Sports again? Can you believe it? On this date in 1891, James Naismith invented the game of basketball. He was a Canadian physical education teacher, and he was familiar with the medieval children’s game called “Duck on a rock.” That was an outdoor game where someone would throw a rock at a larger rock on a pedestal (normally a tree stump), and the goal was to knock that rock off the stump. Then the player would retrieve their rock. James Naismith created the indoor version of this called “basket ball.” Peach baskets that were elevated in the room, and the two opposing teams of nine players would pass a soccer ball around, trying to put it in the other team’s basket. The goal of this game was to keep the kids in the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts moving during the harsh winter.
For more info:
http://famousdaily.com/history/james-naismith-invents-basketball.html
http://www.historyorb.com/events/date/1891/december
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith#Springfield_College:_Invention_of_.22Basket_Ball.22
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbasketball.htm
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2 Comments
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THis is an interesting note, I’ve heard he invented basketball, hadn’t heard about the rock/tree stump game!
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Author
I found that interesting, too.
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