History of Basketball

Basketball is the team sport of playing with a basketball. Basketball today is an Olympic sport played all over the world and the popularity of this game is among the world’s top 10 sports. The game is played by two teams.

The goal of each team is to throw the basketball as many times as possible into the opponent’s basket and to stop your opponent from getting the ball and throwing it into his or her own basket.

The height of the basket (basketball hoop) is 3.05 meters from the floor. For each ball thrown from different distances, a different number of points is scored.

From medium and short range – 2 points, for throwing the ball from long range team gets 3 points, and from the free throw team will get 1 point. The court on which basketball is played has the following dimensions: width 15 meters, length 28 meters.

Basketball was invented by physical education teacher James Naismith. Naismith wanted to invent a game for his students who were endlessly performing various physical activities. Naismith was tasked with creating a game that excluded brute force. And so, in 1891, he hung two baskets in front of his students and divided into two teams all present. The meaning of the game is explained as follows: Each team must throw the ball into the basket of the opponent a maximum number of times. From this moment began a wonderful and fascinating history of the world’s favorite sport.

Of course, at that time there were no special rings that are used in basketball today. Instead they used ordinary baskets. The ball was used soccer. The score in the game was similar to a soccer game, and only one player distinguished himself in the game by hitting the basket once. Naismith students would go home for the vacations and tell their friends about the new game. Thus the popularity of the game spread with great speed. . And after only one year, the game was already being played all over the United States.

At that time, the game was not very spectacular, as has not yet been invented technique of running the ball. Players threw the ball to one another while standing in place and then tried to put it in the basket.

Most games ended with the score under 20 points. Naismith kept trying to develop his game by coming up with different rules. He then derived five basic principles of basketball:
1) You need a big, light ball to play, but it must be easy to put in your hand
2) Running with the ball was prohibited.
3) Any player may handle the ball
4) Clusters of players are allowed in any part of the court, but no physical contact is allowed
5) The hoop must be at a high distance from the players.

The first official basketball games began in 1896. Even then, teams tried to earn money from their games by selling tickets to spectators. The first association of teams took place in 1898 and did not last long, only five years, as it split up into several separate leagues.

At that time, players could contract for each individual game. An outstanding player could play for each team in the league for one season. Players received enough money for each game that they were able to live comfortably.

After a while, innovations were already coming to basketball. The new rules concerned the baskets with the ball and the basketball backboard. They decided that it would be easier to hit the basket from the rebound. To avoid getting the ball off the basket every time using a ladder, the bottom had to be cut out.

Due to the Great Depression in 1931, basketball championships were discontinued, but basketball continued to live on. The impetus was an unexpected development in universities and colleges.

A new stepping stone for basketball was the introduction of the game to the Olympic Games and the emergence of the International Amateur Basketball Association (FIBA). Since then, there have been various innovations that have added both spectacle and dynamism to the game. One notable example is the innovation of throwing the ball in after each basket. The invention of one of the student athletes who showed one-handed shooting at the hoop added to the spectacle. Later basketball suffered a significant setback as the U.S. entered World War II.

The year 1946 is a landmark year for basketball. This year saw the birth of the National Basketball Association (NBA). For the first five seasons the NBA had only one leader, the Lakers, and only in 1951 could the undisputed leader be defeated by the Rochester Royals. In 1950 the first World Basketball Championship was played. The winner was the team from Argentina.