Basketball: A Brief History
Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith. Naismith was the director of a community sports club called the YMCA. He lived in Massachusetts, where it is very cold in the winter. He wanted to find a game for the active boys in his sports club to play indoors. So he created a game in which each team had to try to throw a ball into a fruit basket. The game became popular very quickly in all parts of the United States. The first professional men's basketball teams were formed in the 1920s.
A year later, the first women's basketball teams were formed. At that time, women in the U.S. could not play many of the same sports as men. People thought that sports were too hard for women and not good for their health. Senda Berenson, a teacher at Smith College, changed the rules of basketball so that women could play the sport. It soon became very popular for women, too. In 1978, the first professional women's basketball game was played.
Today, men's and women's basketball teams play by the same rules as they did in 1891. And children of all ages love to play the game in their neighborhoods and their schools.