How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What’s Possible
In 1891, James Naismith, a Canadian immigrant working as a gym teacher at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, was given the task of developing an indoor physical activity for the winter months that did not involve violent interactions between players. Naismith understood that traditional notions of sports, such as individual possession and rough physical contact, would not be suitable for his purpose. Recognizing the need for a fresh approach, Naismith realized that “attempting to modify existing games would inevitably lead to failure… a new principle was necessary.” (95) Therefore, he formulated the 13 foundational principles that gave birth to basketball—a game that emphasized cooperation, initiative, and the balance of the mind, body, and soul.
Naismith’s creation of basketball was a response to the societal imbalance that manifested during the Gilded Age, a period marked by profound economic disparities, systemic racism, dispossession, corrupt politicians, and hyper-individualism. By envisioning basketball as a “microcosm of social balance” (25) in stark contrast to the conditions of the time, Naismith sought to address the brokenness of the world and offer a microcosmic solution. Basketball emerged as the antithesis to the Gilded Age, promoting the values of shared space, cooperation, and accessibility. Over the past 120 years, it has evolved into a global phenomenon that transcends racial identity, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and geographical boundaries. Basketball stands as a testament to its inclusivity, requiring no barriers to entry.
How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What’s Possible by David Hollander, JD pays homage to the original 13 principles of basketball created by James Naismith. Throughout this book, inspired by Naismith, Hollander devises his own set of 13 principles to highlight the ways in which Naismith’s basketball can offer society a new way to approach “ideas for fairness, problem solving, sustainability, and growth” (xiii). More explicitly, Hollander argues that basketball gives unity and sanctuary to society. Thus, to solve society’s broader issues such as racism, capitalism, gendered disparities, LGBTQ+ discrimination, imperialism, and colonialism, we must consider applying the principles of basketball to create new institutions that eliminate individuality and replace it with interdependent cooperation. In essence, according to Hollander, basketball can save the world.
Hollander’s 13 principles are Cooperation, Balance of Individual and Collective, Balance of Force and Skill, Positionless-ness, Human Alchemy, Make it Global, Gender Inclusive, No Barrier to Access, For the Outsider, Urban and Rural, Antidote to Isolation and Loneliness, Sanctuary, and Transcendence. Although Naismith’s principles are the basic rules of how to play basketball, Hollander uses these principles to create his own 13 principles that speak to Naismith’s rules. Subsequently, he uses these 13 rules he created to point to the ways in which we could apply principles that are inherent to Naismith’s basketball such as inclusion and the need of the collective, to provide a blueprint for addressing societal and deeply systematic issues. Hollander seemingly wants to align basketball with other social sciences, thus he reimagines new principles that are inextricably tied to the game of basketball and how we can think of new ways to create a functioning society. Using basketball as an institution to not only help explain how society operates but how we can operate better by applying a basketball lens to facilitating the creation of new institutions to avoid history repeating itself (as he describes what we have done today re: the Gilded Age).
While Hollander effectively utilizes contemporary popular culture references and emphasizes the cultural influence of basketball to engage readers and support his argument that the sport can offer “new inspiration, new paradigms, [and] new foundational principles,” he falls short in exploring how basketball can be reimagined as a social science. His overly optimistic and somewhat utopian tone overlooks the nuanced nature of the American sporting landscape and society at large.
Hollander uses popular cultural references, NBA and WNBA players, and historical and sociological references, to support his argument. This not only makes it easier for readers to understand his position and argument, he successfully places basketball in conversation with contemporary ideologies about broader society. He finds a way to indicate to researchers and academics that basketball should be in conversation while discussing these broader structural issues our society continues to face. Thus, as demonstrated by Naismith’s first rule, Hollander argues that basketball embodies the principle that is “surrendering the me for we.” (5)
While Hollander effectively utilizes contemporary popular culture references and emphasizes the cultural influence of basketball to engage readers and support his argument that the sport can offer “new inspiration, new paradigms, [and] new foundational principles,” (xiii) he falls short in exploring how basketball can be reimagined as a social science. His overly optimistic and somewhat utopian tone overlooks the nuanced nature of the American sporting landscape and society at large. For instance, he frequently attributes the lack of empathy as the main reason for societal struggles and suggests that applying basketball’s principles of cooperation and shared space can foster empathy among individuals and communities. While this holds some truth, I challenge the notion that empathy alone is the primary solution to global problems. Lack of empathy is a prerequisite for maintaining systems of oppression, so it is crucial to dismantle these systems in order to achieve a truly empathetic society.
Regarding capitalism and other forms of oppression, Hollander often alludes to basketball as a “mirror image” of how society should function but fails to acknowledge that the sporting landscape, within which basketball resides, is its own social institution that perpetuates broader societal issues. The foundation of his book lies in the belief that adopting Naismith’s 13 original rules of basketball as a worldview would better solve humanity’s problems (xi); however, contemporary basketball no longer resembles what James Naismith initially created. Instead, basketball today reflects the conditions Hollander refers to as the “second Gilded Age.” (36) Although Hollander claims that a basketball-inspired society would value everyone in the chain (41), not just capitalists and those who exploit labor, basketball has actually become capitalistic, marked by the exploitation of athletes’ bodies, especially those of Black athletes. Furthermore, due to the disinvestment of community resources and the emphasis on club sports programs, basketball has become increasingly exclusionary based on socioeconomic status.
Lastly, I have reservations about the historical examples Hollander uses to support his argument. He often disregards the histories of colonialism, violence, and dispossession within his examples. For instance, he presents a positive spin on the Land Run of 1889 (32) to illustrate the necessity of individual and collective balance in society. This troubled me because it overlooks the violent experiences indigenous communities in Oklahoma endured and continue to face today. While this is just one instance, there are several occasions where Hollander obscures historical legacies of violence, capitalism, and displacement to bolster his claims that basketball can save the world.
Although Hollander claims that a basketball-inspired society would value everyone in the chain, not just capitalists and those who exploit labor, basketball has actually become capitalistic, marked by the exploitation of athletes’ bodies, especially those of Black athletes.
How Basketball Can Save the World: 13 Guiding Principles for Reimagining What’s Possible offers an alternative perspective on how society should function in order to dismantle structural inequality. David Hollander draws upon popular culture references, social science research, and historical examples to build upon James Naismith’s principles and demonstrate the lessons basketball can teach us. The book emphasizes the deep connection between basketball and culture, how it fosters connections, and how its principles can shape our interactions with one another. However, Hollander’s argument falls short by often neglecting to address how basketball has also perpetuated the very issues we face as a society. Consequently, while these principles may hold theoretical value, Naismith could not have predicted how they would be overshadowed by the commercialization of basketball.
