History of Basketball

Basketball is a very well liked sport by most of the world. But where did basketball start? When did basketball start? Who came up with this sport? What are the rules of Basketball and how have they changed? In this paper, you will get the answer to all of these questions.

In December of 1891, James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor, introduced basketball to the world. He published the rules for a new game using five base ideas and thirteen rules. Naismith was instrumental in laying down 13 rules for the basketball game. The rules stated that the ball should be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. He made it clear that a person could not run with the ball. The player should throw it from the place from which he caught the ball in the first place. Players had to refrain from using the fist when handling or batting the ball. He had termed shouldering, holding, tripping, pushing or striking in any way of an opponent as a foul in the first instance. If things of this nature happened the second time, the person who caused the infringement of the rule would be disqualified or would not be substituted at all. If any side made three consecutive fouls, it was to be counted as a goal for the opposing side. Naismith also made it clear that if the ball went out of bounds, it had to be thrown into the field of play by the person touching it. This player had the right to hold the ball for only five seconds. If held longer, the chance to throw went to the opposing side. He gave special importance to the umpire who had to judge the player and report to the referee when players made three consecutive fouls. He defined the time period of the game as being comprised of two fifteen-minute halves with fifteen minutes breaks in between. Naismith concluded that the side making the most goals was to be termed as winner.

He asked his class to play a match in the Armory Street court: nine versus nine, using a soccer ball and two beach baskets. Frank Mahan, one of his students, was not so happy. He just said: "Huh. Another new game?" However, Naismith was the inventor of the new game. Someone proposed to call it "Naismith Game," but he suggested "we have a ball and a basket: why don't we call it basketball?" The eighteen players were: John J. Thompson, Eugene S. Libby, Edwin P. Ruggles, William R. Chase, T. Duncan Patton, Frank Mahan, Finlay G. MacDonald, William H. Davis and Lyman Archibald, who defeated George Weller, Wilbert Carey, Ernest Hildner, Raymond Kaighn, Genzabaro Ishikawa, Benjamin S. French, Franklin Barnes, George Day and Henry Gelan 1-0. The goal was scored by Chase. There were other differences between Naismith's first idea and the game played today. The peach baskets were closed and balls had to be retrieved manually until a small hole was put in the bottom of the peach basket to poke the ball out using a stick. Only in 1906 were metal hoops, nets, and back boards were introduced. Moreover, earlier the soccer ball was replaced by a Spalding ball, similar to the ones used today.

It was the YMCA that had a major role in spreading basketball throughout the United States and Canada, and throughout the world. In 1893, Mel Rideout arranged the first European match in Paris, in Montmartre. At the same time, Bob Gailey went to Tientsin, China (1894), Duncan Patton to India, Genzabaro Ishikawa to Japan, and C. Hareek to Persia.

The First World War broke out in 1914, and the U.S. Army started fighting in Europe in 1917. During World War I, American Expeditionary Force brought basketball wherever they went. Together with the troops, there were hundreds of physical education teachers, who knew basketball quite well, and even James Naismith spent two years with YMCA in France, in that period. Not only did they bring basketball with them, but even the "modern" basketball, that is the game as it was played in the United States at that time.

The greatest level of early basketball activity was seen in American colleges. The first recorded instance of an organized college basketball game was played between Geneva College and the New Brighton YMCA on April 8, 1893, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which Geneva College won 3-0. Geneva College calls itself "The Birthplace of College Basketball". In February 1895, Minnesota State School of Agriculture and Hamline University played the first intercollegiate match (won 9-3 by Minnesota). In that period, the Amateur Athletic Union took over the organization of collegiate activity. In 1905, Yale University was disqualified, and some universities created the Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which became National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910. For thirty years, there were many conferences: they were small state championships. The NCAA created a United States