A High School Kid’s (Not Always Intentionally) Funny Recreation of the Invention of Basketball
The History of Basketball in 4 Minutes
From Massmoments.org In 1891, the first game of basketball was played at what is now Springfield College. The game was invented by a Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, a versatile athlete, theologian, and physical education instructor, who envisioned “the time when Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics.” He designed basketball to occupy a class of disagreeable male students at the Springfield YMCA, who were bored with the calisthenics and children’s games in their gym class.
James Naismith was born in 1861 in rural Ontario. Orphaned at eight, he lived with an uncle, helping with farm work and spending what free time he had with a group of local boys. They wrestled, swung from tree limbs, and played “duck on the rock,” a game in which one boy placed a stone on top of a big rock and guarded his “duck” while the others tried to knock it off by throwing stones. This game would later play an important part in the origin of basketball.