Inventor of Basketball

Ideas rule the world...they say so..and the world has witnessed the power of ideas in few magnificent examples. The start of many games and enterprises were born out of a mere curiosity or experiment. None would have imagined that such small ideas would one day rule the world!! The story of the invention of basketball, started as a small idea and today, it is one of the most popular games in the US, and is almost played over 200 countries in the world. Who invented basketball? How did the idea of "basket" and a "ball" pop up in his mind? Let's know in further paragraphs....

When and How was Basketball Invented?
The inventor of basketball was Dr. James Naismith (6th November 1861 - 28th November 1939 ), a Canadian who, during most years of his career, worked as a physical and athletic trainer. Dr. Naismith officially introduced the game in the US in December 1891 after he posted a set of 13 rules for playing the game.

The idea behind the invention of basketball came to James Naismith when he was working for the Young Men's Christian Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Naismith was a person who never allowed laziness and physical inactivity creep into the lives of his trainers and students. However, during winters when outdoor activities were difficult, he was helpless to see his students just doing rigorous and often monotonous gym schedule. The idea of some indoor game, that can be a holistic approach and mix of all the games, came to the mind of Dr. Smith. But what to invent? Hockey, football, baseball etc. were in existence and he needed to devise some new game that could be a good exercise regime and demanded some good stamina.

Dr. Naismith worked hard to modify some games like football, hockey etc, and invent something that he imagined would be played easily in the comfort of a large room hall or the large gym halls. Since he was unable to come up with any modifications of the available games, he analyzed the elements of the indoor sports which he wished to include in his new game. After his analysis, Dr. Naismith found that he required a ball that can be easily picked up and thrown. The dimensions of the ball mustn't be very big or too small. Since Naismith's mind was in search of some new game, he dropped the idea of traditionally carrying the ball in hand and running to the target. He added that the players can't run with the ball and have to pass the ball, instead. The target where the ball was to be put, was placed at some height to test the skills and deftness of the players hands and their strength.

For every successful shot, the team was awarded a point. Initially, it is said that they used peach baskets to let the balls pass through instead of the currently used rope baskets. An extremely modest human being, Dr. Naismith denied the game to be named as "Naismith balls" and preferred the name "basketball". And since then, the game became famous to be known as basketball.

Slowly and steadily, the game grew and its popularity spread in colleges and schools. Basketball became a sensation of that times and a favorite sports of youngsters. Basketball today is one of the most popular games in the world's sports arena. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and the NBA are names that every youth is now aware of, because of the glamor, passion and success associated with this game. The world owes a lot to the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, who gave us such a wonderful sport. Being a basketball fan, I owe him a tribute for his marvelous idea!!