Basketball is a team sport played on a rectangular court with an elevated basket at each end. Points are scored by shooting or dribbling a ball through the opponent’s basket. The game originated at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, where James Naismith first created it as an alternative to the winter sports of hockey and rugby.
Naismith invented the game while he was teaching physical education to eighteen students in an indoor gym. He had been playing both hockey and rugby for some time, but he wanted to add some more excitement to his classes.
After he had written up 13 rules, Naismith divided his class into two teams and began teaching them how to play. They began by throwing the ball through the fruit baskets nailed to the lower railing of the gym balcony.
The game was a success, and Naismith soon found that it could be played with only three players on each side. The game was a lot faster and more exciting than the other sports Naismith had taught, and it became an instant hit.
It was also a more social event than the other sports, which made it popular among men and women alike. This was because it was not as physically strenuous as some other sports, so people were more likely to play it with friends and family.
In 1892, the first public basketball game was held in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a huge success and quickly grew in popularity throughout the United States and internationally.
How to Play the Game
The game of basketball is played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court with an elevated basket. Each player plays a specific position and is assigned to a specific team on the court.
Each team has a designated basket, or goal, for defending. The team that scores more points wins the game.
A basket is worth two points and a free throw is worth one point. Depending on the format of the game, a basket outside the three-point arc is worth three points.
During a game, each team plays eight minutes called quarters and if the score is tied, overtime periods are played until one team wins. Gaps between quarters are usually short.
The team with the most points at the end of a half is the winner. A team loses a point for every foul committed during a half.
A player whose team is out of bounds during a play is given the ball at the nearest end or baseline. He must then pass the ball to his team. If he fails to do so, the opposing team will score.
In addition, if a player is fouled while not shooting, his team receives the ball at the nearest side or baseline and they must pass it back to their team within 5 seconds. If they make their first shot, they are awarded a free throw.
The most important thing for a player to do during a game of basketball is to stay focused. A player should not dribble the ball if they are distracted by someone else on their team or by other things going on in the court. If a player is unable to do this, they can be punished by being given a technical foul. A technical foul is not a direct foul and does not involve contact with another player or the ball. It can be a foul in the form of a verbal remark, an obscene gesture, or an inappropriate act like filling the scorebook incorrectly.
