Passage III

A Peachy Winter Game

One winteringly New England day in 1891,a Massachusetts YMCA teacher puzzled over how to handle a difficult situation. Outside, the air was frigid inside, the students were bursting with energy and ignoring their lessons. They were, however, being quite disruptive.

The teacher, James Naismith, was a physical education instructor and an ordained minister. He believed that exercising the body was as important as exercising the mental capacities of the mind. Both, in his opinion nourished the human spirit and built character.

Aware of Naismith's philosophy, a supervisor challenged the instructor to invent an indoor game that would encourage the use of mental and physical skills. He gave Naismith fourteen days to accomplish this task. In tackling his assignment, popular ball game elements were borrowed of the day. The decision of his to start the competition in the center of the playing territory, as in polo. He would place a goal at each end, as in football. A referee would return out-of-bounds balls to the players, as in rugby.

Naismith wanted the goals placed high above the players. This setup would require the players to throw the ball in an arc to make a goal. A janitor gave Naismith two large wooden peach baskets to use as goals. Naismith attached the baskets to a running track elevated ten feet above the gymnasium floor.

Before the start of the first game, Naismith developed thirteen rules to encourage competition the rules reward both physical ability and strategic planning. Instead, he created an indoor game people could play vigorously and competitively, one that exercises body and mind.

With excitement in the air, Naismith divided his class into two teams. In a historic moment, he tossed the ball straight up at center court. Players then dribbled the ball, aimed at the baskets, and scored points and his students loved the new sport. What had started as a challenge on a winter day had quickly evolved into the first game of basketball.