This is all about the history of basketball, its facilities
and equipments. We also provided additional informations
regarding basketball such as the variations that emerged during its
continuous development. These are college basketball, high
school basketball, professional basketball, international basketball,
and women’s basketball. In addition to that, there are also trivia
about basketball and photos were here for further appreciation.

Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five
players on a rectangular court. The objective is to shoot a ball
through a hoop 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.0 m)
high mounted to a backboard at each end. Basketball is one of
the world's most popular and widely viewed sports.
A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball
through the basket during regular play. A field goal scores two
points for the shooting team, if a player is touching or closer to
the basket than the three-point line and three points (known
commonly as a 3 pointer or three) if the player is behind the
three-point line. The team with the most points at the end of the
game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when
the game ends with a draw. The ball can be advanced on the
court by bouncing it while walking or running or throwing it to a
team mate. It is a violation to
move without dribbling the
ball, to carry it, or to hold the
ball with both hands then
resume dribbling.

In early December
1891, Dr. James Naismith, a
physical education professor
and instructor at the
International Young Men's
Christian Association Training
School (YMCA) (today,
Springfield College) in
Springfield, Massachusetts,
USA), was trying to keep his
gym class active on a rainy day.
He sought a vigorous indoor
game to keep his students
occupied and at
proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After
rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in
gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket
onto a 10-foot (3.0 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern
basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had
to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored; this
proved inefficient, however, so the bottom of the basket was
removed, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each
time.
Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The
first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was
only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that
would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced
the orange ball that is now in common use. Dribbling was not part
of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates.

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
Passing the ball was the
primary means of ball
movement. Dribbling was
eventually introduced but
limited by the asymmetric
shape of early balls.
Dribbling only became a
major part of the game
around the 1950s, as
manufacturing improved the
ball shape.
person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point.
Whichever team got the most points won the game. The baskets
were originally nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing
court, but this proved impractical when spectators on the balcony
began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to
prevent this interference; it had the additional effect of allowing
rebound shots. Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his
granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about
the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a
children's game called "Duck On a Rock,” as many had failed
before it. Naismith called the new game "Basket Ball.”

Basketball is one of the main influences of the
Americans on the Filipinos. Basketball is widely considered as the
most popular sport in the Philippines.
Prior to the 1900s basketball was virtually an unknown
sport in the Philippines. Due to the massive influence Spain
brought during their 300-year colonization of the islands, Filipinos
are more into cockfighting and other forms of social gambling.
There are also indigenous Filipino martial arts such as the Arnis
de Mano. Cockfighting, gambling and Arnis de Mano dominated
the Philippine sports landscape. However, all of that would change
in the 1900s. The entry of the Americans into the Philippine
archipelago marked the birth of basketball in the Philippines.
Filipinos easily embraced basketball due to its competitive and
action-packed nature.
It was also during the time of American colonization
when the first-ever Philippine national basketball team was
formed. The team competed in the first ever Far Eastern
Championship Games which was incidentally held in Manila, the
capital city of the Philippines. The Philippines dominated
basketball tournaments of the Far Eastern Championship Games,
finishing with a gold medal in all but one edition of the Games.
Bowing only against China in 1921 and settling for a silver medal
finish.

In 1948, the Philippines became the first basketball
team to score at least 100 points in Olympic competitions,
outclassing Iraq, 102-30.
During the 1950s, the Philippines unleashed the
legendary tandem of Lauro Mumar and Carlos Loyzaga, resulting
into neck-to-neck battle against basketball some of the top
powerhouse teams of the world including the US and the Soviet
Union.
Carlos "Caloy" Loyzaga regarded by many as the
greatest Filipino basketball player of all time, finished as the third
leading scorer of the tournament (148 points and 16.4 points per
game), and was named in the FIBA World Championship all-
tournament mythical five selections. The Philippines finished third
in the 1954 FIBA World Champions courtesy of Mumar and
Loyzaga. The dynamic duo also led the Philippines to several
Asian Games gold medals during the decade.
College and universities also started to embrace the
sport of basketball, incorporating the sport in their physical
education curriculum. Similarly, the collegiate leagues the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the
University Athletic Association of the Philippines were established
in 1924 and 1938 respectively.
The Philippines also participated in the first ever
Olympic basketball tournament, finishing fifth with a 4-1 win-loss
record. The Philippine team won against Italy, Estonia, Mexico
and Uruguay but failed to upset the eventual champion Team
USA.

During the 1960s,
Philippine basketball became
more concentrated in the
collegiate and Manila
Industrial and Commercial
Athletic Association (MICAA)
wars that feature the likes of
Sonny Jaworski and Ramon
Fernandez. In 1975, the
Philippine Basketball
Association (PBA) was
established. It was the first
play-for-pay basketball league
in Asia. The early years of the
PBA saw the rivalry of
Jaworksi’s Toyota Super
Corollas against the
Atoy
Co-fueled Crispa Redmanizers. The succeeding years of
Philippine basketball saw the emergence of newer and fresher
basketball talents from the likes of Ricardo Brown, Ato Agustin,
Allan Caidic, Benjie Paras and Hector Calma to the later
generations of Danny Seigle, Danny Ildefonso, Kenneth
Duremdes, Asi Taulava and Mark Caguioa.
Today, basketball still remains as the number one sport
in the Philippines. Despite competition from emerging sports such
as the rejuvenated badminton and the football-powered Azkals,
the sport of basketball will forever remain etched in the hearts and
minds of the sports-loving Filipino people.
Carlos “Caloy” Loyzaga

Basketball's early adherents were dispatched to YMCAs throughout
the United States, and it quickly spread through the USA and
Canada. By 1895, it was well established at several women's high
schools. While the 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 the
YMCA's primary mission. However, other amateur sports clubs,
colleges, and professional clubs quickly filled the void. In the years
before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the
Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (forerunner
of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules for the game. The first
pro league, the National Basketball League, was formed in 1898 to
protect players from exploitation and to promote a less rough game.
This league only lasted five years.
The 1899 University of Kansas basketball
team, with James Naismith at the back, right.

Before widespread
school district
consolidation, most
American high schools
were far smaller than
their present-day
counterparts. During the
first decades of the 20th
century, basketball
quickly became the ideal
interscholastic sport due
to its modest equipment
and personnel
requirements. In the days
before widespread
television coverage of
professional and college
sports, the popularity of
high school
basketball
was unrivaled in many parts of America. Perhaps the most
legendary of high school teams was Indiana's Franklin Wonder
Five, which took the nation by storm during the 1920s,
dominating Indiana basketball and earning national recognition.

Teams abounded throughout the 1920s. There were hundreds of
men's professional basketball teams in towns and cities all over the
United States, and little organization of the professional game.
Players jumped from team to team and teams played in armories
and smoky dance halls. Leagues came and went. Barnstorming
squads such as the Original Celtics and two all-African American
teams, the New York Renaissance Five ("Rens") and the (still
existing) Harlem Globetrotters played up to two hundred games a
year on their national tours.

The International Basketball
Federation was formed in 1932 by
eight founding nations: Argentina,
Czeckoslovakia, Greece, Italy,
Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and
Switzerland. At this time, the
organization only oversaw amateur
players. Its acronym, derived from
the French Fédération
Internationale de Basketball
Amateur, was thus "FIBA.” Men's
Basketball was first included at the
Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics
although a demonstration
tournament was held in 1904. The United States defeated Canada
in the first final, played outdoors. This competition has usually
been dominated by the United States, whose team has won all but
three titles, the first loss in a controversial final game in Munich in
1972 against the Soviet Union. In 1950 the first FIBA World
Championship for men was held in Argentina. Three years later,
the first FIBA World Championship for Women was held in Chile.
Women's basketball was added to the Olympics in 1976, which
were held in Montreal, Canada with teams such as the Soviet
Union, Brazil and Australia rivaling the American squads.

Women's basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda
Berenson, a physical education teacher, modified Naismith's rules
for women. Shortly after she was hired at Smith, she went to
Naismith to learn more about the game. Fascinated by the new sport
and the values it could teach, she organized the first women’s
collegiate basketball game on March 21, 1893, when her Smith
freshmen and sophomores played against one another. However,
the first women's interinstitutional game was played in 1892 between
the University of California and Miss Head's School. Berenson's
rules were first published in 1899, and two years later she became
the editor of A.G. Spalding’s first Women's Basketball Guide.
Berenson's freshmen played the sophomore class in the first
women's intercollegiate basketball game at Smith College, March
21, 1893. The same year, Mount Holyoke and Sophie Newcomb
College (coached by Clara Gregory Baer) women began playing
basketball. By 1895, the game had spread to colleges across the
country, including Wellesley, Vassar, and Bryn Mawr.

Ball - The basket ball is an
inflated sphere with an outer
covering. It is 75 to 78cm in
circumference and weighs 600 to
650 grams. It must be made of
leather in official FIBA
competition. The ball is round
and the outer casing should be
either leather, rubber or other
suitable synthetic material. It
should have either 8 or 12
seams, not exceeding 6.35 mm
in width.
Basket ring - The
rings shall be made of
a solid steel and shall
have an inside
diameter of a
minimum of 450 mm
and a maximum of
457 mm.

Basket net – The nets shall
be made of white cord and shall
be: (1) suspended from the rings;
(2) manufactured so that they
check the ball momentarily as it
passes through the basket; (3)
no less than 400 mm and no
more than 450 mm length; (4)
manufactured with 12 loops to
attach it to the ring; the upper
section of the net shall be semi-
rigid to prevent: (1) the net from
rebounding up through the ring,
creating possible entanglement;
(2) the ball from becoming
trapped in the net or rebounding
back out of the net.
Backstop unit –
There will be two back
stop units, one placed at
each end of the playing
court and each consisting
of the following parts: one
backboard, one basket
ring with a ring mounting
plate, one basket net, one
basket support structure,
and padding.

Backboard – It
is the rectangular
board behind the rim.
The backboards
shall be made of a
suitable transparent
material (for Level 1
and 2, of a
tempered safety
glass), made in one
piece, non-reflective,
with flat front
surface.
Shot Clock/Game
Clock and Score
Board - This shall be placed
one at each end of the playing
court, and, if so desired, a
further scoreboard placed
above the center of the playing
court. This does not exclude
the need for the other two
scoreboards. This should be
clearly visible to everyone
involved in the game, including
the spectators.

Playing Floor - (Dimensions: 28m x 15 m) The playing floor
surface shall be made of: for levels 1 and 2 (permanent or mobile
wooden flooring); for levels 2 and 3 (permanent or mobile synthetic
flooring). The height of the ceiling or the lowest obstruction above
the playing floor shall be at least 7 m. The playing floor shall be a
minimum length of 32,000 mm and a minimum width of 19,000 mm.
Playing Court –
The playing court shall
be marked by: 50 mm
lines, as per the Official
Basketball Rules; a
further boundary line, in
a sharply contrasting
color and having a
minimum width of 2,000
mm. The color of the
further boundary line
must be the same as
that of the center circle
and the restricted
areas.

Lighting – The playing court shall be uniformly and adequately
lit. The lights shall be positioned so that they do not hinder the
players' and officials' vision.
Spectators Areas
– The spectators areas
shall: allow the free
movement of the public;
enable spectators to
have a comfortable
view of the event.
Support Service
Areas – Areas in
which essential
operations for the
competition are
carried out. The
required areas are:
changing rooms for
teams; changing
rooms for referees
and table officials; first
aid station for players;
changing room for
staff; storage room
and cloak room; and
administrative offices.

Fact 1: In the very beginning the color of the basketball was
brown, but later it was changed into a brighter color; that is
orange.
Fact 2: The first basketball game took place in 1982, where the
court was half the size of today's courts, and only one point was
scored during the match.
Fact 3: The NBA (National Basketball Association) was founded
in 1949, after the combination of the NBL (National Basketball
League) and the BAA (Basketball Associate of America).
Fact 4: Michael Jordan is considered one of the best basketball
players around the world. The record score of 5,987 made him
a legend in the world of basketball.
Fact 5: In 1967, slam dunks were considered illegal; nine years
later it was legalized again.
Fact 6: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record for most points
scored in his 20 year career at 38,387 points.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball
https://suite101.com/a/a-brief-history-of-philippine-basketball-
a349662
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0771582.html