Sarah MarksMrs. PattersonEnglish 3 Honors - Period 113 March 2014The History of American BasketballThe game of basketball is a highly recognized and widely known sport. Basketball was first heard of in the winter of 1891, when a man named James Naismith was told to teach a physical education class at the Young Men's Christian Association in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith was tasked with putting together a game for young people to enjoy while at the YMCA. While trying to come up with a brilliant and fun game for these young people, Naismith remembered his childhood in Canada. He remembered a game he and his friends always played: "Duck on a Rock," which involved trying to knock a large rock off a boulder by throwing smaller rocks at it. Naismith also remembered seeing a rugby match taking place in the gym. The game of Rugby consisted of throwing a ball into a box. After briefly trying to invent a game for these young people, Naismith came up with a brilliant idea. Little did he know that the game he invented was one of the most famous sports in American history. Naismith's idea involved nailing raised boxes so that players could attempt to throw a ball into the basket. When there were no boxes to be found, he used peach baskets. Naismith supposedly devised all the rules for this game in no more than "about an hour", according to Alexander Wolff. Shortly after Naismith invented the game of basketball, YMCA graduates traveled internationally, which is a major reason why the sport is so widely known. The impact that basketball has had on the lives of many Americans is incredible in the sense that it has given people the ability to... middle of paper... for all types of people: men, women, and children. Without basketball, the integration of college sports may never have been achieved. Without basketball, wheelchair basketball might never have been born. Perhaps paraplegics would never have been given the opportunity to participate in one of the greatest sports in history. Basketball has given people with disabilities hope for a normal life. It gave them the ability to engage in enough physical activity that allowed them to compete against people just like them. Contributing to the integration of college sports and the formation of the NWBA, basketball functioned as an outlet for those troubled children who grew up living difficult lives. As you can see, throughout history, basketball has had a huge impact on our society today and has helped many people become someone they never thought they could be.