We have basketball courts and baseball fields at all our old stake centers. Why?

Growing up in the church since 1988, my stake used them for get togethers, powwows, and meals. Anyone was free to gather friends and play on certain evenings, but there is no longer any organized or competitive recreation in the church.

When did this stop? Why? Did they not understand that empty gyms that are hardly ever used except for overflow are pretty weird?

I feel like for 15% of my income I ought to be able to get some of these country club perks back. What's the story here?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2015 11:19PM by Cold-Dodger.

PROFANITY!!


Because some of the really good mormons were such hyper-competitive assholes that they made it absolutely no fun for anyone to play! I mean you had counselors in bishoprics screaming profanity (including fuck and even the occasional god-damn-it) at the "referees" if there was a call they didn't like. I mean Holy Shit, for some of those over-the-top dorks, the game between the 6th ward elders and the 9th ward elders was the NBA Finals and their contract for next year was on the line.

Damn tootin!

Members were playing for glory in the ck.

I was told to stop playing the wrong sport (football).

My brother and I were just talking about this over the weekend about how growing up the church was very much about "community and socializing". Now, everything is rush, rush and don't spend any money.

Roadshows, huge dances, Friday family movie nights with popcorn and homemade root beer, basketball tournaments, baseball/softball tournaments, participating in community activities. All of this disappeared when they equalized budgets and funneled all the PROFITS to SLC.

Every question about LDS can be answered with one of two answers.

A. To cover up a scandal or lie.
B. To make/or save more money.

Our bishop back in the day did away with everything except the Christmas pageant. Said all the activities took away from people's callings and VT/HT. Miserable prick, that guy was.

You poor youngsters. When I was growing up in the church, (1950s)we had a church basketball team. We competed in the city league against other local churches. We had Road Shows where we would compete in plays against other wards and branches in the stake. We had swimming parties for mutual nights. We had dances, we actually used the cultural hall for culture. It all changed in one word:Correlation.

We even had motion pictures every month at our church.

The kitchens were functional and used.

People also rented the hall out for family gatherings.

OMG, we had movie night too!

Not every month, but pretty regularly.

Had forgotten completely about that.

Is anyone here besides me old enough to remember the Relief Society Bazaars?

lovechild Wrote:
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> Is anyone here besides me old enough to remember
> the Relief Society Bazaars?


*raises hand*

((raises hand also))

My mom was a Relief Society president for a couple of those. Wow, were they epic!

We had Gold and Green Balls and Roadshows, Relief Society activity nights that were all about doing crafts and having a meal together, as well as sports. Fun times.

I don't know how the GA's no longer think that having a social activity is unnecessary for the humans they are supposed to be caring for.

sherriebaby49 Wrote:
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> We had Gold and Green Balls...

...mine were usually Blue :)

The attitude of church leaders became that church was for learning about the gospel and Mormon doctrine and not for socializing. Under Correlation, every activity is supposed to have a gospel purpose. Also, money that used to go to ward budgets has been drained away and sent to Salt Lake City. Plus, the church has been overly concerned about liability issues.

It's a shame because all of the activities contributed to a sense of community. An active social schedule was one of the strengths of the Mormon church.

Slow pitch and basketball, all leading up to the All Church Championships in SLC. My Dad took a men's basketball team to SLC for the championship tournament in the early 60's.

RB

But if you were in charge of producing the road shows, or in charge of the craft nights, or supervising the teenagers, it became a part time job. It was great if you were on the receiving end, but if you were responsible for making it all happen, that was a different story.

I was just scanning down the page to see if anyone brought this up. It must have been an AWFUL lot of work, especially when women started entering the work world in greater numbers.

BUT, I think those kinds of decisions could be made on a STAKE level and Ward level, based on the interests and abilities of the people there.

I was an active member when the church decided it was not a social club. No doubt, the big wigs in SLC are hoping the younger generation doesn't here about the fun times of yore. Church not being fun and no fun activities will be the new norm, and any person telling of fun activities when they were young can be written off as senile.

Liabilities. Which is funny. Because that is the same reason I was told I couldn't serve a mission. I was a liability.

You would think that among all the old guys who miss the 1950's and 1960's, more than one of them would miss all-church softball and/or basketball and want it back.

But I remember when there was a lot of talk about having to concentrate on "saving the dead" and the "principles of the Gospel" rather than have social activities. That could not have been the reason, of course. The reason would have to be money-driven. It's always money-driven.

I'm sorry. The phrase was "redeeming the dead," not "saving the dead." It became a catch phrase for quite a long time.

A friend of mine asks me why people bother with the Mormon Church. Most churches are the social center of their congregants' lives. They offer daycare, Summer Bible Camp, have picnics and potlucks, have choirs that compete, etc. Some people actually enjoy their churches.

He doesn't understand why the LDS Church doesn't try to imitate this model and make church activity appealing. Many members take LDS Church membership as a burden. They resent Exmos for shirking the burden. The only reason they keep doing their duty is because they fear missing out on the eternal blessings.

If you don't believe that the LDS Church is the only path to God, why would you ever bother with its high demands and low rewards? Other churches offer so much more at such a lower tax of your time and finances.

I left in the early 90's but fondly remember church basketball and volleyball. Growing up Mormon was a nightmare but I did enjoy that part of it. Seminary....totally different story.

MONEY

MONEY

MONEY

MIND CONTROL

MIND CONTROL

MIND CONTROL

So do they not do any extracurricular activities anymore? Not even ward basketball? I remember when they stopped playing softball.
Do they not do the Gold and Green balls anymore? Any youth dances?

Pasadena stake center used to have giant baseball fields. That was bsck in the old days the 70s. Many a broken windshield from those homers and foul balls.

Too much cussing on the basketball court! Had to assign one of the men to be a cussing referee!~
Then the money involved in all the activities. Got to be too crazy.
Then there were the working parents and teenager which left no time for extra church stuff.

so are mormon wardhouses still built with basketball courts ?

Yes. They still have basketball courts in them.

They are cultural halls. The only culture seems to be a hardcourt with hoops and painted lines, and a stage, but that's what they are called.

At least they started moving up the hoops so you didn't have to decorate them for your wedding receptions.

I was an Athletic Director (AD) in a very large mid-west state. Our stake had 10 units, including a large mixed-poly ward. Over the years our poly members used the basket ball and soft ball stake men's events as an excuse to pummel and beat up everyone. For instance, in one event, a BB ref called a foul on a big Samoan guy, only to have the Samoan cold cock him in the face, breaking the ref's jaw. In the last Stake Tourney that I organized, mayhem broke out on the court between to rival wards. White EQ presidencies are the mouthiest lil' bastards you'll ever see. Mormons love their sports - their just poor sports. Case en point, the YBU game last year against Memphis.

The fields and courts are now empty because mo'ism has lost it's balls.