Today BBF’s press center welcomes Andrey Buzhan, an amateur basketball player, creator and editor of the VKontakte group “Minsk: Streetball Basketball. Our city courts”.
Basketball is a huge movement that unites professionals and lovers of the best ball game. Each of them contributes to the development and popularization of this sport in our country. Andrei Buzhan is among them.
Group on VKontakte Minsk: Streetball Basketball. Our city courts”- unites many people who are not indifferent to the game of basketball and streetball into one large community. Thanks to the initiative of Andrei, everyone who wants to spend time playing their favorite sport can find detailed information about the courts of the capital, their location and even find a company for a game or practice.
As a participant in the 3x3 “Palova” basketball competition. 2019
About myself
I began to get involved in basketball at the age of 10. Nevertheless, I was especially imbued with this game at around 12 years old after moving with parents to Vilnius. While living there I realized that for Lithuanians basketball is more than just the number one sport in the country, for them it is like a religion. Before I started playing basketball, I was also fond of running and football, went to chess school. Subsequently, these classes helped me to quickly master basketball skills. Now I also periodically play chess, football, volleyball, go for a run, practice general physical activities. I am interested in the theoretical part of basketball and sports medicine, which in turn significantly helps to avoid injuries or cope with already received ones. In addition to sports, I love music and poetry, as well as various fields of science, but history is above others. In general, I am interested in all areas of life, depending on what attracts my attention more at a certain moment. I like fiction very much. However, if the book was not impressive from the start, then I am unlikely to read it further, but if I am interested, it becomes my favorite part of leisure. If we talk about the profession, back then in 2009 I graduated from Belarusian State University with a degree in International relations and worked as an analyst at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus.
Streetball court on Nemiga in Minsk. 2015
About self-development
Generally, I’ve been studying basketball and continue to improve in it on my own. The Internet is a good help. However, I also had some classes with different coaches. I have also prepared children for regional competitions, was engaged in refereeing. Representatives of the Partizansky district administration of the city of Minsk offered me a job of a coach of the district team a couple of years ago, but I refused it.
Playing court "Seven" (Gymnasium No. 7 in Minsk)
How did you come up with the idea of creating a group in VK?
I was constantly engaged in the search for game companions. It all started in childhood, because I was always an active child. In order to play basketball, he began to gather people back in Vilnius by a landline phone, when not everyone had mobile phones. Coming back to Minsk to finish the 11th grade, I had no idea whether Belarus is keen on this sport as well as Lithuania. Fortunately, it turned out that there are many streetball fans in our country. Therefore, I gladly took the initiative here too. The idea came up to create a group for games at the “Seven” (gymnasium No. 7 in Minsk) in 2011. Back then, the social network VK was popular and I realized that it is much faster and easier to find like-minded people through it. Although, sometimes you need to try hard to gather people through the online community. However, if you want to regularly have someone to play with, then you need to spend your time on it. In addition, friends and acquaintances, who are also interested in ensuring that the court is not empty at least when they are about to come there, periodically help to fill the group with information and maintain its activity and relevance. I have tried to make sure that this community was focused absolutely on all streetball fans, so that players from all over the capital often come there. Over time, I have created groups for other playing court in the city, which he also visits. After the foundation of several such pages in 2014, I have decided to combine them all into one large community. There I mainly post useful information for all basketball fans. Thanks to this page, it was possible to realize the idea of uniting streetball fans into one community, where they could quickly find information about all the courts in the city, as well as find out who and how many people visit these or those courts. For some time this system worked very actively. However, the groups appeared and disappeared, people gathered without them, so now it is implemented largely in the form of a list and we monitor the most popular courts in the capital. After creating a community on a social network, I came up with idea to organize my own competitions at the “Seven” that were successfully implemented in 2014 and 2015. I also held competitions at the Palova arena in 2016. For this opportunity shout out to the representatives of the Belarusian Basketball Federation, who accepted and supported my initiative. Such tournaments in Belarus, and especially in the capital, became more and more popular, and their number increased significantly over time. Therefore, the creation of a community that combines information about all street competitions in Belarus and beyond was the next step.
“Semyorka Street” tournament awarding ceremony. The organizer of the competition is Andrei Buzhan and the winner in the “Sniper” category is Kirill Mikhailov. 2014
Who helps in organizing and conducting competitions?
Basically, friends or just people who are interested in doing something like this. The Partizansky district administration of the city of Minsk does not stand aside when it comes to the larger competitions organization. For example, without its participation it would be much more difficult to cooperate with the school authorities, which owns the sports ground, find a doctor, arrange the availability of dry closets, and take into account some other nuances in due form. The organization of any event consists of many small things that need to be incorporated into a body; one should clearly plan everything and then put it into practice. I will not hide the fact that sometimes those people who, on the contrary, interfere with the organization or even sabotage it, also come across. In my practice, there have been cases when the administration of an educational institution tried to prevent the competitions. I know firsthand that many organizers of such tournaments face similar problems.
A joint photo with the winners in various categories of the “Seven Street” tournament. 2015
The emotions that streetball gives
First of all, it is always a joy to just come to the court and enjoy the game and the atmosphere that prevails there. In addition, this is an interesting activity, which is not limited only to physical activity, but requires an active mental process as well. In addition, sometimes I just like to practice hoops being alone with my thoughts.
What attracts streetball?
Of course, sport unites. Team play teaches you to communicate with partners with whom you share a common interest on the court. And, of course, spending a lot of time with the same basketball fans on the court, you can meet people who are close in spirit, who then become your friends and good fellows in everyday life. While traveling abroad I also try to play basketball with strangers, who may later become fellows as well. A great bonus to all this is the amazing atmosphere of fun and rivalry, that reigns both on the site during the match, and among those who are waiting to take part in. Therefore, if someone is looking for new friends and emotions, spending time on a streetball court is a great way to find it all.
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