C hristian
10-10-2007, 10:23 AM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Firstbasketball.jpg
The first basket ball court.
In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith),<sup id="_ref-0" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-0)</sup> a Canadian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) physical education student and instructor at YMCA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA) Training School<sup id="_ref-1" class="reference">[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-1)</sup> (today, Springfield College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_College)) in Springfield, Massachusetts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts), USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England) winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasiums), he wrote the basic rules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_basketball) and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowel) each time. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, they would give their team a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game. <sup id="_ref-2" class="reference">[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-2)</sup>
Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a Canadian children's game called "Duck on a Rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_on_a_Rock)", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game 'Basket Ball'.<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference">[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-3)</sup>
The first official basketball game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_20), 1892 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892) with nine players, on a court just half the size of a present-day National Basketball Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association) (NBA) court. "Basket ball", the name suggested by one of Naismith's students, was popular from the beginning.
The first basket ball court.
In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith),<sup id="_ref-0" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-0)</sup> a Canadian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) physical education student and instructor at YMCA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA) Training School<sup id="_ref-1" class="reference">[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-1)</sup> (today, Springfield College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield_College)) in Springfield, Massachusetts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield%2C_Massachusetts), USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States), sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England) winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasiums), he wrote the basic rules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_basketball) and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowel) each time. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, they would give their team a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game. <sup id="_ref-2" class="reference">[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-2)</sup>
Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a Canadian children's game called "Duck on a Rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_on_a_Rock)", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game 'Basket Ball'.<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference">[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball#_note-3)</sup>
The first official basketball game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_20), 1892 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892) with nine players, on a court just half the size of a present-day National Basketball Association (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association) (NBA) court. "Basket ball", the name suggested by one of Naismith's students, was popular from the beginning.