December 21 is World Basketball Day, officially established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/77/324) in August 2023, to promote sport and physical activity in the community.
According to the UN, sport is an important factor in ensuring peace and sustainable development, as it promotes tolerance and respect, promotes the empowerment of all people, regardless of gender, age and physical capabilities, and achieves goals in the field of physical and mental health of the world's population, education and social inclusion. And basketball, in particular, being one of the most common sports in the world, helps not only maintain health and activity for people of all ages, but also unites and helps self-expression.
The day of December 21 was chosen for the holiday in honor of the date when the first basketball game took place (or rather, in its prototype). «The inventor of the game is James Naismith » physical education teacher at the Christian Youth Association training center in Springfield (Massachusetts, USA). It is believed that he came up with the game to keep his students active during the winter months, when regular physical education classes in the gym were the same and boring. Naismith asked the work center to bring two boxes, but they were not in stock. Therefore, instead of them, it was decided to use – peach baskets to practice the accuracy of throws; they were attached to the balcony railing in the gym at a height of 3.05 m.
On December 21, 1891, Naismith published thirteen rules for the new game (by the way, a number of them are still in effect today) and played the first basketball match in history, in which students – two teams of 9 people took part. The game was called «basketball» (English: basket «basket» + ball «ball»), but initially only vaguely resembled a modern sport. Since dribbling did not yet exist then, and the players threw it to each other while standing still, and then tried to throw the ball into the basket with their hands.
Gradually, the popularity of the new team game in the United States began to gain momentum, so the improvement of sports equipment and rules of the game began. First, the bottom of the baskets was removed so that players would not have to stop the game after scoring a point, in 1893 the baskets were replaced with iron rings with a net, a year later the first official rules of basketball were issued, and then the first official competitions in this sport were held. In 1897, basketball teams were limited to 5 players, and the game itself spread to many educational institutions in the United States.
Such popularity led to the creation of the first professional National Basketball League (NBL) in 1898, and the game continued its « progress in Europe, where its national basketball federations began to be actively created in the 1920s. The first international competitions are also organized at the same time. In 1932, the International Federation of Basketball Associations (FIBA/FIBA) was created in Geneva, and the first international rules of the game were adopted. In 1936, basketball entered the Olympic Games program. Regular World Basketball Championships for men began to be held in 1950, for women – since 1953, and women's basketball was included in the Olympic program in 1976.
Today this sport is one of the most popular and widespread in the world. FIBA, the governing body of basketball, estimates that about 450 million people play it. Like many team sports, – basketball is not only an active pastime option, but also an opportunity to communicate live with other people, work in a team, overcoming any barriers, smoothing out conflicts.
Therefore, in proclaiming today's date, the UN once again recommends that stakeholders promote and encourage the use of sport as a means of educating children and youth, including children and youth with disabilities, preventing disease, preventing drug abuse, promoting physical and mental health, well-being and development in society sports culture.
On this day, the UN welcomes initiatives to hold specialized sports days and events held by stakeholders in many countries. These can be basketball workshops, charity matches, exhibition games, and other events that raise awareness of basketball as a game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels.