A Summarized History of Basketball

15 June 2007

You would be surprised to know the fact that, even if basketball seems quite a recent and contemporary sport, its origins date from the 19th century. More precisely, at the end of that century, a university professor was thinking about various ways to improve his students’ physical abilities. In order to do so, he actually adapted the rules of the game called “Duck on a Rock” and managed to set the basis for a new sport. Still, this game seemed a lot like a certain type of handball and did not present all the rules of basketball, as we know it today. For example, there was no dribbling, since the game was mostly focused on the bounce passes to the teammates.

Shortly after that, women started to play the same sport, while causing, at the same time, certain debates. The first basketball game was played in an educational environment, meaning at YMCA. Due to its great popularity, the new game spread quite fast all throughout United States, and was played in various clubs (at first in amateur clubs, then in professional ones). At the same time, basketball was intensively played in universities, where it actually started.

There is another interesting thing when talking about the history of basketball: at first, this game was not played with the ball that is used today. Instead, a soccer ball was used (which was lighter and with less elasticity). Just in the middle of the previous century, the famous and typical orange ball was introduced as the official ball of this game. At the same time, dribbling became an important part of the basketball game.

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