BASKETBALL

History, Materials and Equipment

Presented by:
MARMAE TUONAN
BSEM-2B
 HISTORY
The only major sport strictly of
U.S. origin, basketball was invented
by James Naismith (1861-1939) on
or about December 1, 1891, at the
International Young Men’s Christian
Association (YMCA) Training School
(now Springfield College),
Springfield, Massachusetts, where
Naismith was an instructor in
physical education.
 For that first game of basketball in
1891, Naismith used as goals two
half-based peach baskets, which gave
the sport its name. Word spread
about the newly invented game, and
numerous associations wrote
Naismith for a copy of the rules,
which were published in the January
15, 1892, issue of the Triangle, the
YMCA Training School’s campus paper.
 In early years the number of players on
a team varied according to the number in
the class and the size of the playing area. In
1894 teams began to play with five on a
side when the playing areas was less than
167.2 square metres, the number rose to
seven when the gymnasium measured
from 334.5 square metres and up to nine
players when the playing area exceeded
that. In 1895 the number was occasionally
set at five by mutual consent, the rules
stipulated five players two years later, and
this number has remained ever since.
To date there are 212
member countries
worldwide who
regularly participate in
recreational basketball
and 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.
Materials
&
Equipment
 BALL
The most important thing is the ball.
There are certain guidelines which one
needs to follow when buying it. For
practicing, one can play rubber ball. For
professional competitions one needs to
use an inflated ball made of leather.
Official size of a basketball is 29.5 to 30
inches in circumference for men’s game
and 28.5 in circumference for women’s
game. It should weight 18 to 22 ounces.
When bounced off 6 feet from the floor, a
well inflated ball should bounce 49 to 54
 The basketball court is the next important thing for
shooting balls in the game. The court is usually made of
wooden floorboard. The court is about 28m x 17m
according to the International standards. The National
Basketball Association (NBA) regulation states the floor
dimension as 29m x 15m. The standard court is
rectangular in shape and has baskets placed on opposite
ends.

BASKETBALL COURT
HOOP/BASKET
The hoop or basket
is a horizontal
metallic rim, circular
in shape. This rim is
attached to a net and
helps score a point.
The rim is mounted to
4 feet inside the
baseline and 10 feet
above the court.
 The backboard is the
rectangular board that is placed
BACKBOARD behind the rim. It helps give
better rebound to the ball. The
backboard is about 1800mm in
size horizontally and 1050mm
vertically. Many times,
backboards are made of acrylic,
aluminum, steel or glass.
SHOES
One needs specialized
shoes when playing
basketball. It should be able
to give better support to the
ankle as compared to
running shoes. The
basketball shoes should have
high tipped shoes and
provide extra comfort during
a game. These shoes are
specially designed to
maintain high traction on the
basketball court.
 When one starts coaching a basketball team, the most
important requirement for a team is a uniform. This helps
one differentiate teams from one another. A uniform
consists of a jersey, shorts, numbers on the front and back
of the shirts for identification.
 The coach or referee uses a
whistle to indicate the start or WHISTLE
end of a game. This can even
use in the middle game to
stop the play. Whistle also
helps to indicate fouls,
timeout, or out of bound balls
to the players. In order to get
the attention of the players,
many times coaches use the
whistle to gather the players.