BASKETBALL

Brief History and It’s Development

Basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr James Naismith, a Canadian of Scottish descent at

Springfield College Massachusetts. The college was the International YMCA Training School and the
game was invented to provide an indoor activity for trainee YMCA leaders. When the game was first
played, peach baskets were nailed up at each end of the gymnasium as “goals”, hence the origin of the
name “basketball”.

The first set of rules was published and distributed through the YMCA movement in 1892 and this
resulted in the game spreading rapidly throughout Canada and the USA. 1892 also saw the game played
in England for the first time at Birkenhead YMCA after the Club President was the game played whilst on
a business trip to Canada. In 1893 the game was introduced into the Physical Training College in
Hampstead (now Dartford College of PE) by Madame Berman Osterberg. Changes to the game to suit
the girls led to the first rules of netball being published in 1901.

By 1898 a professional league was established in the USA and by 1911 basketball had spread
throughout the UK as a sport. In 1924 it was introduced as a demonstration sport at the Paris Olympic
Games and Great Britain won the title. 1927 saw Abe Saperstein a Londoner from the world famous
Harlem Globetrotters and in 1931 FIBA the International Basketball Federation was formed with a
Welshman as its first secretary.

The England Basketball Association was formed in 1936, 13 years before the NBA was formed in
America, and by 1957 the English Schools Basketball Association was formed. The 1970’s saw the
introduction of both men’s and women’s national leagues in the UK, and by 1999, 219 teams were
entered in the over 16 national leagues with almost 100 competing at under 15 levels. By 1990 there
were 117 member countries in FIBA making basketball the second largest of all the world’s governing
bodies and also the world’s fastest growing and largest participation sport.

To date there are 212 member countries worldwide, whilst in the UK alone there are over
500,000 people who regularly participate in recreational basketball and it has become increasingly
common to find the sport as part of the curriculum in schools at all levels. It is also used widely as a
community activity as anyone of any age or gender can participate. Basketball is now included in the
Commonwealth Games and the sport in general received a lot of coverage when the GB wheelchair
team performed very successfully in the Paralympics recently, proving that it is a sport that is accessible
and playable all.

Facilities and Equipment

1. the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end.
In professional or organized basketball, especially when played indoors, it is usually made out of a wood,
often maple, and highly polished and completed with a 10 foot rim.

2. Basketball courts come in different sizes. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the court is 94
by 50 feet (28.7 by 15.2 m). Under International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules, the court is slightly
smaller, measuring 28 by 15 meters (91.9 by 49.2 ft). In amateur basketball, court sizes vary widely.
3. Free Throw Lane The free throw lane is a rectangle in a team’s front court and used to line up players
during a free throw. The standard free throw lane is 19 feet long by 12 feet wide. The player shooting
the free throw stands at the top of the lane, while other players stand in marked spots along each side
of the lane. On offense, players may not stand in the lane for more than three seconds unless they are
making a move to the basket with the ball. In the NBA, defensive players may not be in the lane for
more than three seconds unless they are actively guarding an offensive player. The free throw lane is
sometimes referred to as the “paint” or the “key.”

4. Three-Point Line The three-point line is a semicircle that surrounds the basket area on each team’s
side of the court. Players who stand behind the line and make a field goal are given three points instead
of the standard two points for a regular field goal. In high school and women’s college basketball, the
three-point line is 19 feet 9 inches from the center of the basketball hoop. In men’s college basketball,
the line is 20 feet 9 inches away. In the NBA, it stands 23 feet 9 inches from the hoop at the top of the
arc and 22 feet at the sidelines.

5. Sidelines and Baselines The sidelines and baselines of a basketball court mark the outside boundaries
for out-of-bounds purposes. The sidelines run the length of the court and the baselines are behind each
basket. All standard basketball courts measure 50 feet in width. For high school, the court length is 84
feet, while in college and the NBA it is 94 feet long.

6. Center Jump Circle The center jump circle is where the game action starts and has a radius of 6 feet.
All players other than the two jumpers must stand outside the circle until the ball is tipped. The center
jump circle is not used at any other point in the game other than the opening tip and if a tip is needed to
start an overtime period. Two jump circles located at the free throw line are used in the NBA for held
ball situations.

7. Division Line The division line is a line running the width of the middle court that divides it into two
equal sections. In high school and college, a team has 10 seconds to get the ball across the division line,
also known as the halfcourt line. In the NBA, the time requirement is eight seconds.

8. Basket The basket – one on each end of the floor – is made up of a backboard and a ring that holds a
net, which is designed to check the ball as it passes through the basket. The standard basketball
backboard is 72 inches wide and is positioned 4 feet inside the baseline. The hoop, or ring, stands 10
feet off the floor and is 18 inches in diameter.

9. The official size of the basketball used by the NBA is 29.5 inches in circumference. That’s the same size
used throughout men’s college and high school basketball leagues. The WNBA uses a slightly smaller
ball, measuring 28.5 inches in circumference.

10. A backboard is a piece of basketball equipment. It is a raised vertical board with an attached basket
consisting of a net suspended from a hoop. It is made of a flat, rigid piece of, often Plexiglas or tempered
glass which also has the properties of safety glass when accidentally shattered.

11. a large board that displays the score in a game or contest a similar board that also displays each
batsman’s score, and manystatistics and pieces of information