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James Naismith: A Very Brief History Of Basketball

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The first type of basketball game was played by the early Olmec people of ancient Mexico, and this was as early as 500 years ago. The Aztec and the Mayan also had an activity similar to basketball, yet instead of rubber balls they would use decapitated skulls of their conquered foes. The first actual game of basketball was on January 20th, 1892, this took place in Springfield, Massachusetts. The inventor of this game was a Canadian doctor named James Naismith, so that the YMCA had a sport for all the rowdy students to play during the winter months. He wrote simple rules for this game, and nailed up two peach baskets for hoops. The most original rules of this game are still used as rules in basketball we play today. As well as other rules being added to the game. …show more content…

The first game consisted of 18 players, or in other word 9 players per team. Since neither YMCA or Naismith could afford to make a new ball for this sport, what they used were soccer balls. They also agreed that the game would be played for 30 minutes, and that the final score would end up being 1-0. Halfway through this game a man named William R. Chase made it so the ball would go into the peach basket, and became the first person to ever score a basket. This is also when they decided to call this sport basketball. The game grew very popular within the first couple years. Yet within a decade the YMCA decided to ban the game because of how rough and violent it had become. However many other ameture groups including the Ameture Athletic Union decided to pick up the slack and play ball. From here basketball leagues started

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