In December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, who is a Canadian physical education professor from McGill University of Montreal and instructor at YMCA Training School now days it is called as Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, wanted a energetic indoor game to keep his students at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting lot of 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 a hole was drilled into the bottom of the basket, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time. 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, paving the way for the game we know today. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. 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 on January 20, 1892 with nine players. The game ended at 1-0 the shot was made from 25 feet (7.6 m), on a court just half the size of a present-day Streetball or National Basketball Association (NBA) court. By 1897–1898 teams of five became standard. By the end of 1950, basketball had become a major college sport, thus paving the way for a growth of interest in professional basketball. In 1959, a basketball hall of fame was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts, site of the first game.
The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points, or three points if it is taken from beyond the three point arc which is 6.25 metres Template : Convert from the basket in international games and 23 feet 9 inches or 7.2 m in NBA games.
The International Basketball Federation was formed in 1932 by eight founding nations : Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland. At this time, the organization only oversaw amateur players. Its acronym, derived from the French Federation International de Basketball Amateur, was thus "FIBA."
Men's Basketball was first included in the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, although a demonstration tournament was held in 1904. The United States defeated Canada in the first final, played outdoors. This competition has usually been dominated by the United States, whose team has won all but three titles, the first loss in a controversial final game in Munich in 1972 against the Soviet Union. In 1950 the first FIBA World Championship for men was held in Argentina. Three years later, the first FIBA World Championship for Women was held in Chile. Women's basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976, which were held in Montreal, Canada with teams such as the Soviet Union, Brazil and Australia rivaling the American squads.
Playing Court Dimensions
A regulation basketball court in international games is 28 by 15 meters approximately 92 by 49 ft and in the NBA is 94 by 50 feet or 29 by 15 m. Most courts are made of wood, usually maple. A steel basket with net and backboard hang over each end of the court. At almost all levels of competition, the top of the rim is exactly 10 feet or 3.05 m above the court and 4 feet or 1.2 m inside the baseline. While variation is possible in the dimensions of the court and backboard, it is considered important for the basket to be of the correct height; a rim that is off by but a few inches can have an adverse effect on shooting.
There are also regulations on the size of the basketball should be. If women are playing, the official basketball size is 28.5" in circumference size 6 and a weight of 20 oz or 1.3 Pounds. For men, the official ball is 29.5" in circumference size 7 and weighs 22 oz or 1.4 Pounds.
