Sport activity in the Lithuanian Riflemen‘s Union (1919-1940)

Riflemen‘s Union was a paramilitary Lithuanian organization that existed during interwar period. Since the beginning it was closely tied with physical activities and did not lose this aspect until the disbandment of the organization in 1940. Riflemen‘s union was not the only organization in Lithuania at the time that engaged in sports but it was the only one that remained consistent. The organization tried to create an understanding of what sport is and how physical activities can be used to improve someone‘s health, life-style and behaviour. Riflemen‘s union was inspired by other organizations in Europe, like, the Sokol movement in Czechoslowakia or Suojeluskunta in Finland. In both of these organizations, sport and physical activies were utilized to improve the welfware and demeanor of their nations. However, the incorporation of sports in the lives of the people of Lithuania was especially difficult. Mainly because people did not particularly like sports nor understood the necessity of it. Sports programms were supported by the government in the rest of the Europe and US, and yet in Lithuania athletes had to look after themselves since Lithuanian authorities were not willing to contribute financially. So, athletes and sports organizations suffered from the lack of funding, football pitches and basketball courts were non-existent or poorly equipped. For a long time there weren‘t any sport instructors who would be qualified enough to train others. Riflemen‘s Union was made mainly of farmers who had no interest in sports considering the fact that they already did plenty of physical work in the fields. The same goes for workers in factories. So in their eyes, sports were deemed useless and a waste of their time. For a long time women‘s participation in physical activities was also considered unacceptable. The ideologists of Riflemen‘s Union were fighting againt stereotypes and underfunding for so long, that by the time majority of the members of Riflemen‘s Union were ready to join in, it was already too late, considering the fact that in 1940 Lithuania lost its independence. Physical activities in the organization were also used in order to prepare the members for the upcoming war that was already looming above Europe. Due to sports, the participants were given an opportunity to become stronger, faster, to learn how to shoot with a gun, to swim and to ski. Sports were also used to improve their health and ridden the members of the organization from any possible flaws. It was also used to embrace the feeling of unity – through sports the athletes had to become one. In order to achieve the goals the organization had set for themselves, Riflemen‘s Union had chosen to cultivate sports such as athletics, collective rhytmic exercises, shooting, equastrian and water sports, winter sports and team games such as basketball, voleyball, etc. Most of the attention was given to those sports that could have brought the most benefits in ideological and practical terms – to train them physically and to educate them in a spiritual sense