The Spread of Street Basketball in Russia

The article presents a brief history of the spread of street basketball in Russia. It is shown that the popularity of street basketball is growing every year and unites more and more people in Russia, especially in large cities of the country, such as Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, etc. The <i>purpose </i>of this study is to briefly study the history of the origin of streetball in Russia, and to show the spread of street basketball in the country. <i>Methods: </i>In my study, I used questionnaires and interviews that took place in an anonymous form among schoolchildren from different cities of Russia. In a total sample of 186 schoolchildren (Moscow: n=73, 17 girls, 53 boys; age 14.8+0.4 years; Rostov-on-Don: n=62, 21 girls, 41 boys; age 14.1+0.3 years and Gorno-Altaisk: n=51, 12 girls, 39 boys; age 14.3+0.2 years) I conducted a survey of schoolchildren, which touched upon the topics of direct participation of schoolchildren in streetball, the interest of schoolchildren in the development of streetball at school, the impact of the game on health, well-being and the level of aggressiveness. <i>Result. </i>The survey showed that schoolchildren in large cities of Russia are more interested in the spread and development of basketball than their peers in regional cities and towns. However, despite this, streetball is becoming more and more popular in the country every year. <i>Conclusion: </i>Thus, streetball has turned from a simple street game into a giant sports industry in Russia. Sports organizations have been established in Russia (the Street Basketball Association and the Russian Basketball Federation), which actively organize annual championships in the country. Moreover, street basketball is now being actively introduced into the system of physical culture of school education in Russia. However, streetball has a different development on the territory of Russia. In large cities, it has received great development. In small towns and villages, streetball is less developed. At the same time, the popularity of street basketball in Russia is growing and is explained by its accessibility to all segments of the population, entertainment and simple rules of the game.