Sport Trivia

In late 1891 a Canadian physician, Dr. James Naismith from McGill University who was also minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto an 10 foot elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel each time. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. His diaries of the time indicate that the game incorporated rules from a Canadian children's game called "Duck on a Rock".