Genesis Of Basketball

Most sports buffs today, catch a game of soccer or just the tennis highlights on TV, if we aren’t fortunate enough to watch the match in the stadium. Some of us make do with the highlights on sports news. Ever wondered who invented these games, why did they do it and how? Well, the story behind each of these games is very interesting to say the least. Take basketball for example, an amazing story indeed.  Let’s take a quick peek into the December of 1891 to get story on basketball.

Imagine a bunch of young men, used to burning off all excess energy on the football field or some such strenuous pursuits, cooped up indoors in the dreary winter season. It is a recipe for boredom and more. Catching a game or sports videos on TV was not an option! To be fair, the gymnasium did offer the young college students activities like marching, calisthenics, apparatus work but these activities simply weren’t a match for the more exciting and energetic games of football and lacrosse that could be played in fairer weather conditions.

This was the challenge that landed squarely on the lap of James Naismith, a 31 year old graduate student, who was studying physical education under the capable guidance of Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick. While Naismith was mulling over this challenge, his mind flashed back to the class discussions with Dr.Gulick, where, Dr.Gulick had talked about the need of an indoor game that would be interesting, and easy to play indoors.

Naismith had a compelling challenge at hand. It was to create a simple game, but complex enough to interest the players. He also needed to take into consideration that, as it was an indoor game, to be played in a confined space, it should not be too rough, so as to avoid injuries and yet it must be such that it could involve several players at once. It sure was not the easiest of tasks and took a lot of time, effort and thought to create this amazing game – basketball.  The game included many elements of American football, hockey, soccer, English and American rugby. For the goal post, Naismith contemplated using eighteen-inch square boxes and enlisted the janitor to find a couple of them for him. But he had to make do with peach baskets instead! He nailed these baskets to the lower rail of the gym balcony at the height of ten feet, opposite each other.  Volunteers were enlisted to throw the ball to the players, each time a player made a basket. It would be several years before someone, ingeniously opened up the bottom of the basket!

James Naismith came up with thirteen rules that governed the game. These rules are still in play today, barring a few modifications. This game conceived by James Naismith soon gained popularity across US and Canada, and soon spread to other places. The World War II saw the US servicemen popularizing this game in other countries as well. By 1905, basketball was officially recognized as an official winter sport. The next time you are watching the basketball highlights with a couple of friends, zap them with some basketball trivia.

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