understanding the reasoning behind design decisions. Before any design work could be done the site needed to be chosen with key characteristics which would make having a baseball complex not only logical, but desired.

Figure 1: Proposed Site

1.4 The Stadium

Historic Stadiums

The idea of the stadium is not a new concept. It has been around for thousands of years with the oldest know existing example being that of the Stadium at Olympia in Greece where the ancient Olympic Games were participated in in 776 BC. The games were a significant component to Ancient Greek culture and tied in heavily with religion. Some events that the Ancient Greeks partook in were wrestling, running, discus throwing, equestrian related events, and jumping (The International Olympic Committee, n.d.).

The Romans, inspired by the Greeks built the most influential architectural monument for the history of stadia, the Flavian Amphitheater, also known as the Colosseum, in Rome where construction began in 69AD. Still to this day it stands after various natural disasters such as earthquakes and fires. The Colosseum has been renovated a handful of times thanks to said disasters and it is still being renovated since it is a UNESCO heritage site. The main use of this iconic monument in ancient times was more gruesome than present day sports.

Here is a list of just a few ways the Colosseum was used during its tenure:

• Gladiator fights • Naval and aquatic displays (see figure) • Animal hunts

• Parades

• Executions and torture

• Theatre

The most important information in regards to this thesis dealing with the Colosseum is not that it set a framework for a millennia of stadia to come but its innate

characteristics of providing entertainment in a variety of forms.

Although many of these events were quite brutal and otherwise unorthodox in the mind of the modern sport’s fan, they were socially adaptable since The Colosseum

was not just used for one particular kind of event (Sightseeing Tours Italy, n.d.).

The use of water was undeniably one of the greatest technological achievements of the Romans. The aqueduct systems that were prevalent in ancient Rome were unlike anything else seen in history at the time. This technology was also used in the Colosseum where the entire field could be flooded with water thanks to the help of the aqueducts (John, Sheaard, & Vickery, 2007).

Figure 2: Roman Colosseum today Figure 3: Roman Colosseum used for Naval display

The Modern Stadium

The fall of Rome meant a halt on stadium design during the Middle Ages and would not come back until the 19th century with the first modern day Olympics which began in 1896 in Athens, Greece and has now been a long running tradition in the sport’s world

only stopping for war and now for a worldwide pandemic in 2020 because of COVID-

19. The host country for the Olympics has an on-going tradition of building an Olympic stadium for the games. The birth of the modern stadium followed shortly after the first Olympic games, most notably at the fourth Olympiad in London, 1908 with the White Field Stadium. The two previous Olympiads (Paris and St. Louis) were a part of the world’s Fair and had competitions on fields. The White Field Stadium was also used as

a venue for the 1966 World Cup.

Figure 4: The White Field Stadium, London, England

The “failure” of the Oakland Coliseum

Maybe most noteworthy for its appearance in the blockbuster hit film “Moneyball”, a story based on true events about the Oakland Athletics, the professional baseball team in Oakland, California, the Oakland Coliseum was a multi-purpose stadium which

functioned both as a Baseball stadium and American Football stadium. The film,

Moneyball, dives into the logistics on how to sign players to a professional team, most notably the Athletics, who did not have a large salary cap at the time in order to compete with the big name teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox who both have incredible sums of money. The easiest way to explain the film is that it follows the A’s and their management behind how to sign players and who to sign. In order to pick the best player, Peter Brand, an Ivy League graduate created an algorithm that looks at all baseball statistics and simulates them in a way that can produce an estimate of how many wins a team can get. Therefore, traditional scouting methods for players were tossed aside because only teams with a lot of money could afford the super stars. The outcome was that the A’s signed a bunch of players for next

to nothing in price and on the surface seemed lackluster in skill and appearance, but they were highly successful in their endeavors for a span of 6 years (2000-2006) going on to contend in the playoffs. Although the A’s did not win any significant

championships during this run, they did become some of the greatest teams in the club’s history.

The stadium is still used today for baseball games, being the oldest of the 1960s era dual purpose stadiums in the United States. Even though it has been around since 1966, outperforming many stadiums in average life span, it is a failure in regards to attendance rankings. Using the ESPN’ s (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) MLB attendance reports the demographics of the Oakland A’s can be tracked back to 2001. The Oakland Athletics average at 26.9 out of the 30 professional baseball teams in ranking for average attendance per home game in Major League baseball over the past 10 years. The NFL did not do much better with the announcement of the Oakland Raiders moving their team to Las Vegas in 2020. The average capacity filled for the stadium is only 43% meaning that approximately 57% of

the stadium’s seats are not being used despite being the 8th largest stadium for seating capacity. In fact, the highest attendance average percentage that can be analyzed from 2001 until 2019 has the Oakland Athletics only filling 58% of their maximum in 2003, at 27,365 average attendees. Naturally, this is the year after the events of the movie “Moneyball” happened which has arguably been the A’s best

team ever, so consequently more fans came to the ballpark (ESPN, 2001-2019).

The field orientation simply does not work in the Coliseum. During baseball games the fans are too far away from the field that it is hard to feel the interaction between the players and the fans. Another important aspect to cover is the quality of play. Baseball players want to play on the best quality dirt which can be a hinderance for the Oakland

Oakland A's Attendance Year Avg. Attendees Total Attendees Ranking Percentage of Capacity 2010 17,511 1,418,391 29 37.12317151 2011 18,232 1,476,792 30 38.65168539 2012 20,728 1,679,013 27 43.94318423 2013 22,337 1,809,302 23 47.35425058 2014 25,045 2,003,628 24 53.09518762 2015 21,829 1,768,175 27 46.27729489 2016 18,784 1,521,506 29 39.82192071 2017 18,446 1,475,721 29 41.18507526 2018 19,427 1,573,616 27 43.50434598 2019 20,521 1,662,211 24 N/A

56,057 Max Capacity for Football 47,170 Max Capacity for Baseball 47170 20,286 1,638,836 26.9 43.43956846

Figure 5: Oakland Athletic’ s Attendance Attendance from 2010 to 2019

Raider’s games. It is an important rule of thumb to remember “After the spectator the next most important person in the stadium is the player or athlete.” (John, Sheaard, & Vickery, 2007)

Figure 6: The Oakland Coliseum

Justin Forsett, a former NFL football player for the Seattle Seahawks, used to play a lot in the Coliseum against the Raiders. He had this to say about the experience playing there:

“If anyone wants to know what it feels like to fall on that dirt in Oakland Coliseum: Go outside right now, sprint as fast as you can in the middle of the street, once you get to full speed jump up as high as you can and belly flop on the pavement.”

The colossus of a ball park did not help the urban development in the surrounding area. Areavibes, an online resource that monitors neighborhoods in the United States based on livability factors, employment, cost of living, crime, schooling, and housing rank the Coliseum neighborhood in Oakland as the 12th most dangerous part of the city with 2,115 crimes per 100,000 people in the year 2020. The crime rates in Oakland strangely coincide with the development of the Coliseum. Towards the end of the 1960s is when crime began to spike in Oakland where the murder rate per capita soared higher than that of New York City and San Francisco. The rise in crime is often accredited to racial

tension that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s between the African American community and the white police force, where police malfeasance was commonly practiced. (Areavibes Inc., 2021).

The future of baseball is however not entirely lost in the city of Oakland, where efforts are being made to construct a new stadium. The world-renowned architect Bjarke Ingels from BIG submitted a design proposal for the new ballpark. What is impressive about this design is the rooftop park that is made as a means to bring fans and the community together, which is accessible not only when there are no sporting events going on, but while they are as well. To grow a larger fandom to the sport this seems like a good idea, but also for the idea that a baseball stadium is a ballpark primarily before a stadium. This idea incorporates the park aspect before that of the stadium and they mesh together nicely (designboom, 2019).

Figure 7: BIG’s Proposal for new Oakland A’s stadium, Figure 8: Minnesota Twins turns baseball field into football field Figure 9: failed recreational approach to orient football pitch on baseball field.

Both of these examples have the same major flaw as Oakland’s Coliseum, they are

oriented on the dirt of the infield. The first example is a strategy that was implemented as a means to play American Football in the existing Target Field, which is home to the Minnesota Twins, a Major League Baseball (MLB is the American professional league, similar to the level of play that of the NBA, FIFA, and the NFL) for a one-time only event. This field altercation was successful in theory for its ability to keep spectators close to the playing field, but is not desirable because of the amount of work that needs to be done in order for the form to work practically. The biggest blunder being that the dirt from the infield of the baseball field (shown on the right side of the image) is in the area of play for the football game.

Longevity Factor

Another problem plaguing stadia today is the average life span of the stadium, which aforementioned is approximately 35 years. Some last longer, while others such as Turner Field, the Major League Baseball stadium in Atlanta, Georgia only lasted 22 years before the Atlanta Braves moved to their new stadium, Truist Park in 2017. In an article

by the USAToday, the question is pondered whether or not 20 years is the new average life span of a stadium. Why is that the case? The article explains that there are complications with land leases that used to average around 30 years, but are now around 20 in the United States which make it easier for the most part for owners to just up and leave to build a new stadium. This problem can lead to an abundance of gentrification issues, where a group of people with money goes and invests a lot of money into an area where most people are not so well off. The result yields in the area becoming a lot more well off in the process which can impoverish the existing tenants even more. Large stadiums add to this affect since they need a lot more space than a small Minor League Baseball stadium (Ortiz & Glier, 2016).

1.5 Why sports?

“Poles are on average spending 40PLN more per year than 4 years ago on sports and leisure” (The First News, 2019)

Even though people are spending more money monthly on sports, overall physical activity is declining in developed nations. London, after hosting the Olympics, the largest sporting event in the world, reports numbers are declining for overall physical activity for the public (Hammond, 2016). The Olympics should be an inspiration for the public to engage in sports activities and live a healthy lifestyle, but they have been proven to do nothing for society in that regard. Society needs motivation to live a healthy lifestyle. Events like the Olympics do not do much for the public except provide entertainment, they do not engage on the “average Joe” who spends free time playing video games, they focus on the best of the best athletes.

Physical activity and sport are two important characteristics along with a healthy diet which helps combat against obesity, and unfortunately, Poland, like the rest of the developed world has an increasing problem with it. From 1997 to 2016 there has been a steady 2.51% annual increase in obesity relevance in Poland. In 1997 the rate was 14.8% but in 2016 it increased to 23.7%. This equates to 1 in every 4.22 persons being obese. (knoema, n.d.)

Figure 10: Obesity growth in Poland in men 18+

One way to get more people to be more physically active is through recreational sports since being physically active can help people lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Consuming a high amount of calories and not exercising help lead to obesity (Bleich, Cutler, Murray, & Adams, 2008). Participating in sports can help balance overall energy consumption. It can reduce appetite and also be a helpful way to burn off additional calories. Can a stadium provide this type of support for normal people? Encouraging sports on all levels, not just professionally can be an answer to this serious design conundrum. It is ironic because the obesity rate is steadily increasing and the same is true for the average amount of money spent on sports and leisure per month.

Figure 11: Average monthly expenditure on sport and Leisure in Poland Figure 12: Percent obesity rate per EU country in 2018

Figure 13: Percent of adults who do not practice sport in Poland

Competition and health:

Recreational sports can also benefit one ’s mental health. A study conducted in Norway concluded that children who partook in sports had overall better mental health than those who did not. The research method examined over 9,000 junior high and high school students and divided them into 3 categories: those who played in competitive sports, those who played in noncompetitive sports, and those who did not partake in sports. The students who competed in competitive sports were shown to be mentally the healthiest of the three groups followed by the students who played noncompetitive sports (Breistøl, Clench, Van Roy, & Kjærsti Raanaas, 2017).

1.6 Baseball in Poland

The main program of the sports recreation facility is primarily designed to be a baseball field for the Warsaw baseball teams. Throughout Poland there are many cities/villages such as Kutno, Działdowo, Wrocław, Rybnik, Osielsko that already have baseball complexes. Łódź and Katowice are in the process of creating their own field as well. In Warsaw, the nation’s capital no such place exists. Both the Warsaw Dragons and Centaury Warszawa play in less than ideal fields that are not meant for baseball. Baseball

is supposed to be played on a dirt diamond shaped field with fresh cut grass, not on an artificial turf designed to be a football pitch. The Warsaw Dragons can vouch for that statement since they play on a hard turf football pitch where balls are frequently hit over the wall separating the field and a parking lot. Automobiles in the parking lot are occasionally hit by these balls and can deal significant damage to the body or to the windows. For children this may be suitable since they are not able to hit the ball as far, but for teens and adults it can hinder the overall experience of play.

Baseball, unlike football is unique since the dimensions of the field are different for almost every field. There are a couple of necessary dimensions that are essential such as the distance and angle between the bases and the distance from the pitching mound to home plate. Everything else is up to the designer to define. There are some basic guidelines of course so play is not altered such as not having trees or shrubbery in the

Figure 14: Warsaw Dragons Existing Field Figure 15: Baseball player watching a pitch being thrown at Dragon’ s field

play boundary, however these are just guidelines. For example, Atlanta Georgia’s first

baseball stadium had a large magnolia tree in play in center field. The tree was so old and magnificent that the owner did not want to remove it. Many years have passed since

the eventual deconstruction of this old stadium and yet the magnolia tree still remains. This detail made the stadium unique, however it was never implemented again because it interferes with play.

Figure 16: Various dimensions of Major League Baseball fields. All having unique outfield perimeter shapes.

Interview with Grzegorz Białas:

Grzegorz Białas is the founder of the Baltycka Liga Baseballu (BLB), a growing baseball league in Poland. He had the idea of creating the league since 2008 while being the technical manager of the Polish National Team at the time. The main focus of the league for him is to raise awareness about the sport and get as many Poles interested in the game as possible. He goes to gymnazium (middle schools) and makes guest appearances in the Physical Education classes in Poland to introduce the game to young students, many of which really enjoy the experience. “People in

Poland are open to new sports and are interested in them.” He is also working closely with the Katowice baseball team since they are making a complex of their own and Białas has a lot of previous experience making baseball fields in Poland (see figure…). His home, Władysławowo, is where he made his first field. At first he

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had to get the mayor’s permission to get 9.5 hectors of land for 25 years and waited a long period of time to get the opportunity to get the field, but once he did he brought the mayor to show him the game of baseball and once there

Białas believes that Warsaw has the possibility to have at least 10 or more baseball clubs in the future, noting the growing popularity in American football that is being played in the city. A baseball stadium in Warsaw he says could be a “cultural meeting

point for American Culture” and jokes further explaining that “McDonald’s, Burger

King, and KFC are all you Americans have”. He further explains that Polish people believe that baseball is “That American Game” even though there are theories that suggest that it may have originated in Poland. It is also important to mention that there are some Polish-Americans who became some of the best baseball players to ever play the game and have their names glorifies forever in the Hall of Fame (Białas,

2021).

Figure 17: Barons Wrocław field constructed in 2017

The initial plan of the project is to not end up with a stadium that acts as a place for spectators to come and just interact with the athletes, but to build a complex where a abundant number of people can come to experience sport and culture. The program adjacent to the proposed stadium ties in that notion through recreational sports which are played at a more amateur level.

Figure 18: Katowice Proposal for baseball complex

PALANT:

Baseball, although considered an American past time can be potentially traced back to Poland. Although this is not proven to be fact, there is speculation that baseball has evolved from “Palant” which is a similar game since it also involves striking a ball with a bat which comes from the Medieval Ages as explained by culture.pl. The theory goes that in the beginning of the 17th century when the first colonists arrived to the New World there were Polish artisans aboard the Mary and Margaret, a ship which made its way to the settlement of Jamestown. Jamestown was the first established settlement in North

America, in the year 1608. It is theorized that during these events the Polish artisans played the first game of baseball within the US. The famous Polish historian, Norman Davies wrote about this phenomenon within his book “God’s Playground” which goes

over 1000 years of Polish history, so there may be some merit to the claims however it is uncertain whether this is the main inspiration for the game of baseball.

Palant is a sport used with a stick and a rubber ball. The ball is stricken with the wooden bat which is 60-88cm long. The two teams are set between either “heaven” or “hell”

respectively for the duration of the match. The team that is in heaven tries to remain in heaven and finish the race to score points. Points can also be scored by those in hell who catch the ball in mid-air. The field dimension size is a rectangle (25m x 60m) and is played from 5 to 15 players depending on the rules. Rules such as how points are scored and how long the game is played may vary too depending on where and how the game is played.

Palant and baseball undoubtedly share a lot of similar characteristics such as striking the ball with a wooden bat, running to bases in order to score points, catching the ball in order to stop the opponent, and having a limited number of tries swinging the bat in order to advance. Palant’s rules are vaguely similar to that of baseball however they are

not so cut and dry as that of baseball since the details vary depending on where and who is playing (Kępa, 2019).

Figure 19: Palant poster Figure 20: Evolution of Baseball

Figure 20 may appear comical at first but it has roots in truth. Throughout human evolution man had to make sure that his skills were sharp. Darwinian theory implies the survival of the fittest, the weak will be left behind. Throughout the evolution of man, man had the innate ability to craft and use tools to his advantage. This can be traced back to that of even chimps who can use stones as hammers or even throw them. Over time the tools may have changed, such as Neanderthals wielding clubs and then spears to the modern man who can use firearms to disengage a threat, but the inherent evolution of play comes from a place of survival.

“Sport is a primal instinct” Grzegorz Bialas explains during an interview.

Baseball and Culture:

As already stated, there are countless theories on the inspiration on where the game originally was inspired by, however it is noted to have been invented by Abner Doubleday in 1839. This makes it the oldest professional sport created in the United States. Baseball throughout the past 180 years has been a pioneer for culture in the United States. Through times such as the civil rights movement baseball was right at the forefront of social justice and culture. Before the civil rights movement in the United States in the 1960s baseball was breaking the color barrier. Jackie Robinson, broke out into the major leagues to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 and became the fundamental hero for change in major league baseball. Although he was not the first African American to play baseball, he became the face for change which led to other baseball players from the Negro Leagues to come play in Major League Baseball. Since then baseball became a sport for anyone to play in.

Before Jackie Robinson’s breakout into the big leagues, during World War II many famous professional baseball players hung up their cleats and took up rifles. Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musiał, Hank Greenberg, and many other famous baseball

superstars gave up their lives as a super star athlete and helped the military out during World War II. The people back in the United States needed baseball more than ever to get through the hard times of war, but Major League Baseball was not prospering because of the war.

“A League of Their Own” Starring Tom Hanks, a historical fiction tale is about how the All-American Girls Pro Baseball League (AAGPL) emerged as a solution to this problem. While the men from major league baseball went to war, women were given a chance to play America’s past time professionally. In 1943 the AAGPL emerged in the US and with it a push for progress in the world of women’s sports. Unfortunately, the league only lasted until 1954, but it was still a push in the correct direction for female athletes.

Many Poles on the street might even wear a famous baseball team’s hat without even

understanding the context. The infamous New York Yankees cap is a staple worldwide and can be found worn almost anywhere in the world with its infamous intersecting NY logo.

Basic rules for understanding baseball:

“The object of baseball is to score more runs than your opponent. The idea is to hit the ball thrown at you as far as you can before running around 4 bases to complete a run. Once a player manages to get around the four bases before being tagged out, then another batter steps in.”

(Rules of Sport, n.d.)

Social Integration via Sports:

A study was conducted in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 2004 to determine how adaptable Polish and Korean immigrants were through recreational sport. In other words, how the immigrants were able to adapt into American society via recreational sports

The study suggests that Polish immigrants were not susceptible to partake in sport based on cultural upbringing that favors an improved professional status over exercise. However, after immigrating to the United States, they were more likely than not to partake in sport for a duration of time. The study’s conclusion is that Polish immigrants who

partook in recreational sports had either an easier time becoming a part of the subculture they were assimilating into or they found similar people who helped strengthen their ethnic identity.

Football in France is also an interesting place to look at when it comes to social integration from sport. The men’s team won the 2018 FIFA World Cup over Croatia. The team showed the world what a diverse group of people can do together. Out of the 23 players on the squad 19 were immigrants or the children of immigrants. 7 players come from a Muslim background while 15 have ties to Africa through their ancestry.

The topic of immigration in France is a controversial one with many opponents and supporters alike. Regardless of one’s political beliefs on immigration the country of France

was able to come together to celebrate that they were champions of the world (News 18, 2018). This is the power that sport has on people. Political differences, racial differences, and economic differences can be cast aside when it comes to being a part of the team. It goes back to the idea that man is competitive yet also cooperative.

Figure 21: 2018 French men’s FIFA world championship team