Basketball is considered one of the most popular sports in the world. Although the United States is known for its love of sports, it has also taken over a variety of countries and continents. Although it has not taken over the national sport in different countries, it always remains a leader or another in favorite sports.
Basketball got off to a very humble start in Massachusetts. A man named James Naismith was an instructor at the YMCA at the time. Naismith taught physical education and reported to a man named Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick. Dr. Gulick was the principal of the school and asked Naismith to create some kind of game that could be played indoors during harsh winters. Although this was a major boost for Naismith, he had actually already been considering starting a game on his own. I wanted the game to be played indoors as well, and I wanted it to have the characteristics of many of the famous sports at the time, such as soccer and hockey.
To come up with the new sport, Naismith studied not only popular games, but also considered a number of games that he had read about. Some of the games he considered were played in parts of the world that were actually quite far from the United States, such as New Zealand and Mexico. What he came up with was a relatively simple game that could be played with nine players. Peach baskets were placed at both ends of the railings in the school gymnasium. The goal was to get a soccer ball into the baskets. He devised 13 standard rules for the game, some of which still stand today.
The new game was a success and was played by a wide variety of athletes. However, the main turning point in the spread of the sport was the US military.As the sport became more famous in the United States, the military ended up playing more and more. As they were sent to different locations and World War I began, the sport spread to wherever the soldiers went, thus becoming a world sport and no longer just in America.
The National Basketball League was the first major league for the sport of basketball. It was formed in 1898 and was started primarily to ensure that rules and standards were upheld. It was also set up to ensure that the game still had a measure of etiquette and that the badass game of the times was kept in check. In 1946 another professional league called the Basketball Association of America was created. The two leagues realized that to make the sport go crazy, they had to go bigger. That is why in 1949 the two merged to form what is now known as the NBA.
Basketball started out as a simple sport, but is now among the most widely played sports in the world and is even a part of the Summer Olympics. From a small gym to millions of fans to large stadiums, basketball is indeed one of the greatest sports forces in the world.