Basketball 101 (Part 1)
Basketball is a popular game played throughout the world. Everyone knows about it, and somewhat knows how to play it. Those who don’t play it, watch the game on TV. It is one of the world’s most popular and acknowledged games,
and if there is someone who doesn’t know about this sport, they probably live under a rock! Basketball is a team sport, played by two teams on opposite sides. They score points by throwing (“shooting”) a basketball through hoops hung on “back boards”. The
team that manages to score a point, receives either 2 points or 3 points, depending on the distance from which the ball was thrown (there is a half circle line marking where the 2 point zone begins, and the 3 point zone ends. Forms of basketball can be traced
back to the ancient days of the Mayan civilization as well as the Aztec civilization. These games were similar to basketball in the sense that the players had to throw a rubber ball through vertical hoops. In these games, injuries and death were a common sight,
due to the ball being too heavy and the players being too violent. The losing team was sacrificed to their gods. This article is basically for those who don’t know what basketball is, or live under a rock. It talks about the history of basketball, along with
some technical information about the sport.
In December, 1891, Dr. James Naismith; a Canadian physical education teacher was trying to keep his gym class busy during a rainy day. After discarding several other ideas, he nailed peach baskets to poles 10 feet tall. The baskets
did not have holes in the bottom, thus the ball had to be removed manually. Soon the bottom of the basket was cut out and a long pole was used to take the ball out. A football was used instead of the basketballs that we know of today. Naismith had written
down 13 basic rules for the game which included, rule number 3, which stated that “a person cannot run with the ball, and that the player must throw it from the place he catches it”. The original Basketball game lasted 35 minutes. Each half was 15 minutes
long with a 5 minute break in the middle. Naismith’s granddaughter found his list of rules in 2006, and auctioned them off for 71,700 dollars. It wasn’t until 1906, that the basketball nets and the metal ring hoops that we use today were introduced. The hoops
were attached to the balconies of the courts. But this was not practical due to the audience interfering with the shots that the player made. Thus, a back board was added so that the game would not be ruined by the audience. This also allowed the players to
be able to get rebound shots. Naismith’s students suggested that the game should be called the “Naismith Game” but Naismith argued that since there were two baskets and one ball, the game should be called “Basketball”. The very first game was played in the
Young Men’s Christian Association (the YMCA) on January 20th 1892. There were 9 players on each team and the score by the end was 1-0. There were differences between basketball back then, and the basketball we know of today. The baskets are now
replaced by metal hoops with nets, the soccer ball used before is now replaced by a “Spalding ball”, and the players could not dribble around like they do today.
Women’s basketball started in 1892, by a physical education teacher from Smith College named Senda Berenson. She took Naismith’s rules and modified them to be more suited towards women. The first woman’s basketball game was held
on March 21, 1893. The match was played the freshmen and the sophomores. She had her rules published in 1899.
The game was made popular around the United States of America by the doings of the YMCA. By 1895, it was already well established in numerous Women’s High schools. Soon, the YMCA started discouraging the game, even though it was
the one that made it popular. Their reasoning was that basketball attracts “rowdy” crowds and the game is too rough. But the damage was done, and other organizations jumped on the opportunity to be part of this interesting new game. The first professional
league, the National Basketball League (NBL) was started in 1898. Their goal was to prevent the players to be exploited by others and to change the image of the game into a less rough one. Unfortunately the NBL only lasted for about 5 years. During this time,
six teams took part in the organization. The first champions were a team known as the “Trenton Nationals”. There were many championships held at a smaller level, but were not seen as important enough, as there were some teams who played for money. We can look
at the Boston Celtics (the original team, not the one we know today). In 1922, the world saw the very first all African American team. They called themselves the Rens (New York Renaissance or the Harlem Renaissance). The team won the first ever World Professional
Basketball Tournament in 1939. They separated 10 years later in 1949.
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