Hellenic Basketball Federation celebrates the first-ever World Basketball Day together with UNICEF

ATHENS (Greece) - On 21 December, the Hellenic Basketball Federation joined the rest of the world in uniquely celebrating the 2023 inaugural World Basketball Day.

Made official by the United Nations (UN) as of 2023, 21 of December is set as the new official annual date for World Basketball celebrations globally. A significant recognition of the basketball movement by the UN.

The Hellenic Basketball Federation (HBF) celebrated the first-ever World Basketball Day together with UNICEF at the Centre for Special Needs "HARA". CSN HARA is a non-profit organization that offers hospitality to people with difficulties in mental and motor skills ability. The residents of the center had the opportunity to develop and enrich their skills and creativity, by participating daily in activities that strive for dignity and equality. HARA currently houses 57 people, aged 15 to 75 years old who have an IQ of 30 or less, as well as special needs such as autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and mental retardation.

 

A special team of special educators, trainers, and psychologists came together to create a program that offered the residents a chance to celebrate the day through interaction and to strengthen their self-confidence. A series of sporting and non-sporting activities were part of the program which were done together with professional basketball players such as Dimitris Diamantidis and Evina Maltsi whom the locals got to interact with. Another highlight was the opportunity for the residents to paint a basketball court with even more basketball stars on the day; Mariella Fasoula and Kostas Tsartsaris.

HBF President and FIBA Foundation board member, Mr. Evangelos Liolios, was also present at the celebrations and took the liberty to shed more light on the basketball interventions that HBF developed for the internal and external premises of the Centre. Along with him was HBF General Director, Mr. Ntinos Sverkounos, who shared information on the full sports equipment provided by the federation to the Centre. Through these initiatives, the Centre is effectively capacitated to systematically integrate basketball into the daily strengthening and training activities of the HARA’s residents. An ode to using Basketball For Good by focusing on the social development of the HARA residents and not so much the competitive nature of the sport alone.

Dr. Ghassan Khalil, the diplomatic representative of UNICEF Greece, took part in all the activities and pointed out the importance of the UΝ’s World Basketball Day ratification. He also highlighted how such a venture creates opportunities to promote human and children’s rights through basketball. Representing the HARA team was Ms. Alexandra Palli, a member of the HARA’s board of directors and member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. She strongly thanked Mr. Liolios for the decision to celebrate the first-ever World Basketball Day at HARA, which helped emphasize even more so how basketball is one of the most effective platforms for inclusion within Greece.

FIBA had a vast set of activities taking place simultaneously to commemorate the day. These included a special event at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball for dignitaries from the various UN entities and Partner organizations in Geneva, as well as guests from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), and representatives from the YMCA. 

With this year’s photo contest theme fittingly being “Basketball For Good”, the FIBA Foundation also used the day to launch its annual photo contest.

All in all, a memorable day of global celebrations came to a conclusive end as the Foundation looks forward to seeing the celebrations not only promote the sport in terms of history and competition but also emphasize the power basketball has to bring forth social and developmental change using initiatives such as those practiced by the Hellenic Federation just to name a few.

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The FIBA Foundation is the social and legacy arm of FIBA that addresses the role of sports and particularly basketball in society, preserving and promoting basketball’s values and its cultural heritage.

The FIBA Foundation believes that basketball has the power to empower, educate and inspire youth and facilitates this by implementing Basketball For Good projects around the world.

 FIBA