Basketball is our game
BASKETBALL
Love sport of our nation
As a small nation, it was easier to organise 5 players a side and limited playing space made basketball the bee's knees
How does a small nation become so strong in one sport?
All townships back in Lithuania were fairly small so getting a few people together to play a game of B-Ball was a heck of a lot easier to organise than say soccer/football where you would need 11 plus. Cricket? never heard of it.
The sport was feverish in its competitiveness and street ball became a national demand, both practical and energetic, quick and fast, required technical skills and guts: the Lithos loved it.
krepšis = basket, so, krepšinis = get it in the basket, sport!
Krepšinis = Basketball
The first press reference to a game of basketball in Australia is from The Adelaide Advertiser. The paper reported on Wednesday 17 February 1897 that the following Tuesday at the opening of Our Boys Institute, said to be the largest gymnasium in the colonies, OBI would play YMCA in the first exhibition of basketball in South Australia. There is no evidence of any game being played earlier elsewhere, thus the first game of basketball was played in Australia on Tuesday 23 February 1897. The game occurred six years after the invention of the sport on 21 December 1891 by Canadian James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School (YMCA) in Springfield, Massachusetts. OBI and the YMCA continued to be at the forefront of the development of Adelaide basketball. More than 120 years later, basketball is one of the most popular participation sports in the country. The fledgling basketball competition that happened in Australia really didn’t get going for 50 years. Then along comes Leonas Baltrūnas fresh from a one-way voyage from war torn Europe, with a skill-set carried from helping Lithuania gain the 1937 European championship. Welcome to Albert Park…
Viktoras (Vic) Soha
(1927 – 2017) basketball player and coach. Vic led a break-away club in Melbourne called Vilkas and was instrumental in the nurturing and guiding of 3 generations of Melbourne-based Lithuanian basketballers. He was constantly at Albert Park stadium right up until his death in 2017
Father of basketball to Australian Lithuanians
Leonas Baltrunas
Leonas Baltrūnas was born in Riga but moved to his parents’ homeland Lithuania after the Great War.
He was part of the Lithuanian National Basketball team and helped them win two gold medals, once during Eurobasket in Riga (1937) and again in Kaunas (1939).
In 1950 he organised the first Australian basketball championship in Melbourne and established the Melbourne Lithuanian sports club “Varpas”.
In 1955 he became the first president of the Australian Lithuanian Sports Federation (ALFAS).
He coached the Victorian State Basketball team from 1949 to 1953. In 1955 he coached the Australian national basketball team, which one-year later made its debut at the Melbourne Summer Olympics. Among the players were Lithuanians Stasys Dargis and Algis Ignatavičius and two Latvians.
In 2009 Leonas Baltrūnas’ name was engraved with 37 other prominent basketball players and coaches names on a sculptures erected at Siemens Sports Arena in Vilnius.
In Australia he is considered to be the father of Lithuanian sports.
He was part of the Lithuanian National Basketball team and helped them win two gold medals, once during Eurobasket in Riga (1937) and again in Kaunas (1939).
In 1950 he organised the first Australian basketball championship in Melbourne and established the Melbourne Lithuanian sports club “Varpas”.
In 1955 he became the first president of the Australian Lithuanian Sports Federation (ALFAS).
He coached the Victorian State Basketball team from 1949 to 1953. In 1955 he coached the Australian national basketball team, which one-year later made its debut at the Melbourne Summer Olympics. Among the players were Lithuanians Stasys Dargis and Algis Ignatavičius and two Latvians.
In 2009 Leonas Baltrūnas’ name was engraved with 37 other prominent basketball players and coaches names on a sculptures erected at Siemens Sports Arena in Vilnius.
In Australia he is considered to be the father of Lithuanian sports.
Australian Lithuanian export to the NBA
Ed Palubinskas
Edis Palubinskas was born on the 17th September 1950 in Canberra, Australia. He started playing basketball with the Canberra Lithuanian sports club “Vilkas”.
Ed Palubinskas whilst playing American college basketball reached the best American result for 1972 with a free throw percentage of 94%. In 18 years playing competitive basketball he only missed three free throws.
At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich whilst representing Australia he was the second leading scorer.
Ed Palubinskas was the top overall scorer at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
He is a member of the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame.
He took a position as shooting coach to Shaquille O’Neal with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2000-2001 NBA season.
Ed Palubinskas
Lindsay Gaze reminisces about the Lithuanian input to Australian basketball
this strange game - the sporting blood of a nation
Our contribution to Australian basketball
The Lithuania men’s national basketball team (Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė vyrų krepšinio rinktinė) participates in FIBA‘s competitions. Despite Lithuania’s small size, with a population of just almost 2.9 million, the country’s devotion to basketball has made them a traditional force of the sport in Europe. The Lithuanian team won the last EuroBasket tournaments prior to World War II, in 1937 and 1939. The 1939 team was led by Frank Lubin, who helped popularize basketball in the country and was called the “grandfather of Lithuanian basketball”. Following the country’s annexation by the Soviet Union during the war, Lithuanian players frequently formed the core of the Soviet national team. The most prevalent example was the 1988 Olympic basketball gold medal-winning team which got most of its scoring from four Lithuanians: Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis. After the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, the national team was resurrected. Lithuania won bronze medals in the first three Olympics to include NBA players – 1992, 1996, and 2000 – in addition to finishing fourth in 2004 and 2008, and in eighth place at the London 2012 Olympics. The Lithuanian team won the FIBA EuroBasket for the third time in 2003, and also a bronze medal in the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Across the continent
Community basketball clubs throughout Australia
Geelong Vytis
In June 2017, Geelong “Vytis”, representing a Lithuanian community of about 300 people, sent 38 participants to the 10th World Lithuanian Sports Games in Kaunas.
Geelong first participated at the 9th World Lithuanian Games as a standalone club four years earlier in 2013 at Klaipeda with one team. This time Geelong entered three basketball teams (2 mens and 1 boys under 16) plus chess and tennis players.
An outstanding result was achieved by the mens team who won their round of 16 match against three times undefeated champions Chicago Lituanica, and placed 5th after a narrow loss in their quarter final. The win against Lituanica was one of the biggest boilovers in games history.
The junior boys team, coached by Jonas Obeliunas and Peter Sutas, won their qualifying matches and progressed to the Final where they defeated Lazdija KKSC by 1 point and claimed the gold medal.
