Basketball by MagikUnicorn
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Description
Basketball is a team sport, the objective being to shoot a ball through a horizontally positioned basket to score points, while following a set of rules.
Usually, two teams of five players play on a marked rectangular court with a basket at each width end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.
In early December 1891, Canadian Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA) (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA), was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day.
He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was removed, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time.
Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a major part of the game around the 1950s, as manufacturing improved the ball shape.
The peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were finally replaced by metal hoops with backboards. A further change was soon made, so the ball merely passed through. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game.
The baskets were originally nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators on the balcony began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference; it had the additional effect of allowing rebound shots.
Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called "Duck on a Rock", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball".
The first official game was played in the YMCA gymnasium in Albany, New York on January 20, 1892.
Comments (42)
MagikUnicorn
Le basket-ball ou basketball est un sport collectif opposant deux équipes de cinq joueurs qui se joue à la main. Le but est de marquer plus de points que l'équipe adverse en marquant des paniers, c'est-à-dire en faisant passer le ballon à travers un anneau placé à plusieurs mètres du sol (3,05 m dans les catégories adultes). Inventé en 1891 par James Naismith, un pasteur canadien installé à Springfield dans l'État du Massachusetts (États-Unis), le basket-ball est aujourd'hui l'un des sports les plus pratiqués de la planète, rivalisant avec le football - aussi appelé soccer en Amérique du Nord - en termes de popularité mondiale. En 2007, on compte plus de 450 millions de pratiquants à travers le monde, selon la FIBA.. Les femmes représentent une bonne part des pratiquants, mais la reconnaissance du basket-ball féminin reste moindre. Aujourd'hui encore, contrairement au tennis, il souffre d'un traitement très inégal sur le plan médiatique et financier.
johndoop
Beautiful picture and info!!!
jayfar
A great shot and thanks for the info - I didn't know most of that.
Richardphotos
superb shot
Savage_dragon
:}
clbsmiley
vERY INTERESTING!!
Cyve
Superbe image et merci pour les intéressantes informations!!!
artofsouls
Beautiful picture great history of the game
bakapo
thanks for the info on my hometown! :) this is a cool image.
eekdog
great info.
mikeerson
damn, I'm glad you explained what Basketball is because living in Denver, the Nuggets have never won a championship - lol... but ya know what, they try and this year they ripped off a huge win streak - best in their franchise history... but, I never got into basketball... and I can't wait for Football - lol.... the Manning Brothers got their WR together and went to Duke University and worked out.... Broncos VS Giants - that's the SUPERBOWL I want to see this next year.
Flint_Hawk
Fascinating information & good capture!
flavia49
gorgeous capture
mgtcs
superb capture dear friend, marvelous information, thank you for sharing!
GOLDILOCKSUK
Excellent motion shot and interesting read well done :) Cathy xoxoxo
barryjeffer
Looks like this fella has the moves. Great details in your commentary. Excellent.
Faemike55
Very interesting capture and cool history lesson
jocko500
very wonderful history you have here
magnus073
Magik, this is a fantastic image. I enjoyed reading the history of basketball
DennisReed
Cool History!
brycek
Wonderful shot and information!!
cricke49
outstanding commentary and capture Magik, a lot of that history about how the game came about i missed, thanx for the history of it!:)*5
renecyberdoc
very nice information.
whaleman
Nice work Magik!
bebert
joli montage
Darkwish
Cool! And nice shot!
adrie
Great photoshot and info my friend.
rayag
Fantastic !
1358
I've missed your work, your historical accuracies.... you world... I'm glad to be back to enjoy more and more of the magik that you bring to this site!
evielouise
Great write up and photo!