Ivan Boberskyi – the Founder of the Ukrainian System of Physical Education and Sports

The purpose of the article is to comprehensively analyze the contribution of Ivan Boberskyi (1873–1947) to the formation anddevelopment of sports among the Ukrainians. The work is also relevant due to the fact that in February 2019, the Lviv State University of Physical Culture was named after Ivan Boberskyi. Ivan Boberskyi took his first steps in the field of physical education and sports as a teacher in the Academic Gymnasium (1901–1918) and its branch (1908–1910), in the private women’s seminary of the Ukrainian Pedagogical Society (1903–1905) and in the Basilian Sisters Servants Gymnasium (1906–1914) in Lviv. Here, relying on national traditions, he began to put into practice the knowledge acquired in Europe on the theory and methods of physical education. Thanks to Ivan Boberskyi, the Ukrainian Sports Club (1906), the Girls’ Sports Club (1910), the sports society “Ukraine” (1911) and “Plast” (1911) were created. When he was in different countries, Ivan Boberskyi familiarized himself with the types of sports common there. He published his thoughts, impressions, remarks, scientific and methodological recommendations. Ivan Boberskyi introduced into wide use both foreign language sports concepts and terms developed and translated by him.