Basketball
From Hoopedia
Basketball (bas kit bawl)
- a game played by two teams of usually five players each on a rectangular court having a raised basket or goal at each end, points being scored by tossing the ball through the opponent's basket.
- the round, inflated ball, approximately 30 in. (76 cm) in circumference, used in this game.
Source: Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. (accessed: March 28, 2008).
Origins
In late 1891, Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick Jr., the superintendent of physical education at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, challenged a young physical education instructor, Dr. James Naismith, to create a new indoor game "that would be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play in the winter and by artificial light." Naismith reflected on popular games of the day (baseball, football, lacrosse, rugby and soccer) and the games from his childhood (duck on a rock), and assembled the pieces that would become Basket Ball. It would be 30 years before it would be shortened to one word.
Naismith created the game of basketball from 13 original rules. Because Naismith wanted a non-violent game that could be played inside, the first seven rules consist of set guidelines for play, with scoring not even mentioned until the eighth rule. Though the rules have been modified over time, the essential principles remain constant. The original rules were published in The Triangle, the International YMCA Training School newspaper, on January 15, 1892.
Naismith divided his eighteen students into two teams of nine. Each side had three forwards, three centers and three backs. (Nine per side became the standard. It would be another ten years before five to a side became the accepted practice.) On December 21, 1891 the students played the entire class period. William R. Chase scored the first basket for his squad and the game ended with a 1-0 score. Within a few weeks, basketball quickly spread on campus by word of mouth, across the United States through the YMCA network and around the world through the missionaries the YMCA School turned out.
Basketball (The Game) In Other Languages
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Arabic: لُعْبَة كُرة السَّلّه |
Italian: pallacanestro |
