By: Miles D.

The first game of basketball was played at Springfield University in 1891. This game was invented by James Naismith who was not from the U.S.A. as most people think - he was actually Canadian!

He wanted to find a way to keep his P.E. class entertained on rainy days so he put a peach basket on the wall and he wrote simple rules for the game. But a problem was that every time the ball went into the basket the ball had to be retrieved so they solved it by cutting a whole in the bottom.

In 1906 this was replaced by metal hoops and nets. Eventually the game evolved to how we know it today.

Picture of James Naismith creator of Basketball holding peach basket and ball.

The earliest basketball was made of panels of leather stitched together with a rubber bladder inside. A cloth lining was added to the leather for support

Gym where they first played basketball

There are many rules of basketball and these are some of them. These rules came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_basketball

1. A player can't run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, or dribble the ball well running.

2. No shouldering, holding, striking, pushing, or tripping in any way of an opponent. If a player gets 5 fouls he is out of the game.

3. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on that side.

4. The time shall be four fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between.

5. The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the baskets, with any other duties that are usually performed by a scorekeeper.

6. The side making the most points in that time is declared the winner.

In basketball today there are five players on the court at a time and the rest of the team is on the bench and can be substituted on.

The first position is the point guard who generally brings the ball up the court; this player is like the captain who controls the flow of the play and where the ball goes.

The second position is the shooting guard who is usually the teams best shooter. These guards usually are good at dribbling so they can create a shoot for themselves, these players should be able to shoot from 20 feet away from the hoop.

The third position is the small forward who is usually one of the smallest ranging from 6.5 to 6.11.This player is also one of the most versatile players on the team.

The forth position is the power forward who is like the center and takes mid range jump shots these players range in height from 6.9 to 6.11.

The final position is the center who plays underneath the basket and gets rebounds and puts in the shots that miss. For this role you usually have to be over 7 feet tall.

Today for basketball we have a professional league called the N.B.A where all the best players in the world are picked to play on one of the 30 teams that compete against each other to make it to the playoffs. If you win a game you get 2 points and if you lose you get none; and if you tie then you go into overtime

At the end of the regular season; the eight teams in each conference get to go to the playoffs. Then each team plays a seven game series and the first team to win 4 games advances the teams you play go like this; 8th plays 1st and 7th plays 2nd and 6th plays 3rd and 5th plays 4th. Then eventually there are 2 teams left and those 2 teams compete for the championship the team that wins is the N.B.A. Champion.

A official basketball today is made out of composite leather.

Michel Jordan doing a slam dunk

Kobe Bryant taking a 3 point shot.