James Naismith
Being a high school basketball coach, and with the vision of being a college coach one day, I thought that it would be interesting to write about the founder of basketball. In December 1891, Canadian-born James Naismith, a physical education teacher at the YMCA training school, took a soccer ball and a peach basket into the gym and invented basketball. In 1893, James Naismith replaced the peach basket with iron hoops and a hammock-style basket. Ten years later came the open –ended nets of today. Before that, you had to retrieve your ball from the basket every time you scored. James Naismith was born in Ramsey township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada and attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. After serving as McGill’s Athletic Director, James Naismith moved on to work at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891. The game of basketball was inspired by a children’s game James Naismith knew called duck-on-a-rock, in which players throw a small rock at a “duck” placed on top of a large rock in an attempt to knock the “duck” off. The first game of basketball was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as goals. After changing the peach baskets for open hoop nets, James Naismith soon wrote the Thirteen Official Rules of Basketball. It’s very interesting to think of where we have come with sports. The early founders don’t receive enough recognition for what we have today. Basketball is one of the greatest games, I believe. References:
Belle, M About.Com: Inventors
Website: http://inventor.about.com/library/inventors/blbasketball.htm
Rader, B American Sports (pp108-109)
References: Belle, M About.Com: Inventors Website: http://inventor.about.com/library/inventors/blbasketball.htm Rader, B American Sports (pp108-109)
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
1. Inventor of basketball wrote the following letter – “You are not only an inspiration to basketball players throughout the world, but a model of all girls teams. Your attitude and success have been a source of gratification to me in illustrating the possibilities of the game in the development of the highest type of womanhood.”…
- 432 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Naismith came up with an idea. He got two peach baskets and nailed one to each end of the gym, ten feet above the floor. He made rules about how the ball could be moved across the floor. His thirteen rules are still used in today’s basketball games. The team loved the game and basketball was born.…
- 174 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
James Naismith was the creator of basketball. He created it in 1891 to condition young athletes in the winter. The “hoop” was a peach basket and the ball was a soccer styled ball. There were many rules for the new game. He created it in a YMCA gym in Springfield, Massachusetts. His team of eighteen was divided into two teams of nine and then the peach baskets were nailed above their heads. Every time one would score a basket, the game was stopped for the janitor to get up on a ladder and retrieve the ball. Later on, the bottoms of the “hoops” were taken out and they became a (sort of) real basket.…
- 300 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
It all started in one day in Winesburg, Ohio there was a basketball player named Jordan Johnson. Jordan wasn’t always the biggest guy, standing at 5’6 150 pounds , but his dream was to play in the college if not the NBA. He always had people telling him, “You’re not going to college for basketball.”…
- 273 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
"Michael Jordan Bio." NBA.com: Michael Jordan Bio. National Basketball Association, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. .…
- 1025 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The sport of basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891. As the sport developed, players came and went, but a few legends remained. Of those legends, Michael Jordan is one who will always be remembered.…
- 907 Words
- 4 Pages
Better Essays -
He first started of by saying the thing that he was good at. He said he was good at basketball, and that he started at first grade. He said that he naturally gravitated towards the sport, and that he would not change a thing about how he loved the game. He said he would go outside, and shoot at his hoop in order to get practice in, and get better.…
- 200 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
After so many failures Naismith finally had a break through with the group introducing a brand new game that consisted of a peach basket nailed to the wall ten feet from the ground and a soccer ball till they had enough money to design a new…
- 694 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Theodor Geisel Seuss was born March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His parents were Theodor Robert Geisel and Henrietta Seuss Geisel. Theodor and Dr. Seuss had a different father son relationship than many do today. His father was interested in athletics but more importantly, marksmanship. He would sometimes accompany his dad to the YMCA for a basketball game. This was the same YMCA where basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1981 (Zawacki). When his father was appointed to the springfield park board in 1909, Seuss would often…
- 1409 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Basketball is a game played between two teams in which they compete to shoot a ball into a netted hoop. In the 1930’s the rules of the…
- 1007 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The history of the game of basketball is unique to other sports. Instead of the game gradually developing into a sport over time, the invention of basketball was immediate. In eighteen-ninety-one, when a local YMCA gave him the task of creating a game for students, James Naismith designed a game he named “basketball”. From there, the game quickly grew into a national and worldwide phenomenon. Only forty-five years later, in nineteen-thirty-six, basketball was introduced to the Olympics games. Founded in nineteen-forty-nine, the National Basketball Association, a collection of professional men’s teams, became the nation’s hallmark league. Finally, the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) was created in nineteen-ninety-six. Now, basketball…
- 219 Words
- 1 Page
Good Essays -
The person that I have admired my whole life would be Michael Jordan. He was born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. Michael Jordan is a former National Basketball Association(NBA) player, businessman, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He is acclaimed to be “the greatest basketball player of all time.” The high lights of his career include his six National Basketball Association Championships with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan played on two gold medal Olympic teams in 1984 and 1992.…
- 1099 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
This hall of fame (located in Springfield, Massachusetts), unlike baseball and football's hall of fames, represents all of basketball in one hall. (The other halls have separate halls for college and professional). Among the items on the site are information about the Hall of Famers, running from James Naismith, who invented basketball, to Medowlark Lemon, to Phog Allen, to Lynette Woodward. Five whole teams are also honored as members, including the Harlem Globetrotters, the New York Rens and the Buffalo Germans. Three people, Lenny Wilkens, Bill Sharman and John Wooden, are honored both as players and as coaches. The history here, outside of the hall, is…
- 1427 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
It wasn’t until the year 1893 when Sendra Berenson introduced the world to women’s basketball. When the women were playing a game no male spectators were allowed there at the time. In 1896 a game played between Stanford and California was the first women’s intercollegiate game. In that same year a game played in Illinois was the first intercollegiate women’s high school game to be recognized. It wasn’t until 1971 that women were finally allowed to play basketball on a full court, but in the state Oklahoma, women’s high school leveled basketball wasn’t allowed to play full court until 24 years later in 1995. In 1936, the Amateur Athletic Union held the first women’s national championship and the first women’s world championship was held by FIBA in 1969. But, the best change that ever happened in all women’s sports was when the Title IX took place in 1972. This equalized men’s an women’s sports (Tactics…
- 558 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Basketball was invented in December 1891 by the Canadian clergyman, educator, and physician James Naismith. Naismith introduced the game when we were an instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the request of his superior, Dr. Luther H. Gulick, he organized a vigorous recreation suitable for indoor winter play. The game involved elements of American football, soccer, and hockey, and the first ball used was a soccer ball. Teams had nine players, and the goals were wooden peach baskets affixed to the walls. By 1897-1898, teams of five became standard. The game rapidly spread nationwide and to Canada and other parts of the world, played by both women and men; it also became a popular informal outdoor game. U.S. servicemen in World War II (1939-1945) popularized the sport in many other countries.…
- 859 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays