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Basketball for Everyone!

In 1891, Dr. James Naismith, (a Canadian minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals in Springfield, Massachusetts) was looking for an indoor game to keep his students busy during the long New England winters. Naismith thought back to his boyhood in Canada, where he and his friends had played "duck on a rock," which involved trying to knock a large rock off a boulder by throwing smaller rocks at it. He also recalled watching rugby players toss a ball into a box in a gymnasium. Legend has it that, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or too poorly suited for gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules, and nailed a peach basket onto the gym wall. The first official game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892. "Basket ball," the name suggested by one of his students, was popular from the beginning, and with Dr. Naismith's students being dispatched to YMCAs throughout the United States, the game was soon played all over the country.

Interestingly, while the YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, it soon discouraged the new sport. It was seen as rough play, and rowdy crowds began to detract from the YMCA's primary mission. Other amateur sports clubs, colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules of the game.

Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle introduced the orange ball that is now in common use. Mr. Hinkle was searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike.

Basic Rules

At each end of the court (usually about 92 ft (28 m) long and 50 ft (15 m) wide) is a bottomless basket made of white cord net and suspended from a metal ring, 18 in. (46 cm) in diameter, which is attached 10 ft (3.05 m) above the floor (usually hardwood) to a backboard made of fiberglass, wood, or other material. Players may throw, dribble (bounce), or shoot the basketball (an inflated ball usually made of leather or rubber) but may not run with it or kick it.

Teams try to advance the ball and shoot it through one basket (the ball must enter from above) and to keep the opposition from scoring through the other. Each field goal, or basket, scores two points, or three points if shot from beyond a specified distance (21 ft/6 m in U.S. colleges, slightly longer in international and professional play). Teams must shoot the ball within a prescribed time limit (24 sec in the National Basketball Association; 30 sec in international games and in most women's play; 45 sec in men's collegiate play).

Any player making illegal body contact with an opposing player is assessed a foul; the opposing team may be given possession of the ball, or an opposing player awarded free throws at the basket from the foul line. Each made foul shot is worth one point. Players who exceed the foul limit (usually five, but six in the NBA) are disqualified from the game. International and collegiate basketball games have two 20-min halves, professionals play four 12-min quarters, and high schoolers play four 8-min quarters.

Professional Basketball

Professional basketball began (1896) in New York City and was at one time played on courts enclosed by wire mesh (basketball players are still occasionally referred to as "cagers"). Until the 1950s it languished in popularity behind college basketball and such touring black teams as the Harlem Globetrotters and the New York Rens.

The merger (1949) of the National Basketball League and the rival Basketball Association of America into the National Basketball Association (NBA) led to greater popularity. The appearance of stars like George Mikan, the signing of black players beginning in 1950, the temporary disrepute of the college game owing to gambling scandals in the early 1950s, and the adoption of the 24-sec shot clock in 1954, further boosted the NBA.

Its success inspired the formation of several competing leagues, among them the American Basketball Association (ABA), founded in 1967 and merged into the NBA in 1975. In the 1980s the emergence of charismatic players like "Magic" Johnson (Johnson, Earvin), Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan, combined with aggressive marketing, made the NBA hugely successful, so that basketball often seemed the premier U.S. professional sport.

The College Scene

Basketball is a major sport in U.S. colleges. Postseason tournaments, first the National Invitation Tournament (begun 1938) and then the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships (begun 1939), soon attracted enough attention to fill large arenas like New York's Madison Square Garden. Point-shaving and game-fixing scandals unsettled college basketball in both 1950-51 and 1961, but did not diminish fan loyalty for extended periods.

The NCAA championship tournament, once secondary to the NIT, grew enormously from the 1960s into the 1990s. Large live audiences, national television coverage, and competitive parity have helped to make the NCAA's "March Madness" and Final Four (the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament) one of the most popular of all U.S. sporting events.

Olympic Dream Team

An exhibition match was played at the 1904 Olympics, but basketball did not become an official part of the games until 1936. International rules and court dimensions differ slightly from U.S. standards. Still, the United States outclassed the rest of the world until 1972, when the Soviet Union defeated the U.S. team for the gold medal (despite American protests that the Soviets had been allowed to score a basket after the game had ended). In the 1980s, many nations achieved parity with the United States, which was still fielding a team of collegians. The U.S. Olympic Committee therefore assembled for the 1992 games a "Dream Team" composed of one collegian and the finest professional players, who handily won the gold medal.

Women's Basketball

Women's basketball has grown rapidly since the 1970s. Until then, women and girls had been allowed to play only a six-player game in which offensive and defensive players were rooted to one half of the court. Today full court action in women's college competition and in the Women's National Basketball Association (since 1997) exhibits advanced skills and fast-paced play, and has attained wider popularity than many other women's sports.

Learn More!
General Resources about Basketball

Online Resources

• NBA History
  A History of the National Basketball Association

• Remember the ABA
  (American Basketball Association)

• Basketball Statistics Database
  A database of past statistics for Basketball Games played from 1871 - 2003

• History of Basketball Scoring
  An interesting look at how the 13 basic rules of basketball evolved and what Dr. Naismith might have thought about the changes.

• History of Women's Basketball
  A retrospective history of women's basketball and the effect it has had on the lives of many, and the sport in general. Fascinating images dot this website.

• Hooptown USA
  The Basketball Hall of Fame. Inductees, history, and news make this dynamic site an interesting clearinghouse of basketball information.

• Basketball History: Photo Essay
  756 images of basketball. Images of players, coaches, game shots, team shots and memorable points of basketball history.

• NBA History
  A history of the National Basketball Association, news and well archived material.

LESSON 1:
Basketball Fundamentals

Concepts:
Your children will learn about the basics of basketball; how to play and how to be a better player.

Lesson:
Learning the rules of basketball is just the first step to playing basketball. Learning the individual skills is of equal importance. This lesson plan is meant to be used by the individual player, to learn the basics of basketball.

• Basketball is played by two teams who score points by throwing a ball into the opposing team's basket. The team who scores the most points are the winners.
  
  
• Each team has a squad of 12 players to choose from. Five of those players are allowed on the court at any one time, with unlimited substitutions.
  
  
• Players can move the ball around the court by passing, tapping, throwing, rolling or dribbling.
  
  
• The game consists of four quarters of 10 minutes each, with a 15-minute break at half-time.
  
  
• There are also two-minute intervals between the first and second periods, and between the third and fourth periods.
  
  
• If the game is tied after the fourth period, it continues with an extra period of five minutes, then as many five-minute periods as are necessary to break the tie.
  
  
• The main officials include one referee and one umpire.
  
  
• The court is divided between them and they swap places after each foul involving a free throw penalty, as well as after each jump ball decision.
  
  
• They use whistles and hand signals to make and explain their decisions.
  
  
• Each game begins with a jump ball or tip-off.
  
  
• The referee throws the ball into the air in the centre circle and two opposing players leap up and try to tap it away.
  
  
• Each player is allowed two taps before the ball hits the ground, a basket, a backboard or another player.
  
  
• Points are scored for shooting the basketball through the hoop.
  
  
• Two points for a goal inside the three-point semi-circle, and three points for goals scored from outside.
  
  
• Free throws, taken from the free-throw line and awarded after a foul, are worth one point.