basketball

Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of basketball. He was born in 1861 in

Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from

Naismith's school days in the area where he played a simple child's game known as

duck-on-a-rock outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game involved attempting to knock a

"duck" off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith went on to attend

McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

After serving as McGill's Athletic Director, James Naismith moved on to the YMCA Training

School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in 1891, where the sport of basketball was born.

In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable for

play inside during the Massachusetts winter for the students at the School for Christian

Workers. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that

relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively

small space. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as

goals.

James Naismith devised a set of thirteen rules of basketball:

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the

fist.
3. A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he

catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed.
4. The ball must be held in or between the hands. The arms or body must not be used for

holding it.
5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The

first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall

disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the

person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.
6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as

described in Rule 5.
7. If either side make three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents

(consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul).
8. Goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the ground into the basket

and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the

ball rests on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal.
9. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the

first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the

field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the

opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them.
10. The umpire shall be judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee

when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have the power to disqualify men

according to Rule 5.
11. The referee shall be the judge of the ball and decide when it is in play in bounds, to

which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made

and keep account of the goals with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.
12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves with five minutes' rest between.
13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winners.

In addition to the creation of the basketball, James Naismith graduated as a medical doctor,

primarily interested in sports physiology and what we would today call sports science and as

Presbyterian minister, with a keen interest in philosophy and clean living. Naismith watched

his sport, basketball, introduced in many nations by the YMCA movement as early as 1893.

Basketball was introduced at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Today basketball has grown to

become one of the world's most popular sports.