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History Of Basketball - INTRODUCTION |
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Basketball has had many forms over the last three
thousand years but we don't have to go too far back to trace the origins
of the modern game; just over 110 years.
A Canadian, James Naismith, takes the credit for inventing the game. As a new faculty member at the YMCA's International Training School (later Springfield College) in Massachusetts, Naismith was challenged by physical education director Luther Halsey Gulick to develope a new recreational game " that would provide relief from all the calisthenics and drills".
He was set on using a ball and didn't want the players just to run with it. And then thought it would be more fun if the goals were raised.
Eventually, Naismith, with input from Luther Gulick, came up with 13 basic rules, hung peach baskets up in the gym and hoped his students would play. He wasn't disappointed. Hundreds
joined in. 
He didn't make a penny from his invention, but he had seen his new game introduced as a new Olympic sport in 1936 (Berlin). Just three years before he passed away.
Today basketball is arguably one of the most popular sports. It has grown to become a game not for a specific culture or nation or ethnic group, but for an entire planet to share and enjoy.
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