Basketball, one of the most popular sports in the world, had very humble beginnings. Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor, created the game of basketball. The Canadian born Naismith, while at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, invented basketball in 1891, when looking for an indoor sport during the winter months - specifically to keep his football players in shape during the off season months.

The Invention

Naismith and his wife saw an article in a magazine from South America that featured an Aztec ball game called Ollamalitzli, and the Mayan game called Ulama, where the round bouncy ball had to go through a hole. He also read another article by Tom Ellison, a New Zealander, which described an ancient Maori ball game that involved a lot of handball skills, where the ball was passed aerially with speed and agility.

Taking these games into account, he and his wife devised a new ball game, to be played indoors in a gym. He developed 13 rules for his game, and divided his 18 players into two teams of nine players each. Two peach baskets were tied to the lower railing of the gym's balcony. The idea was to throw the soccer ball into these peach baskets. As the bottoms of the peach baskets were intact, the game had to be stopped every time the ball entered the basket, for the janitor to get a ladder and retrieve the ball!

Of course, those days the games were very low scoring affairs. The very first basketball game ever played had an amazingly low score of 1-0. The first official game, played on January 20, 1892, was played on a court half the size of the modern National Basketball Association (NBA) court, involving the use of a soccer ball and two peach baskets for goal.

YMCA, which initially spread the game, later started to discourage playing it, as it was quite rowdy and rough, and deviated from its basic mission. The game however caught on, and it was picked up enthusiastically by other sports clubs, professional clubs, and colleges.

Basketball, of course, used soccer balls initially, and the first basketballs made for the game were brown in color. In the late 1950s, the orange color basketballs were introduced by Tony Hinkle, to make the balls easily visible to the players and the spectators.

Tickets

From such humble beginnings, basketball has grown into a game that is played by more than 300 million people worldwide. The legends of the game, such as:

Michael Jordan
Larry Bird
"Dr. J" Julius Erving
Magic Johnson
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Bill Russell
Oscar Robertson or Robinson
"Pistol Pete" Maravich

have added richness to the game, over the years.

Basketball tickets, whether for the professional games or the collegiate games, are well sought after. You can arrange your basketball tickets for the games of your choice through legitimate ticket brokers.

Put in your request for the basketball tickets for the games of your choice and they will be delivered to you.