he only participated twice, James explained he “just didn’t get around to playing.” A Brief HistoryThe game of basketball has been around for over a century now. This must mean it is a great game because it has survived so long. About 100 years, from when Dr. James Naismith officially invented it in 1892, until now, the game has been increasing in popularity and participation. Here is a look at its humble beginnings.While at Springfield College in Massachusetts, James Naismith’s PE instructor, Luther Gulick, assigned his students to the task of inventing a new recreational game to relieve the physical stress of callisthenics and drills. Thus came a new game; basketball.So far only the concept of the game was invented; the rules still needed to be worked out. Due to the lack of space of indoor fields, James decided to keep running to a minimum in his new game. Also, because of the roughness of the floor he decided to omit tackling. As to the goal of the game, his youthful days aided him here. He borrowed the idea of his childhood game of duck-on-the-rocks, where children would aim and through rocks at a single rock perched upon a larger one. James also remembered the rugby off-seasons, which he and his friends used to spend playing a game where they would throw balls into empty boxes or baskets. This led him to concoct the goal of the game. A player would arc a ball into a horizontally elevated basket. This game used accuracy as a key skill to scoring rather than simple brute force. James also borrowed rules from lacrosse and rugby. Finally basketball had its primary rules:no running with the ballno tackling or rough body contacta horizontal basket above players’ heads would be the goalany player had the freedom to obtain the ball and score at any timeWith the game now developed and the rules in place, basketball was ready to be played. James decided to test out this new game of basketball on h...
