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The History Of NBA Basketball
The sport basketball was devised in December, 1891, by James Naismith. James Naismith was an instructor in physical education at the Y.M.C.A. training school in Springfield.  He started basketball by hanging up two peach baskets, as goals, one at each end of the gymnasium, and told his students to split into two teams. The Y.M.C.A. athletes played the first basketball game with a soccer ball, passing it up and down the court until one team scored by throwing the ball into the peach baskets. The winning team was the one with the most points at the end. Word of the new game spread rapidly throughout the Eastern States of America and soon enough, basketball was being played by boys in nearly every school and college.

The growing popularity of basketball resulted in improvements of the equipment. The metal hoop, which replaced the peach baskets, was introduced in 1893 and the backboards that support the hoops were introduced in 1895. Because of these new improvements, the athletes had to improve their skills. The skills they perform now are very complicated and attract millions of people world wide to the games.

By the 1920's, basketball was being played all over the United States in tournaments, backyards and old run-down parking lots. Some colleges held competitions for boys mostly and before long, colleges were building arenas especially for basketball.

Colleges like the University of North Carolina, Western Kentucky, Kansas University, U.C.L.A. and Indiana University are great colleges but they are mostly known for their skillful basketball teams.  The skill in these teams are so outstanding that they attract over 30 million spectators per season.

Women have also been playing basketball since the 1890's but did not receive serious recognition until the 1970's as most teams failed financially.

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