The day was established in 2023 by the United Nations and is observed annually on December 21, the date Dr. James Naismith first introduced the game of basketball at the Springfield YMCA in 1891.

December 21st, 1891, Dr. James Naismith first introduced the game of basketball to his students at the YMCA International Training Academy in Springfield, and from that point forward basketball ...

First among these pioneers, it suggests, should be Smith gymnastics instructor Senda Berenson, "the matriarch of women's basketball," who in 1892, "less than a year after Dr. James A. Naismith ...

Jansen, who wrote the afterword for the biography “The Basketball Man: James Naismith,” by Bernice ... need for an indoor winter sport. The first game was played on Dec. 21, 1891.

(WGGB/WSHM) - A part of World Basketball Day was a very special bench dedication at Mason Square, that site was chosen in particular as it commemorates the first-ever basketball game played-- ever.