February’s last Saturday was overflowing with basketball competitions throughout the area. From elementary school through the collegiate level, various teams were participating in meaningful games and tournaments. From our spot on the sidelines of a seventh-grade tournament, our task was devising a plan to stop the Shamokin point guard’s penetration of our defense.
Hours later, while grabbing a sandwich in front of the TV, I was instantly struck with the inconsequential importance of that day’s basketball game undertaking while watching the utter bravery of the Ukrainian people’s determination to confront the penetration of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of their homeland. My thoughts turned to what our young people deemed important on this day compared to what that Saturday in Ukraine must have been like.
Sports are a very big thing in our country. They are enjoyed by the participants and their families, friends, and fans who support them and cheer them on. My mind was filled with thoughts of what sports are like in Ukraine and how folks there are dodging bullets and missiles instead of trying to stop three-point shots and baseline drives.
Separated by 4,889 miles, the Atlantic Ocean and Western Europe, most Pennsylvanians know little about Ukraine. For the record, Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until the USSR’s collapse in 1991, when it became an independent country. Like so many countries around the world, Ukraine is a sports-loving nation. Ironically, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the country was left with hundreds of stadiums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and other athletic facilities which have been widely used, including by the various Olympic sports the country sponsors.
Just days before Russia’s invasion, president Putin smugly sat in the stands at the Olympic Games where peaceful athletic competition took place, knowing that he soon would be sending his troops on its hideous mission of destruction. Days after the games’ conclusion, Russia’s thirst for territorial takeover commenced. The world’s largest geographical country with the 9th largest population of 146 million thrust itself into Ukraine, a country of 43 million raking 35th in world population.
While not having a high school sports structure like here in the States, football (soccer to us) is the country’s most popular sport. It has organized competitions throughout the country among men, women, youth, and for the disabled. Inherited from the Soviet Union, the country has two professional football leagues, the Ukrainian Premier League and the Professional Football League of Ukraine. Its seasons end with teams competing for the Ukrainian Cup.
Basketball is a major sport in Ukraine. Ukrainian players were among the decisive factors for the success of the USSR national basketball team, which dominated Europe for decades and participated in the Olympic Games. The sport has gained popularity, and teams from the Ukrainian Basketball League are frequent competitors in the Eurocup basketball championships.
Boxing has brought the country worldwide acclaim, including producing Olympic gold medalist Vasyl Lomachenko in 2008 and 2012. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest amateur boxers of all time after compiling a record of 396-1.
Ice hockey, wrestling, bowling, rugby, cricket, track & field, and gymnastics are also among the various sports enjoyed by the Ukrainian populous.
In recent years cricket has grown in popularity among the county’s school-age children. Across the country, the sport is being incorporated into the school physical education curriculums. The Russian evasion has cast growing concern as to the sport’s future, according to Kobus Olivier, a leading cricket proponent in the country.
“I’m not sure if our cricket oval will survive the bombing. It is a beautiful new facility in the City of Kharkiv with pavilions and indoor nets to be set up. That was going to be our cricket headquarters…but I’m not sure now what is going to happen.”
Throughout the history of armed conflict around the world, sports have been a traveling companion of combatants. During our nation’s Civil War and involvement in World Wars I & II, somehow, there was always time for sports to be there. Unlike those times, modern communication technology brings today’s conflicts into our homes as they unfold. Fearfully, there may be too many among us that don’t differentiate between the ongoing strive in Ukraine and the latest video game on the market.
I come from a military family. My father served, I served, my son is serving, and a grandson will soon be enlisting in the Air Force. I have enjoyed sports all my life, played them, written about them, and broadcast them, but confrontation on the playing field and what is happening in Ukraine is not the same. The next time you hear an athlete or reporter using such terms as “it was war out there, we won the battle, or he is someone I’d want to be in a foxhole with,” please understand they don’t know what they are talking about.
May common sense and decency soon prevail to allow the Ukrainian people to enjoy their sports unencumbered.
