The Amish and Sports

photo:  Rob Ward Richard Stevick, author of Growing up Amish:  The Teenage Years, describes eck balle, or cornerball, as ‘the plain peoples’ equivalent of NCAA March Madness.’ From Growing up Amish: ‘Until the 1950s, cornerball flourished among most of the Pennsylvania Dutch communities, both plain and fancy.  Although the “fancy” or “church Dutch” eventually abandoned […]

Continue Reading ‘Eck balle’: disappearing sport of the Pennsylvania Dutch

Once church lets out around noon, the Youngie hit the streets. Some do hang around for the post-service meal, but a number get going right off the bat. Between the hours of 1 to 3 especially, you notice a lot of open buggies, ones with ‘un-Amish’ decals and quite a few sporting excessive ‘reflectorization’. This […]

Continue Reading Cruising with the Youngie

Here on the Euro side of the pond, the quadrennial European Football Championships are scrapping along nicely, with the continent in a frenzy for the sport that we Yanks most readily connect with Pele, Maradona and now the flamboyant Mr. David Beckham. Back home, looks like the NBA has been having a nice series.  I’m […]

Continue Reading A survey of the Amish and sports

Amish Volleyball Tournament, originally uploaded by teacherholly. Amish also enjoy competitive team sports. This photo, taken by Holly in Mount Hope, Ohio, illustrates one of the most popular. Amish typically play sports as children and as members of the youth. On marriage and having kids, participation in sports tends to drop off markedly. It’s also […]

Continue Reading The sporting Amishman, part 2

A quick diversion from the middle of a pile of Lancaster posts (I’ve left Abe’s and am currently en route to Poland, but managed to file a few away while on the farm)… Eric shares an interesting photo of a Wisconsin Amish teenage fisherman. The two boys Eric spoke with were out all day on […]

Continue Reading The sporting Amishman

A little piece of an interview with an Ohio Old Order Amish friend, ‘Leon’, speaking back in September of sports, cars and other matters adolescent: ‘When we first started we were 18-and-under’  Leon explains, talking about his softball team, ‘and we won the state of Ohio tournament, went down to Texas, and won the world […]

Continue Reading Softball, airplanes, world championships: the exciting lives of pre-baptism Amish

The cold weather is starting to kick my tail here in Krakow, Poland.  Some people say November is the worst month–the shortest days (dark at 3:30!), messiest nastiest weather–rainy/icy/snowy mix, and just knowing it ain’t letting up anytime soon. Arrgh. In honor of November and bad weather (and, alas, on account of being a bit […]

Continue Reading The cruelest season

Being a well-known non-resistant group, people sometimes wonder if the Amish use guns for hunting. John at the Spokesrider has posted a few questions on this topic, which I’ve been meaning to get to for a while (thanks John!). I remember while in the Arthur, Illinois settlement a few years ago being surprised to learn […]

Continue Reading The Amish and hunting with guns

Taxes, puppy mills, cream-cheese muffins–I just looked down the list of posts for the last couple weeks and realized that the Amish have been the subject of a good bit of controversy recently. Most of it fairly tame. But this one made me do a double-take. Apparently tempers got hot at the championship game of […]

Continue Reading Amish in the penalty box

Amish people often ask a lot of questions when you tell them you have visited places overseas. I’ve spent a good bit of time explaining to inquisitive Amish folks how people live in Poland, or what it’s like to climb Mt. Sinai. By the nature of Amish life, Amish mobility is typically more restricted, and […]

Continue Reading The Amish on vacation