Basketball is a sport with a history that is very different from many modern sports. While many of the present day team sports evolved from variations of past sports, basketball is unique, having been invented by Dr. James Naismith, a physician and minister working for the college for YMCA professionals (later called Springfield College, in Massachusetts). Seeking a rigorous game that could be played indoors during the New England winter to occupy restless young men, Naismith sat down in December of 1891 and developed the first set of rules for the game.
Legend has it that Naismith nailed a peach basket ten foot high on an elevated track. The first game was played on January 20, 1982, in the YMCA gymnasium, with nine players and a court half the size of a present day NBA court. A student suggested calling the game “basketball”, which seemed to be popular and stuck.
The original game was played with a soccer ball, and the first designated basketballs were brown. However, due to their lack of visibility to both players and crowds of fans, Tony Hinkle developed the modern day orange basketball in the late 1950’s nnd it is still used today. The college and pro basketballs are different from one another.
By: Peter Portero
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Origin of Basketball – Part 1
April 25th, 2010Basketball For Beginners – Positions
March 2nd, 2010
Though not specified anywhere within the rule books that there are certain positions which must be filled on the court, basketball has evolved into a very structured game where such positions have become an integral part of the game. Throughout the years, the positions have become more specific. During the first fifty years of the sport, teams generally populated the court with two guards, two forwards, and one center.
In the 1980’s the positions became more clearly defined, being renamed as five separate positions. The five men on court were now the point guard, the shooting guard, the small forward, the power forward, and the center. In certain plays, the center may be replaced with a third guard for a “three guard offense”.
There are two major defense strategies employed by professional basketball teams, one being a zone defense and the other a man-to-man defense. The zone defense strategy calls for players to maintain certain positions on the court and guard whichever player from the other team enters their “zone”. In a man-to-man defense, each player is assigned a specific opposing team member to guard and follows his actions all over the court in an attempt to keep his actions under control.
By: Peter Portero
