In the pre-computer era, children played outdoor games in the air. A game called “Duck on the Rock” was popular among Americans. A stone called a duck was placed on a stump or other elevation. A “guard” stood near him, which was supposed to prevent other players from trying to bring down the “duck” to the ground.
It is said that it was in this fun that a physical education teacher from the college of the American city of Springfield saw the concept of a game called basketball. This person's last name was Naismith. James could not even imagine how popular this game would become around the world.
Athlete, teacher, inventor
Basketball's father was born in 1861, in Ontario, Canada. Now in the town of Mississippi Mills there is a house-museum of the inventor of basketball. Since childhood, he was fond of sports, especially game types. If hockey at that time was as popular as it is now, a center forward would probably have appeared in one of the Canadian teams, whose shirt would have the name Naismith. James, while studying at the University of Montreal, played other games, mainly in the form of football - in European (called in North America sokker) and Canadian.
The young man had an innovative mindset and an inventive streak. Canadian, like American, football has English rugby in its ancestors and is a supercontact game with increased injury risk. Severe collisions resulted in permanent damage. James Naismith is considered the first player to use a protective helmet. The rules did not prohibit this, and other students followed his example, fearing for the safety of their ability to successfully assimilate teaching material.
Bachelor of Physical Education
After graduating from university and becoming a certified teacher of physical education, James Naismith moved to a neighboring country. Since 1891, he began working in one of the colleges organized by YMKA (YMKA - Young Men's Christian Association) - a youth Christian organization in the city of Springfield, in the state of Massachusetts. In addition to gymnastics, he taught anatomy.
As a teacher, James Naismith was considered a true professional. He sought to introduce students to the sport, trying to make classes interesting, without turning into boring and monotonous exercises. In the summer, it was easier to organize outdoor competitions, where students played baseball and soccer, in the winter it was more difficult to maintain interest in gymnastics in the gym. College Director Dr. Luther Gulick asked James to come up with something. And better not as aggressive as rugby or American football. The creative nature of a talented physical education teacher once helped Naismith find a brilliant solution.
Soccer ball and two peach baskets
James Naismith invented a game with a ball indoors to dispel the boredom of doing gymnastics or running monotonously around them. They say that the rules of the new game, relevant in general terms today, were formulated within an hour. Once he noticed how some of the students from the college rugby college team are trying to play in the hall, using a large box instead of a goal.
December 1, 1891, dividing the students into two teams, he proposed to hit the ball in a wooden box located on the floor in the center of the gym. The case ended in a heap, when the defenders got up around the box and completely blocked it from the rivals. A gallery was located around the perimeter of the hall, and James got the idea to nail two empty baskets to its opposite sides in which fruit was delivered to college. The first basketball players were supposed to get into them with a leather ball for European football, gaining points.
Shield, ring and mesh.
The height at which the baskets were strengthened was 305 centimeters, which is preserved in the modern rules of the game. Now it became more difficult to block the opponent’s throws, and the game went more dynamically. Unnecessary pauses occurred when the guard, who was named Stebbins, had to get the balls that hit the target. Perhaps this was his first patience to end, and he cut out the bottom of the baskets so that the ball itself fell down. Soon, metal rings with a mesh were made, which have not fundamentally changed to our time.
The game turned out to be so exciting that soon the competition began to attract fans filling the gallery. In an effort to help players, they often caught the ball flying past the goal, and lowered it into the basket. To protect the ring from voluntary assistants, I had to build a shield to which the basket was attached. Subsequently, he began to play a different role, but still remained one of the most important attributes of basketball.
First rules
Understanding what sports game James Naismith invented is very simple. Today, a durable metal ring equipped with a synthetic mesh should support the weight of two-meter athletes, but is still called the basket - in English basket. A modern ball made of a unique polymer is a product of complex technologies and high design. It does not look much like the football leather that Naismith found the most suitable, but it is still called in English ball - a ball.
The rules of basketball for over a hundred years have changed dramatically, making this game the fastest in the world. But the first, original, were published on January 15, 1892 in a school newspaper called the Triangle. This day is considered the official birthday of basketball - a game that today is played by about 300 million.
Ad-Free Popularity
The new game - fast and exciting, which could be played both outdoors and indoors, with simple and clear rules, immediately liked the youth. Naismith began to be contacted from various educational institutions from all over America with a request to send basketball rules. In 1892 a book was published in which they were formulated in 13 paragraphs. The main provisions of the rules are unshakable for the current generation.
A sheet with typewritten rules on which Naismith’s hand marked the heading “Basketball” was sold at an auction in 2010 for over 4 million dollars. The father of basketball himself did not engage in special “promotion” of the new game and did not use it for self-promotion. The game, authored by James Naismith - basketball, is considered to be the most "American", but the nee canadian received US citizenship only in 1925, 34 years after the resettlement. He pursued his own pedagogical career, having obtained several degrees in religion, philosophy and medicine. But his brainchild quickly gained popularity around the world.
Olympic sport
In 1898, the first professional league appeared in the United States. Players received $ 2.5 for home games and $ 1.25 for away games. Less than a hundred years later, one of the star players, the Washington Bullets NBA team, Juvan Howard, signed a contract according to which he received $ 100 million over seven seasons.
A basketball show was held at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, and the first official tournament was held at the Berlin Olympics in 1936, at which the U.S. team won Canada 18: 9 in the final. The guest of honor, who made a symbolic face-off in the final match, was the inventor of the game himself. Invited to the Olympics by the top leadership of the IOC, he was able to appreciate the magnitude of the popularity that his brainchild gained throughout the world.
Intravital and posthumous fame
Naismith died on November 28, 1939, surrounded by five children and many grandchildren. Perhaps the invention by James Naismith of a steam hammer, as his English almost namesake James Nesmith did, or, for example, a sewing machine, would have brought him more prosperity and a better life. But so far, millions of people are grateful to him for the joy that his invention brings.
Today, basketball is a powerful industry in which billions of dollars are invested and an exciting game for ordinary people at venues in many regions of the world. Basketball Halls of Fame in North American cities bear the name of the father of basketball, many
sports facilities around the planet.