Can basketball be a force that helps bring a divided nation, a divided world together?

That’s the dream of World Basketball Day. A day — designated by the United Nations to be commemorated every Dec. 21 — where we celebrate the power of basketball to unite communities and connect people around the world.

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“There’s increasingly few spaces left where we humanize each other, where we actually spend time face-to-face, eye contact, wordlessly negotiating and sharing and creating space with and between each other — doing the kinds of intimate, continuous, fluid communication that the space of a basketball court fosters,” said David Hollander, an NYU professor who helped create World Basketball Day. “The game itself is an empathy lab. And so, yes, I believe it is one of the greatest exercises that people can engage in to begin to knit back together the social fabric.”

It’s a dream shared by the NBA and people who love basketball around the globe — and it’s a chance to give back to the community through the game.

“World Basketball Day is a chance to celebrate the game and impact it has on people everywhere,” the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum said. “Basketball has had such a positive influence on my life, and I hope I can pass along the joy and skills I’ve learned, both on- and-off the court, to the next generation.”

The NBA is doing this in part by announcing the extension of its longstanding relationship with the YMCA, collaborating on year-long youth basketball and community-focused programming that will reach 6 million youth in the next year. World Basketball Day also means events to connect with youth around the nation and around the globe.

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“World Basketball Day takes on a special meaning this year as we commemorate the 175th anniversary of the YMCA, where the sport was first invented 134 years ago,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “We are thrilled to join our many friends in the basketball community to celebrate the game’s impact and influence around the world.”

What is World Basketball Day?

World Basketball Day is the brainchild of Hollander, an NYU professor with the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Holland teaches a course at NYU called “How Basketball Can Save the World.”

“It’s a very popular elective that treats basketball like a philosophy,” Hollander said. “I created principles that I believe basketball stands for — the way you play basketball can be understood as a really good guide for how we can behave with each other. The way the game was intended to be structured can tell us a lot about how we ought to structure a society, and it’s a game intrinsically of hope.”

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He eventually turned that course into a book, in which he drafted a UN resolution for World Basketball Day. That idea took off in a way he did not fully expect.

“Basketball was always intended to be stateless, borderless, global right from the very start,” Hollander said. “And as the world tries to solve the problems that only a whole world can solve, I suggested that we ought to start somewhere where the whole world is happy and the whole world comes together, and the whole world agrees. And, I said, that place is basketball, and it should have a day.

“That’s how it began.”

World Basketball Day was established in 2023 by the United Nations. Not coincidentally, World Basketball Day is observed each year on Dec. 21, the date in 1891 that Dr. James Naismith hung up the peach baskets and first introduced the game of basketball at the YMCA in Springfield, Mass.

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Part of what World Basketball Day has become is a focus on the future and connecting people. For example, last week marked the third annual United Nations diplomats basketball game, in which more than 60 diplomats from 30 countries played pickup at the local YMCA.

“In other words, these peacemakers are actually doing the thing that I hope basketball on a grand scale achieves,” Hollander said.

It’s not just the NBA and the United States celebrating this, it is FIBA — the international governing body of basketball — and its coaching clinics and camps in Africa on this day. It’s local hoopers and content creators from Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines featuring World Basketball Day content across the NBA’s localized channels in those countries.

“Basketball has always been global,” Hollander said. “Dr James Naismith sent emissaries to teach basketball in 1895, as soon as he could right after he invented the game, to Europe to Australia, to China to South America. So it is no surprise to me that coming from all corners of the world are some of the most eloquent speakers of the language of basketball.”

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That language of basketball and how it can be a unifying force deserves to be celebrated. And, much like Christmas, we could use more of that force and spirit all year-round.

ALBANY — The Saratoga Springs Youth Ballet brought its presentation of “The Nutcracker” to the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on Saturday.

A Christmas classic, the ballet is based on “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” an 1816 short story written by E. T. A. Hoffmann. The version performed by the youth ballet, choreographed and re-staged by Cristiane Santos and Joan Kilgore Anderson, featured more than 120 local dancers between the ages of 5 and 18, according to the nonprofit dance group’s website.

The show featured special guests such as Sarah MacGregor and Jethro Paine of Boulder Ballet and Andre Malo Robles as Herr Drosselmeyer. 

Another performance is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m. That show is sold out, according to the event website.

Funeral services for Donny Wayne Stricklin, Jr., 54, of Bremen, AL will be 2 p.m. Sunday, December 21st at Hanceville Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow the service at Bethany Baptist Church. Bro. Brandon Stripling & Bro. Jay Washburn will officiate services. The family will welcome friends for visitation at Hanceville Funeral Home on Saturday, December 20th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

Donny was a man whose life was defined by service, loyalty, and a deep love for people. Known for his big heart and even bigger sense of humor, Donny never met a stranger—only friends he hadn’t made yet. 

A devoted and lifelong Alabama football fan, Donny proudly supported the Crimson Tide with passion that was impossible to miss even if it meant delaying an important event. To his grandchildren, he was lovingly known as “Pee Pee,” a title he cherished and lived up to every day through his constant presence, encouragement, and love. Donny worked for several years at Sansom Equipment, where his role went far beyond a job description. He treated his coworkers as family, always showing up for them—whether it was work-related or not. His loyalty and care for others were hallmarks of who he was. 

A dedicated volunteer firefighter and EMT for many years, Donny selflessly served his community, willing to help in moments when others needed him most. His commitment extended to youth as well, as he devoted countless hours to Cold Springs Athletic youth sports, including Upwards Basketball, and proudly supported the RCBC Youth Council. He believed deeply in guiding and uplifting young people. Donny was truly a “friend’s friend”—someone who would stand by anyone, whether he knew them well or had just met them. His love for jokes and playful spirit were legendary, often expressed through perfectly timed—or hilariously inappropriately timed—music, guaranteeing laughter wherever he went. 

Above all else, Donny loved his family. His loving wife, children and grandchildren were the center of his world, and he poured his heart into being present, supportive, and proud of each of them. Donny leaves behind a legacy of kindness, service, laughter, and love that will live on in the many lives he touched. He will be deeply missed and forever remembered. 

Survivors include his loving wife, Lorrie Stricklin; children, Brennen (Allyson) Stricklin and Hannah Stricklin; grandchildren, Agustus Wayne Stricklin, Ivy Faye Stricklin and Omari Cooper Stricklin; father, Donald Wayne Stricklin Sr. (Rita); siblings, Danny Stricklin (Gloria), Devan Ponder (Brian), David Still (Kimberly) and James Still (Jennifer), step-brother, Tim Busbee (Rebecca); brother-in-law, Jamie Akin (Jan); grandfather, Leldon Stricklin; and a host of many nieces, nephews and cousins. 

Mr. Stricklin was preceded in death by his mother, Modene Campbell Stricklin; grandparents, Mae Stricklin and Ogle & Oleta Campbell; step-sister, Tonya Busbee; niece, Rhianna Busbee; and mother and father-in-law, Gary and Linda Akin. 

To celebrate his passion for Alabama football, the family asks that guests consider wearing causal Alabama football attire on Saturday or your favorite college football team. 

Also, he was cared for beautifully by the liver transplant team, ABTX team, SICU team, and PCCU team at UAB. 

Hanceville Funeral Home is honored to serve the Stricklin Family. 

For decades, research on giftedness and expertise has followed a familiar model. Outstanding achievement was thought to depend on strong early performance, such as excelling in school subjects, sports, or concerts, combined with specific abilities like intelligence, physical coordination, or musical talent. These traits were believed to need years of intense, discipline-focused training to produce elite results. As a result, many talent programs concentrate on identifying the top young performers early and pushing them to specialize quickly.

According to new findings led by Arne Güllich, professor of sports science at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, this approach may not be the most effective way to nurture future high achievers.

Why Earlier Research Missed the Full Picture

Until recently, most studies of giftedness focused on young or sub-elite performers. These groups included school and college students, youth athletes, young chess players, and musicians training at conservatories. However, evidence drawn from adult world-class athletes has begun to challenge conclusions based on these earlier samples.

“Traditional research into giftedness and expertise did not sufficiently consider the question of how world-class performers at peak performance age developed in their early years,” Arne Güllich explains. The goal of the new Review was to address this gap by examining how elite performers actually progressed over time.

To do this, Güllich worked with an international research team that included Michael Barth, assistant professor of sports economics at the University of Innsbruck, D. Zach Hambrick, professor of psychology at Michigan State University, and Brooke N. Macnamara, professor of psychology at Purdue University. Their findings are now published in Science.

Pooling Evidence Across Fields

The researchers reexamined large datasets from many previous studies, analyzing the developmental histories of 34,839 top-level performers from around the world. The group included Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, Olympic medalists, elite chess players, and leading classical music composers. This effort made it possible, for the first time, to compare how world-class performers develop across very different disciplines.

Early Stars Are Rarely Future Legends

One of the most striking conclusions is that elite performers follow a developmental path that differs from long-held assumptions. “And a common pattern emerges across the different disciplines,” Güllich notes.

First, individuals who stand out as the best at a young age are usually not the same people who become the best later in life. Second, those who eventually reached the highest levels tended to improve gradually during their early years and were not top performers within their age group. Third, future world-class achievers typically did not focus on a single discipline early on. Instead, they explored a range of activities, such as different academic subjects, musical genres, sports, or professions (e.g., different subjects of study, genres of music, sports, or professions).

How Variety Builds Stronger Performers

The researchers propose three ideas that may help explain these patterns. “We propose three explanatory hypotheses for discussion,” says Güllich.

The search-and-match hypothesis suggests that exposure to multiple disciplines increases the likelihood of eventually finding the best personal fit. The enhanced-learning-capital hypothesis proposes that learning in diverse areas strengthens overall learning capacity, making it easier to continue improving later at the highest level within a chosen field. The limited-risks hypothesis argues that engaging in multiple disciplines reduces the chance of setbacks such as burnout, unhealthy work-rest imbalances, loss of motivation, or physical injury in psychomotor disciplines (sports, music).

Arne Güllich summarizes the combined effect of these factors: “Those who find an optimal discipline for themselves, develop enhanced potential for long-term learning, and have reduced risks of career-hampering factors, have improved chances of developing world-class performance.”

Encouraging Breadth Instead of Early Specialization

Based on these findings, Güllich offers clear guidance on how young talent should be supported. The evidence suggests avoiding early specialization in a single field. Instead, young people should be encouraged and given opportunities to explore several areas of interest and receive support in two or three disciplines.

These areas do not need to be closely related. Combinations like language and mathematics, or geography and philosophy, can be equally valuable. Albert Einstein provides a famous example — one of the most important physicists, who was also deeply engaged with music and played the violin from an early age.

Implications for Policy and Practice

The authors argue that these insights should inform changes in how talent development programs are designed. Policymakers and program leaders can move toward approaches grounded in evidence rather than tradition.

As Güllich concludes, “This may enhance opportunities for the development of world-class performers — in science, sports, music, and other fields.”

When it comes to financial numbers for high school football recruits in this new world of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), it’s not often their parents or agents, or the player themselves, explicitly say what they are being offered.

However, when it comes to former Mission Viejo High School star and four-star wide receiver Phillip Bell, that isn’t the case after a recent Wall Street Journal feature on the Ohio State freshman revealed what Washington reportedly offered the four-star prospect.

In a story that details the inner-workings of what the Journal labeled as the black market of youth sports and family of the Buckeyes’ receiver, along with other figures in the high school and college recruiting world, that drives at the central problems that NIL—what has effectively turned into the compensation 18 to 23 year olds receive in return to represent colleges while also playing for one of their athletic programs—has become, Bell’s mother texted a friend following an official visit to UW in late May 2024 that the senior-to-be had been offered $350,000 to don purple and gold over the next four years.