As a teacher from Canada came up with basketball

Unlike such popular command disciplines as football, hockey and baseball, evolved gradually, basketball is due to the advent of the fantasy of the inventor-loner. This sport was born thanks to James Naismith, a North American physical education teacher. Of course, today the original basketball rules are refined and improved, only the main principles of the game are preserved. However, up to now, the first 13 rules have been printed, printed on two typewritten pages. It's time to delve into the history of creating a popular game.

Severe winters of North America

James Naismith worked as a physical education teacher at the Springfield International Training School, and his students, because of bad weather, often had to train outside the gym. His charges required a serious physical load, and the monotonous exercises in the room quickly got bored. Even football, modified for the conditions of the room, could not save the situation. That year, the town of Springfield (Massachusetts) was snowed with the onset of late autumn. On the streets, snowstorms raged, which irritated everyone: both unruly students and the authorities of the institution.

Two weeks for an invention

Our hero, despite his youth and second year of work in the teaching field, was known as an innovator. It's no surprise that he was entrusted with inventing a game that would absorb the irrepressible energy of students during the winter months. Everything was allotted only two weeks.

Three basic requirements

First, a 31-year-old native of Canada studied the experience of other team sports in order to take only the most valuable of them. In the field of vision of the innovator came football, baseball, hockey, rugby and lacrosse. Thus, three basic requirements for the new game were deduced: sports balls should not injure players (they still have to get knowledge), the power struggle between rivals should be minimized (quick transfers to the partner), and also placing the ring high above the athletes' head.

"Duck on a rock"

None of the popular team games of the late 19th century was suitable for Naismith's ideal requirements. And then the coach remembered how in childhood with the boys in the yard they often played with the game "duck on the rock." The rules were simple: the player had to hit a rock at the top of the "rock" (larger in size stone.) As a child, the future inventor of basketball realized that the winner is not the one who throws the hardest, but the one who finds the ideal trajectory of the throw. This was in the hands of the boy, because he was not distinguished by impressive anthropometric data, although he was incredibly clever and strong. Thus, the children's fun of Canadian boys was put in the basis of a new sport.

A significant day

On December 21, 1896 James Naismith cleared the gymnasium of the school of gymnastic equipment, removed the wooden platforms, leaving only a football. He asked the janitor to bring two boxes and hang them on the balconies. But instead of boxes, a man brought baskets of peaches. Not removing the bottoms, Naismith fixed the "equipment" on the lower part of the balconies from opposite sides of the hall. Curiously, this height - 3 meters 5 centimeters - still remains unchanged in basketball rules. The case for small: it remains to collect teams.

The inventor called the students and divided them into two teams, each of which had 9 people. He gave his players a soccer ball and showed them the baskets that were nailed to each end of the room. Next Naismith voiced the idea: each team had to throw the ball into the basket of their opponents. The referee whistle sounded, and the historical, the first in the world, basketball game started.

The first game

It was sounded the only rule: someone had to sit on the balcony and throw down the ball, stuck in the basket in case of an accurate throw. However, the lack of guidelines quickly led players to problems. Adolescents decided that you can hit the ball with your feet or take a shell from the enemy. Naismith did not manage to separate his students. The skirmishes for the ball were so rude and fierce that one of the teenagers already earned a "shoulder dislocation" on the first game, and another one was knocked out. "It was more like street fights or fights without rules," as the inventor of basketball later admitted in one of the radio airs.

Naismith expected a failure after the first match. Imagine his surprise when the guys surrounded their mentor and begged to let him play again. Despite the rudeness, a new game with the ball amused teenagers. Therefore, the teacher had to urgently introduce some stringent restrictions. It took several days for the teacher of physical culture to develop 13 rules, which were printed by the secretary on two pages. The information was decided to be marked on the wall of the gym. Thus, each player was initiated into the course.

Introduction of rules

The most important rule was that the player holding the ball could not be attacked. This innovation would help avoid hassles and fights. The next game showed that Naismith was thinking in the right direction. Players began to make quick decisions, which helped them to act more swiftly. However, the fouls on the opponents, who own the ball, still remained. Naismith considered the introduction of a system of free throws, but abandoned this idea, realizing that students will quickly master the technique of execution.

Further, the inventor encountered a new problem: the defending players quickly realized that the tactic of a small foul also paid dividends. Thus, he was forced to impose a penalty for bribing team fouls. Players were forbidden to put their footboards on the opponents, to push, to strike, to keep the opponent with their hands and to prevent the throwing into the target. Originally the game consisted of two 15-minute stretches. So, by trial and error, the first guidelines for playing basketball were obtained.

Name of the game

Encouraged students offered to name a new game "Neismith-Ball." However, the inventor did not want to draw attention to his own person and proposed an alternative name consisting of two words - "basket ball", which meant "basket ball."

Good reviews in the press

The general public got acquainted with the new game after the publication of the laudatory article in the popular edition of The Triangle. So on February 15, 1892, the whole of America learned about basketball. To the article were attached 13 rules (suddenly someone from sports fans in other parts of the country will want to play basketball at leisure.) In conclusion, the author of the publication stressed the merits of the new game: the development of strategic thinking and the all-round development of muscles that make this ball game the best exercise .

The brainchild of Naismith quickly took root in other student institutions

Basketball spread to American colleges at the speed of a forest fire. Perhaps, there is no other kind of sport, the popularization of which would have happened so swiftly. Love for the new discipline was also picked up by the girls. Going out onto the playground, the young sportswomen dressed in blouses and bloomers. It seems this game seemed much more feminine than rough American football.

As a teacher became a coach

Of course, James Naismith did not stay away from the basketball boom. Already in 1898 he was accepted to the position of the first basketball coach of the university team of Kansas. During his tenure as coach, the inventor of basketball managed to observe the transformation of his 13 rules. In the end, the bottoms of the baskets were eliminated, and then completely replaced by rings with a grid; Free throws became an integral part of the game; And in 1901 appeared dribbling (conducting the ball). Initially according to the rules of Naismith, the number of players could vary from 3 to 40. However, in the conditions of a small hall athletes quickly realized that playing 5 by 5 is an ideal option.