YMCA Sports

While the YMCA missionaries encouraged traditional Korean games, they also introduced the nation to new games such as basketball, volleyball, and baseball. Missionaries believed these games promoted Christian values and built character as well provided exercise and entertainment. Koreans embraced the new sports. According to a report written by an American YMCA worker in 1910, “the enthusiasm and zeal to learn more about Western customs is seen on the base-ball diamond, in basket ball, in foot-ball, and is shown in their lessons.”