25 A Slam Dunk 1891

When Dr James Naismith was living in the USA, he was asked to create a new game that could be played inside when it was cold. He never guessed that his game of basketball was going to become one of the most popular games in the world and a multi-billion dollar business.

James was born in Ontario, Canada. He was not a good student, but he loved sports. The game he loved the most was called “Duck on a Rock”. In this game, one child guards a large rock (the “Duck”) which is set on top of another, larger rock. Other children try to knock the duck down with their own stones, then run to retrieve them before being tagged by the guard. James got good at this game. He saw that it was easier to knock down the big rock when he threw his stones in an arc, like this (), not a straight line, like this ( __ ).

As James grew up, he became very good at sports. He went to university to study physical education and later became a teacher. James got a job teaching at the YMCA in the USA.

James found that all of his students were lazy, bored, did not listen well, and would try to hurt each other when playing sports. It was often cold in the part of the USA where they lived, so his students had to stay inside. This made them even more difficult to control. James was asked to find a game that would not take up too much space inside. A game that could be played safely on wooden floors. A game that would keep the boys moving without anyone getting badly hurt.

It took James two weeks to think of it. He looked at all the games people liked to play-soccer, hockey, baseball, and others. Then James remembered Duck on a Rock. James thought a game of skill like Duck on a Rock would be better than a game of strength. He thought a ball that was soft would be best for indoors. He thought it would be better for players to throw the ball to each other, not run with it. James saw that players usually got hurt when they were running or hitting the ball. He did not want one guard to be hurt by trying to keep the ball out of the goal. James put the goal up high.He knew that the boys would have to throw in an arc to throw up high. This would stop the boys from trying to push the ball in a straight line which often makes players hurt each other. James called his game basket ball.

There were 18 boys in James' class so he put nine boys on each team. James got two baskets that were used to carry peaches. He put them 10 feet up in the air. He got a soccer ball. He wrote 13 rules onto a board. These rules said that the ball had to be held in both hands and players had to throw the ball without running. When a player caught a ball, the rules said he had to throw it within five seconds. No player could touch another player unless it was an accident. Each team was to get the most number of goals by throwing the soccer ball into the other team's peach basket.

BASKETBALL WAS INVENTED TO KEEP HIGH SCHOOL BOYS PHYSICALLY FIT

The first basketball game ever was played on December 21, 1891. When James told the boys about his idea, Frank Mahan, one of his students, was not happy. Frank said:“Harrumph. Another new game.” The boys tried it. When one player got the ball into the basket, the game had to be stopped. Someone had to get a ladder, climb up it and get the ball out of the basket. Metal hoops with nets that had open bottoms were not used until 1913. That first game, at the YMCA, ended with a score of 1-0.

It was not long before basketball was played in YMCA gyms all over the USA, then Canada, then the world. In 1893, the first basketball game played in China was in Tientsin. During the first world war, American soldiers played the game in many countries. More and more people started to play basketball.

At first, basketball was a boy's game. Boys did not think that girls could play. They thought it was too physically hard for girls to run for 15 minutes before having a rest. The Edmonton Commercial Graduates(Grads)proved them wrong very quickly.

The Grads were a team of 10 Canadian females who started playing basketball in 1915. Over the next 25 years, the Grads won a record-breaking number of basketball games. The team played 522 games of basketball and won 502 times. They even won 147 times in a row before they lost one game. This record for the most number of winning games in a row has never been broken. It has never been broken by any other team in basketball or any other sport. The Grads played for Canada at four Olympic Games from 1924 to 1936. They won all 27 of those games. James called the Edmonton Commercial Graduates “The finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor.”

Today basketball is played by men, women and children all over the world. It is played in the backyards of children's homes in Canada. It is played by professionals like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in front of television cameras. Professional teams have scored as many as 186 points in one game. Basketball is played by the Harlem Globetrotters for fun. It is played seriously at the Paralympics by people in wheelchairs.

Dr James Naismith's invention has become one of the most popular games in the world.