HISTORY OF VOLKSSPORTING
In the 1960's, in Germany, ordinary people were being prevented from having healthful outdoors family fun -- so many competitive sporting events were using up all the public park and recreation areas. So they started organizing non-competitive sporting events - "volkssports," which means "people's sports." Everyone who finished was considered a winner, no matter how long it took to finish. Awards were made available for a nominal fee, and record-keeping developed so that participants could track their individual achievements, both in distances covered and the number of events completed.
Volkssporting includes cross-country skiing, biking, and swiming, but by far the most popular is the walk, "volksmarch" (people's walk), or as we call it in the U.S., "volkswalk."
Germany-stationed American GI's and their families were drawn to volkssports, and brought them home to the U.S. Volkssporting is an international-recognized activity. The International Volkssport Verband (IVV) is the parent organization. The U.S. member of the IVV is the American Volkssport Association (AVA), headquartered in Universal City, Texas. These two entities "sanction" the walks we host.
The Asheville Amblers (AVA-46) were chartered in 1980 as the Western Carolina Walking Club. It was the first club in North Carolina (NC-01). There are now several NC clubs operating cooperatively under the unbrella of the Tarheel State Walkers Volkssport Association (TSWVA). In 1980, there were only 45 other clubs in the U.S. There are now over 400. In 1995, the club was re-chartered with its current name.
