Between Physical and Patriotic Education: the Activities of «Sich» and «Plast» Organizations in the Territories of Galicia and Bukovina at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Abstract

Topicality. In the current conditions of war and the crisis of physical activity among young people, the issue of physical and patriotic education acquires special importance. The experience of the organizations «Sich» and «Plast» is a relevant example of the integration of physical education with the formation of national consciousness and civic responsibility. The Purpose and Methods. To substantiate the affiliation of the «Sich» and «Plast» societies to physical education organizations by analyzing their goals and the content of physical education practice. To achieve this goal, the analysis and generalization of scientific literature, as well as the comparative-historical method, were used. Results of Work and Main Conclusions. The article analyzes the physical education activities of the «Sich» and «Plast» societies. The «Sich» society emerged as a gymnastic and fire organization with a complex system of tasks: ensuring fire safety, popularizing physical education, carrying out cultural and educational work, and later military training. In their practice, the Sich members actively used gymnastic exercises based on «Sokol» traditions, outdoor games, shooting, horseback riding, swimming, and tourist trips. An important element of the activity was mass performances, which had not only physical education, but also symbolic significance in the formation of national identity. The Plast movement was presented as a Ukrainian model of the world scout movement and aimed at the harmonious education of physically and spiritually developed youth. The founders of Plast proposed their own approaches to education, focused on the humanistic, natural-tourism, and military-sports directions. The Plast system included camping, hiking, physical exercises, sports games, and military training. In scientific discourse, both movements are considered multifunctional national-educational structures that combined physical-sports, patriotic, cultural-educational, and military components. In the broader European context, the activities of these societies correspond to the pan-European trend: the integration of physical culture into national-educational processes. The Sich Gymnastics and Fire Society and the Ukrainian Plast movement had a common goal – the comprehensive development of children and youth through physical education, but the content of their activities differed.