History of Basketball

A man by the name of Dr. James Naismith was one day faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable to play inside during the cold winters. Naismith was in charge of the YMCA in Massachusetts and in 1891, he invented the game of basketball. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as baskets. The problem with this was every time one of the teams scored the ball was stuck in the basket, so eventually they cut the bottom of the baskets so the ball would go through. His ideas to make the game go smoother and adding new rules happened for the next 1-2 years, and by 1893, the game of basketball was known country wide at every YMCA. The game kept progressing when in 1936 it was introduced in the Berlin Olympic Games. After becoming more and more popular there was a league started in the U.S. called the NBA, "National Basketball Association." The first game of the NBA was played in 1946. One of the biggest improvements the NBA made was enforcing a 24 second shot clock, teams used to stall the whole game and there would be games with the score of 10-8, so the shot clock got rid of that and made teams play. Along with the NBA, about 5 years ago, the WNBA "Women's National Basketball Association" started there league. I cannot talk about basketball without talking about College basketball, over the years college basketball has become one of the most popular sports watched, it is known for "March Madness" the tournament played at the end of the year to declare the national championship. The game is so widely spread that kids start playing at the age of five and play all the way, until they physically are unable too. The game is an obvious success to everyone, either watching or playing; everyone seems to enjoy the game of basketball.