Few people know the origin of one of the most popular sports in the world, basketball, known in Brazil just like basketball. It was invented in December 1891 by Canadian James Naismisth, physical education teacher at Springfield College, then called the YMCA in Massachusetts, in the United States.

At the time, James received a task director of the ACM creating a sport that could be practicing in an enclosed (preferably a gym), because of the severe cold that prevented the practice of routine activities of Americans, such as the baseball and football (most popular sports in the country today).

Was immediately dropped a game that utilizes the feet or had much physical contact, since it could become violent due to the characteristics of a gym with a wooden floor. The next step was to define the rules 13 of the game and then James peaches a basket hung at a height deemed appropriate in case 3.05 meters, height maintained until today. Instead, the court had half the current size.

The first basketball game was played on January 20, 1982 in the U.S., with nine players on each team, using a soccer ball. The event was enjoyed only by employees of the ACM, about two hundred, who saw the teachers by students win 5 x 1.

In Brazil, the sport was first practiced in 1986 in the Mackenzie Athletic Association of São Paulo, through the American Augustus Shaw. The first basketball games in Street Quitanda happened in Rio de Janeiro, and the American Football Club as the first Rio club to introduce the sport in the city, encouraged Henry J. Sims, director of the YMCA.

For more information about the sport, access the website of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation:

http://www.cbb.com.br/

By João Paulo Amorim