Whether you’re a fan or new to basketball, one question may bother you all before a game: But why are these 10 guys so desperate to get the ball in such a tight circle and every way possible? And what about the basket? To understand this, you have to go back to the origins of basketball, which are really recent.
The game was invented in December 1891 at a gymnasium in Springfield, Massachusetts. On a rainy day, James Naismith, a physical education teacher, looks for an activity for his students. Demanding, he strives for a full body and adequate technical play. It has two peach boxes 10 feet high (that is 3.05 m, the height still in effect today). He asks his students to put a soccer ball inside. To accomplish this, he also created thirteen simple rules, most of which still apply today.
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The peach baskets are in the shape of a circle and are called “baskets” in English or “baskets” in French, hence the name of the game: “basket-balloons”. Fifteen years after the start of the game, the baskets are replaced by metal rings, which are mounted on wooden panels. To score, the ball must enter the basket from above. The diameter of the ring is 45 cm and that of the ball is 24.8 cm. It’s easy to do when you’re under the basket, but it’s more complicated when you’re over 6.75 meters for a three-pointer.
Although Naismith always said that “Basketball was not invented by chance, it evolved to meet a need”, Today we know that he was inspired by a traditional Mayan ball game (“Pokol Pok”). In which a deciding point can be scored by sending a ball high over a stone wall into the ring. But also, in his own writing, “Duck on a Rock”, A game of skill for children practiced since the Middle Ages.
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