Basketball started its journey almost more than a hundred and thirty years ago. The history of Basketball is not that much old, as it was invented by a Canadian physician named Dr. James Naismith, in the year 1891. He is popularly known as the inventor of basketball and hence called as "The Father of Basketball" all over the world. He had the concept of Basketball in his mind since his school days and he used to play a game named `duck-on-a-rock` outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game was about attempting to knock a `duck` off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. This game is believed to be the ancestor of Basketball.
Dr. Naismith attended the McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, after completing his school education. At the completion of his college education, he served as McGill`s Athletic Director and then he moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield. This is the place in Massachusetts, USA where Dr. Naismith invented Basketball in 1891. While working as physician in Springfield, he was trying to find a sport that would be suitable to play inside, during the Massachusetts winter. Naismith actually wanted to create such a game for his students that will need skill instead of only strength. He also needed the game to be played indoors in a small space.
Once Dr. Naismith invented the game of Basketball and wrote down some basic rules for playing the game, his students played Basketball with a soccer ball and used two peach baskets as goals. The first ever Basketball match in the history of Basketball was played on 20th January, 1892. The name `Basket ball` was suggested by one of his students and the game became quite popular instantly. The game of Basketball was introduced to a number of nations by the YMCA movement during the year of 1893. The first ever inter-collegiate match took place in America in the year 1895 and in 1896; the first collegiate Basketball match was played, with 5 players in each team.
However, though it was interesting to play, the Basketball players soon faced some serious problems that they had to solve, without much delay. The main problem was that, as they were using two peach baskets as goals, whenever the ball was thrown into the basket, the players couldn`t get it down without climbing up a ladder. So, they decided to cut holes at the bottom of the baskets in order to play faster, as the ball will fall through the hole easily. The players followed this process till the year 1906, when metal hoops with backboards replaced the peach baskets.
With the increasing popularity of Basketball in different countries of the world, the need of founding a governing body started to be felt by many. National Basketball associations started to be formed in many nations, among which, England, America, India etc were the forerunners. Basketball was introduced as an official game in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, and this event is considered as one of the most memorable occasions in the history of Basketball. With this, the popularity of the sport started to increase at a very high speed. Basketball got its first television coverage in 1940 when the college games were being held. The year 1949 saw the establishment of the National Basketball Association (NBA) that is one of the most powerful governing bodies for Basketball in the world, at present. The NBA was formed in America with eight teams as its members and another organisation named the American Basketball Association (ABA) was also established in 1967. However, the ABA only lasted about nine years, due to serious financial problems. In the present scenario, Basketball is being played all over the world and it has also become one of the most popular games that the people watch and play.
