Rules, Court, and Game

In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian-born physical education professor and instructor at
YMCA Training School(today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, sought a vigorous indoor game
to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting
other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a
peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket
retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this proved
inefficient, however, so a hole was drilled into the bottom of the basket, allowing the balls to be poked out
with a long dowel each time. The peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were finally replaced by metal
hoops with backboards. A further change was soon made, so the ball merely passed through, paving the way for
the game we know today. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his
team would gain a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game. The baskets were originally nailed to
the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators on the balcony began to
interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference; it had the additional effect of
allowing rebound shots. Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate
that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called
"Duck on a Rock", as many had failed before it. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball".

The first official game was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players.
The game ended at 1-0; the shot was made from 25 feet (7.6 m), on a court just half the size of a present-day
Streetball or National Basketball Association (NBA) court. By 1897–1898 teams of five became standard.


Canadian physician and teacher Dr. James Naismith (1861-1939) invented the game of basketball in 1891. Above, two boys stand on the first basketball court in the gymnasium of the School for Christian Workers, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1900s. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)