Basketball

Basketball is a very common sport that is being played all over the world. Normally, basketball is being played by two teams of 5 players each. The players get to score by shooting the ball through a hoop which usually measures 20 feet. Of course don’t forget there are rules to basketball. Note however that there are some other forms of basketball like the ones being played on the streets. But before you deal on those other types of basketball, learn about the official game first.

Basketball goes all the way back to the year 1891 when a professor and student of physical education came up with the game. It was Dr. James Naismith who came up with basketball as a game to keep his students indoors during the winter season.

After many failed ideas, he finally came up with basketball from a children’s game called Duck on a Rock. The name was recommended by one of his students. He set up a peach basket on top of a track that was elevated 10 feet high. The peach basket was enclosed on its bottom. Every time someone shoots the ball, it had to be pushed out with a long rod. Also, the ball that they used was actually a soccer ball. So at that time, dribbling was not part of the game. It was just a passing of the ball until the player shoots it into the basket.

It was even documented in Dr. Naismith’s journals that he wasn’t that confident with his invented game. But he was wrong. Basketball became so popular. Within only one month of inventing the game, YMCA already held the first ever official basketball in their gymnasium. There were nine players who participated. The size of the court was only half of the courts used in NBA or National Basketball Association which is so far the biggest federation of basketball competition.

From then on, the game started to spread out. In the same year, women’s basketball was invented by tweaking some of the rules made by Dr. Naismith. It was a P.E. teacher, Senda Berenson, who modified the rules.

Basketball sprawled fast all over the United States, and then to Canada. As the rules have continuously been modified and governing associations were organized, basketball was loved by the world. It was in the 1950s that the current basketball was introduced with the orange ball that we know today. It was made of leather with pebbles for better grip. Tony Hinkle was the one who introduced that ball to the game. As the ball shape has improved, dribbling then became a part of the game basketball.