Basketball ~ More than just a Sport

Despite the currently American dominated industry of basketball, its roots lie in Canada. James Naismith, born in Almonte Ontario, was a physical education teacher for the YMCA. He was faced with a troubling problem, which lay in the lack of sports in autumn. Every other season had its sport, which his students could play, however when it came to fall, they were left stumped. He started out by zooming in on the key components such as developing hand-eye coordination, strength, and agility. In its primitive state, instead of using a mesh connected with a pole, they used a peach basket, thus the name 'basketball.' The game developed rapidly, as it went from moving a soccer ball and shooting it into a closed peach basket, into developing its own unique ball and dribbling it down a court to shoot into an open-mesh basket. The sport spread slowly, as it wasn't a spectator-friendly sport. Players would use cheap tactics such as holding on the ball too long, and taking forever to shoot the ball. After many amendments and adding new rules, it finally grew into a high-paced and action-packed sport. Things such as introducing the 24 second shot clock, and forcing players to dribble with one hand all contributed into the popularity of the sport, until finally teams from across the country started sprouting up. It wasn't until 1935, when basketball was inducted into an Olympic sport was Naismith finally able to see the fruits of his labor. He handed the bronze, silver, and gold medals in the 1936 summer Olympics. James Naismith was a true Canadian, and because of his hard work and passion into uniting people through the love of sport.