The “Golden Journey”

“…The course of basketball continued in 1897 in the Czech Republic.
The first basketball game was played in the Bohemian city under the guidance of Professor Jaroslav Karásek. (Colbeck at all, 1972, 77). The teacher presented the sport with its rules to boys, high school and elementary school, in a combined teaching of the basics, regulations and the match between 6 and 8 opponents.

He had many sports acquaintances abroad and at the same time was an enthusiast of the then modern sports (Vysoké Mýto Regional Museum Archive, author: Jaroslav Hubený).
Thus began the history of basketball not only in Vysoké Mýto, but also in the whole of Bohemia. And at a time when for the Czechs there was not even a name for this sport and it was more often referred to as “handball in the basket”. An enthusiastic supporter of modern sports, Karásek taught physical education at a boys’ primary school and later at a grammar school.

He later moved to Brno, where he co-founded the club SK Moravská Slavia, published the magazine Výchova Tělesná and was active in many clubs.

Thanks to him, the boys of Vysoké Mýto played a public match on school holidays and had the opportunity to try more non-traditional sports, for which the majority of the Czech sports public had to wait many decades. (The first organized basketball game was held in the autumn of 1919 in Žižkov Sokolovna).

It took many years to create the Czech basketball league with the help of the Czech branch of the YMCA. …”

(Text from my upcoming book)

In my search for Czech basketball, I came across a film made in 2018 entitled “Golden Journey”.