In “The Early Evolution of Modern Sport in Latin America” and “The Triangle of Empire: Sport, Religion, and Imperialism in Puerto Rico’s YMCA, 1898–1926,” they both discuss the concept of European influence in Latin America mainly having to do with sports. “The Early Evolution of Modern Sport in Latin America,” dealt with more of the side of the introduction of organized sport to the Latin American countries. I knew about some of this before I read and it was interesting to learn more about the specific sports that came into play. It was interesting to learn more about soccer being introduced to Argentina and how it started to become a place where British ideals would be a trend that would start throughout the country through the schools and sports.
Something that was new to me came from “The Triangle of Empire: Sport, Religion, and Imperialism in Puerto Rico’s YMCA, 1898–1926,” where it emphasized the missionary aspect behind the YMCA going to different countries to spread protestant ideas with its main focus being on the effect it Puerto Rico. This idea of muscular Christianity is a new concept to me and I was interested in seeing how the Roman Catholic Church was so against the YMCA because of the ideals it was spreading through physical fitness and sports. Also seeing as some saw this spread of evangelical ideals by the United States was a bad thing considering they were the ones who took Puerto Rico from Spain.
This tension between Catholic Ideals and Protestants is not something new to me but what is new is the effect that it had on the growth of sports in the Latin American nations. Things like Catholics not wanting to have sports on Sundays were a hard-press point that they were not willing to budge on. Also seeing as the YMCA was having to compromise to keep itself alive in these nations is something that I did not know about until I read this passage.
Overall, noticing how Europeans and the United States would influence religion and cultural identity is interesting to see in both of these writings. Muscular Christianity is a newer term to me but now that I have learned more about it I can see how it can play a big role in these countries and how they build their cultural identity.
