Road to Chengdu 2021 FISU Games: Basketball continues to grow

It would be fair to say that today basketball is a global game with popularity in multiple countries all over the world.

From professional leagues to youth playing outside on hardtop or dirt, basketball is one of the most played team sports with past estimates from FIBA (International Basketball Federation) that close to 450 million people participate. The sport will be on full display at the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games in July, however it’s from humble beginnings involving peach baskets and the desire for a winter, indoor game, that this sport has grown.

Canadian James Naismith was an instructor at the YMCA International Training School (now Springfield College) in the state of Massachusetts in the United States in 1891. While the summer saw students play games like lacrosse, North American football, and soccer, at the time the winter lacked an indoor game of teamwork and strategy. After others had failed, Naismith was tasked with inventing such a game. Combining elements of the aforementioned sports, Naismith sought two square boxes from the school’s janitor to be used as goals for his new game. When boxes weren’t available, peach baskets were brought in and nailed to each end of the lower balcony of the gymnasium to act as goals, thus bringing to life the name ‘basketball’.

The first game was played on or around December 1, 1891 and was deemed to be overly physical and aggressive. Just one basket was scored in this game and following it, Naismith continued to modify the rules to protect the players. Ultimately he had his original 13 rules of the sport which were published in the YMCA Training School’s campus paper, the Triangle, on January 15, 1892. This helped to quickly propel the popularity of the game. As many of Naismith’s students were Canadian, Canada became the first country outside the US to play it, but that soon spread to France in 1893, England in 1894, as well as Australia, China, and India before the end of the century.

The sport continued to grow into the 1900s and at the first FISU World University Games in Torino in 1959, men’s basketball was on the programme with 15 countries participating and the Soviet Union leaving with the gold medal. Women’s basketball joined the programme two years later in 1961, 15 years before it would make its Olympic debut in 1976 in Montreal. Eight women’s teams took part at those Sofia FISU Games and host Bulgaria claimed its one and only women’s basketball gold medal. Since then, women’s basketball has appeared at all but three FISU Games and men’s basketball has been competed at all but one, back in 1977. The United States have performed incredibly well leading all nations with ten women’s gold medals and 15 men’s gold medals, including six straight between 1989 and 1999.

16 men’s teams and 13 women’s teams will compete in basketball at the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games, from 28 July to 6 August. In the women’s competition, 0710 Basketball 02two-time defending champion Australia will not be back to go for three straight, nor will the United States, winners of four consecutive gold medals prior to Australia. Host China, twice themselves gold medalists, anchor Pool D which also includes Poland, Mexico, and Portugal. Men’s Napoli 2019 FISU Games champion United States will begin defence of their gold medal in Pool C with Japan, Czech Republic, and Poland. The Chinese men will seek their second ever medal (they won bronze in 1993 in Buffalo) and start their tournament in Pool A with 2017 gold medalist Lithuania, Chinese Taipei, and Brazil.

The following references and articles were used in compiling this story:
Here’s the history of basketball—from peach baskets in Springfield to global phenomenon, National Geographic; Where Basketball was Invented: The History of Basketball, Springfield College; Basketball, Encyclopedia Britannica;

Written by Doug McLean