Blog By: Andres Rodriguez 11A

Basketball as a worldwide phenomenon

Sports are a vital part of a child’s development and it’s something almost every kid makes part of. Sports teams make a huge impact on young people lives, since they learn how to share, be tolerant and how to work as a team. One of the many sports practiced all over the word is basketball, a sport that requires speed, strength, technique and most important teamwork.
Even though the best player of a certain sport can be born anywhere around the world, it is almost sure he is going to play with the best teams and it is probable that this “great” player was born where this great teams play. ¿why does this happen?. This is because the best teams playing basketball are often in countries that support sports completely and that is why the best player and the best teams are formed there. Referring to basketball in specific, the best national teams are the American team, the Spanish team and the Russian team. These countries have very similar characteristics regarding their attitude towards sports in general and I am sure that they support basketball practice at all young ages for their kids to remain at a high level a keep on representing their countries and making the top spots on international tournaments.
The United States of America has been always a country that supports basketball fully. Basketball is almost a national sport for them, you can go to all the big cities of EEUU and in every neighborhood there’s a basketball court, and if you are lucky you can watch some team playing. If you are lucky to catch a team playing, that team can be of little six year old kids or mature men or women practicing after work. Basketball for them is part of their culture and with enormous support from the state and schools or colleges; they have achieved the international national basketball championship 4 times. The Russian federation is also a very supportive country in terms of sports and they have had very good players and very good national teams. Thanks to this they have achieved the international basketball championship 3 times. And Spain is a country that recently joined the powerful category of basketball national teams. In this past years the Spanish sports association has given full support to young sportsmen and they have given them spaces to become the best at what they do. Thanks to this they achieved the basketball world cup in 2006.
But with no doubt the basketball level of a country is not often measured by their national team. The best way to do this is to watch the national league competition, which for Americans is the NBA and for Spanish and Russians is the Euro league.
Many people when they are asked about the better basketball league in the world they would answer with three letters, NBA!. This league is widely considered the most competitive league through the world and this is because the way it is formed. In other like soccer, which is widely common in Europe, players begin their carrier in a secondary or even a tertiary national league. And as they get better the can be transferred to the top national league or get the team transferred to the top league by winning the secondary league. On the other hand, American basketball league is made by the best players from the NCAA league. For those who do not understand, this league is the college and university league. This method has various advantages like making players get a college degree and as there a many universities in the EEUU, it is a very competitive league and the level of basketball is really high. Thanks to this the NBA gets really good players from the regular American people. Achieving quality in the young players is a very complicated task since government should give education and at the same time support towards sports; and the EEUU achieves this making a very competitive high school league and getting the best players of the country in colleges by sport scholarships. This complete process shows how the American society and government is fully committed towards sports, in this case basketball.
If you keep looking for quality basketball leagues, you would have to cross the Atlantic Ocean and reach Europe. Each country has its own competition but the best level of basketball is achieved in the Euro league, where the best teams in Europe met to compete and get the Europe’s league championship. The singular thing about this league is also the support it gets from the government. But the subject to analyze is the Euro league, the government which supports this whole competition is the European Union. This is not a national state, but a regional state and as it is confirmed by many nations their basketball league is also made up by the top teams. As this regional state supports competition through all Europe it achieves a great level of basketball. This is another way of seeing how non sport congregations like governments have a great influence on the sportive quality of players who live in that territory.
Thanks to all this ideas exposed above the greatest players in history of basketball were born, or at least played and trained in the most supportive countries. But if we are to talk about great basketball players, the most know through the entire world are the legendary basketball players who played on the NBA.
If you talk about legends that played in the NBA you have to talk about these three guys, three incredible players who have played on the NBA throughout its history; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Michael Jordan.
Abdul-Jabbar was born in Harlem New York. He entered the NBA in 1969 as a first pick for the first draft. He played in the Milwaukee Bucks and in Los Angeles Lakers. In his career he achieved six NBA Titles, six Most Valuable Player award and 10 times the all-star team. He is the top scorer for the NBA of all times. He was accepted in the hall of fame in 2007.
Bill Russell is also a legend in the NBA. He was born in Louisiana and drafted in the NBA in 1956 by the St. Louis Hawks. He was five times MVP, eleven times NBA title winner and 12 times all star. He is also known for winning a gold medal for the United States in 1956. He is second in all time rebounds and was elected for the hall of fame in 1975.
And maybe the most known basketball player of the twentieth century is definitely Michael Jordan. He was born in New York in 1963 and entered the NBA in 1984 in the third spot of the first draft for the Chicago Bulls; the team who saw him rise. He achieved Rookie of the year in 1985, best defensive player of 1988, six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, five MVP awards and 14 times all star. He is third in all time scorers, second in steals and member of the hall of fame since 2009. He leaded the American dream team to achieve 2 gold medals in 1984 and in 1992. For many people he is considered the Sportsman of the century.

It is not coincidence that these awesome players were born in the USA. Definitely for some to be a legend at basketball they have to be born in a country that supports the sport. If fit this criteria, you have an open door for success.