Basketball sliders
FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, is the world governing body for basketball. Founded in 1932, we bring together 212 National Basketball Federations from all over the world. We organise and oversee international competitions that include the FIBA Basketball World Basketball sliders, the Olympic Basketball Tournament and 3×3 basketball. We have five Regional Offices in Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
Founded in 2008, the FIBA Foundation takes care of the social, humanitarian and educational activities of FIBA. This article is about the sport. Carter vs Gasol, Lakers vs Magic. The five players on each side fall into five playing positions. Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in the United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world’s most popular and widely viewed sports. The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup and Women’s Olympic Basketball Tournament feature top national teams from continental championships. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball.
These round balls from “association football” were made, at the time, with a set of laces to close off the hole needed for inserting the inflatable bladder after the other sewn-together segments of the ball’s cover had been flipped outside-in. 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. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point.
Whichever team got the most points won the game. Frank Mahan, one of the players from the original first game, approached Naismith after the Christmas break, in early 1892, asking him what he intended to call his new game. Naismith replied that he hadn’t thought of it because he had been focused on just getting the game started. Mahan suggested that it be called “Naismith ball”, at which he laughed, saying that a name like that would kill any game. Mahan then said, “Why not call it basketball? When winter weather got too icy to play soccer, teams were taken indoors, and it was convenient to have them split in half and play basketball with five on each side.
1898 teams of five became standard. The 1899 University of Kansas basketball team, with James Naismith at the back, right. Basketball’s early adherents were dispatched to YMCAs throughout the United States, and it quickly spread through the United States and Canada. By 1895, it was well established at several women’s high schools. While YMCA was responsible for initially developing and spreading the game, within a decade it discouraged the new sport, as rough play and rowdy crowds began to detract from YMCA’s primary mission. James Naismith was instrumental in establishing college basketball.
