Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by throwing a ball through a 10-foot high hoop (the basket) under organized rules.

Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

In contrast to most other sports that developed over time out of games that people began to play informally, basketball is an intentionally invented game. In 1891, James Naismith was commissioned to create an indoor activity for students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts (USA), as they were bored doing nothing but calisthenics and gymnastics when they couldn't go outside to play baseball or run track in winter. Naismith combined elements of outdoor games like soccer and lacrosse with a game that he used to play in childhood, "Duck on a Rock" (to win this game, players throw stones to hit a target placed on top of a large boulder). Those simple ingredients like a ball and an elevated goal are the base of the sport that is now played in nearly every part of the world.

On December 21, 1891, the first basketball game was played with a soccer ball between the students at the YMCA. Naismith had written down 13 rules and nailed two peach baskets to a balcony railing ten feet above the floor.

The first collegiate game in women's basketball history was held in 1896.

After a trial appearance as a display sport in the 1904 Olympic Games in St Louis, (USA), basketball made its official olympic debut in Berlin in 1936. James Naismith threw the first ball of the first game of the tournament to mark the occasion.

Date: August 3, 1949 Place: New York City, NY In 1937, the National Basketball League (NBL) was founded, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) followed in 1946. Both combined officially on August 3, 1949 to form the NBA. There are only two teams from the initial league that have remained in the same city and under the same name until today. These are the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.

A women’s olympic tournament was first held in Montreal (Canada) in 1976.

Professional players are allowed to represent their country since the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain), when world-famous players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird formed the US Dream Team.

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Created by: Berlin
Last edited by: Viva Colonia

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