Basketball Positions

The sixth man or Bench

Five players from the squad are part of the game at any time. Players on the bench need to be able to join the action and find their rythym quickly. Usually a team will have a specialist bench player who can come on and help change the teams pattern. The specialist player would be known as the sixth man. A substitute should have all round skills that can be useful anywhere on the court. The wider the range of skills, the greater the options for a tactical change.

A team member is a substitute when they are not playing on the court. Basketball is a fast paced game and players need to rest. A strong bench can be the key to any basketball team's success. He's able to do whatever is necessary to help his team win. The main substitute to come off the bench is called the "sixth man" and is a basketball player position that is important to the success of all teams.

Sometimes his role calls for him to score, play exceptional defense, or a combination of the two. Bench specialties may mean skills such as being a great long-range shooter, playing solid defense or being able to play two or three positions well. The player becomes a sub when the official allows the replacement to enter the court. Whatever he's capable of doing, the sixth man is an important component to the game. Since he doesn't start the game, the sixth man must study the game tempo and prepare himself mentally so he is able to adjust to flow of basketball the moment he steps on the floor. More than anything else, the bench can offer some extra quality minutes.

Who Invented Basketball?

Most games sprout up over time from pastimes that people learned to play colloquially. Not so with basketball, history makes clear that it has the feature of being a planned or designed game. What began as a winter pastime with 18 men in a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Mass, has grown into a game that more than 300 million people play worldwide; the man who created this instantly successful sport was Dr James Naismith. Naismith was instructed to devise a professional sport which could be played inside for the time of the cold winter months that bridged football and baseball.

The students, who were studying to be Pe teachers, were understandably bored doing nothing but calisthenics and eurythmics for the time of those long New England winters. They were desperate for action and competition. The game involved elements of American football, soccer, and hockey, and soccer provided the first ball.

His concept for basketball was rooted in a basic child's game he had enjoyed playing at his one-room schoolhouse as a child, which was called "duck-on-a-rock". The game necessitated the players knocking a "duck" from the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Early basketball evolved from this idea. The first basketball contest was played with a soccer ball, peach baskets and nine to a side. This first basketball game is believed to have been played Dec. 21, 1891. By 1897-1898, teams of five was promoted to the norm.

About James Naismith:

Naismith ultimately took the job of head of the sports faculty at Kansas, and designed the first golf course in Kansas. His favorite sport was fencing at which he was excellent. Naismith designed basketball for fun, as a simple indoor sporting activity, not as something to be serious about! He said often, "Basketball is just a game to play. It doesn�t need a coach you don�t coach basketball, you just play it."

Nevertheless, he took the job of basketball coach at Kansas in 1900, and lost his first game 48-8 to Nebraska. He coached for eight years and his won-loss record was only just over 50%. Even so he began a strong Kansas tradition.

For years, the Kansas Jayhawks had one of the best teams in all of college basketball. Phog Allen (Kansas, record: 590-219), Adolph Rupp (Kentucky), and Dean Smith (North Carolina) were all Jayhawks. Naismith never patented his game, and did not profit from it. Lawyers recommended that he get a patent, however he was always expressly opposed to it. Later his bank balance was so bad that his house in Kansas was repossessed by the bank. Dr. Naismith worked with the famous football coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg. Naismith's personal chronicles, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, tell us that naismith was not confident in the new game he had designed as many other home made games had crashed before it. Dr Naismith never benefitted financially from basketball but his name will live as the man who invented basketball.

The History of Basketball

A game that started with 18 men in a YMCA gymnasium in Springfield, Mass, eventually developed into a game that more than 300 million people play worldwide. The man who created this instantly successful sport was Dr James Naismith. Given orders from his principal, Dr Luther H Gulick, he designed a energetic amusement appropriate for indoor winter play.

The game borrowed ideas from American football, soccer, and hockey, and basketball was first played with a soccer ball. After brainstorming some new ideas, Naismith derived basketballs original 13 rules and subsequently, the game of basketball. The first basketball contest was played with a soccer ball, vegetable baskets and nine members in each side.

This first contest is believed to have been played Dec. 21, 1891. Basketballs first official match was played in the YMCA gymnasium on January 20, 1892 with nine players, on a court about half the size of todays Streetball or National Basketball Association (NBA) court. "Basket ball",a name proposed by one of Naismith's students, was well liked from its introduction. Teams had nine players, and the goals were vegetable or peach baskets which were attached to the wall.

The first public game was in Armory Hill YMCA on March 11, 1892, with a crowd of 200 on hand, as the students winning over the teachers 5-1; Amos Alonzo Stagg got the only basket for the teachers. The first women�s game was March 22, 1893 at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Colleges first basketball match occurred on Feb. 9, 1895 Minnesota State School of Agriculture beat Hamline 9-3. The first women�s basketball college match happened April 1895 between Stanford and California. Professional basketball begun their league in 1898 calling itself the National Basketball Association (different body to todays nba). The first national AAU basketball tournament was in 1897.

Wisconsin claims to be the first state with a high school state tournament, which was won by Fond du Lac in 1905. High school basketball attracted national attention 12 years later in 1917. By 1897-1898, teams of five was promoted to the norm. Basketballs first devotees were sent out to YMCAs throughout the United States, and it quickly spread through the usa and canada.

By 1895, it was firmly installed at several women's high schools. Basketball became popular nationwide and to Canada and other parts of the world, played by both women and men; it also became a cherished informal outdoor game. Women's basketball began in 1892 at Smith College when Senda Berenson, also a sports instructor, adapted Naismith's rules for women. In the years before World War I, the Amateur Athletic Union and the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (forerunner of the NCAA) vied for control over the rules for the game.

U.S. servicemen in world war ii (1939-1945) advanced the sport all over the world. A number of U.S. colleges adopted the game between about 1893 and 1895. In 1934 the first college games were staged in New York City's Madison Square Garden, and college basketball attracted a bigger following. By the 1950s basketball had become a major college sport, thus paving the way for a greater public demand in professional basketball.

Intriguing Basketball facts

Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball that is currently used. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to team mates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was finally established but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling only was promoted to a major part of the game around the 1950s as manufacturing helped in the design of the ball.

Basketballs first professional league, the National Basketball League, began life in 1898 to protect players from exploitation and to advance a less rough game. This league only lasted five years before breaking up; its demise spawned a number of loosely devised leagues throughout the northeastern United States. One of the first and greatest pro teams was the Original Celtics, organized about 1915 in New York City. They played as many as 150 games a season and dominated basketball until 1936.

The Harlem Globetrotters, founded in 1927, a notable exhibition team, became famous for their pleasing court antics and astonishing teamwork. Basketball was first played in the olympic games in 1936, in Berlin, when the USA winning over Canada 19-8 for the gold medal. The first olympic final was played outdoors, in the mud and rain, on a tennis court. In 1949 two subsequent professional leagues, the National Basketball League (formed in 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (1946) merged to create the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Boston Celtics, led by their center Bill Russell, dominated the NBA from the late 1950s through the 1960s. By the 1960s, pro teams from coast to coast played in front of audiences of millions every year. Wilt Chamberlain, a center for the Los Angeles Lakers, was one more top basketball player during the era, and his games aginst russell were massively popular. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, also a center, established himself during the 1970s. Jabbar perfected his famed "sky hook" shot while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and dominated the opposition.

The NBA lost popularity in the late 1970s, though came back primarily through the increased magnetism of its generally celebrated players. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, and Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers are renowned for injecting excitement into the league in the 1980s through their incredible team skills and decade-long rivalry. For the time of the late 1980s Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls became a superstar and catapulted the bulls to domination of the NBA for the time of the early 1990s. A new generation of stars, including Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic and Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets, have sustained the NBA's growth in popularity.

In 1959 a Basketball Hall of Fame was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts. Its rosters include the names of great players, coaches, referees, and people who have contributed significantly to the development of the game. Although no-one is sure that basketballs origins was founded in the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame, an understanding of that game was obtainable for at least five decades prior to Naismith's creation in the writings of John Lloyd Stephens and Alexander von Humboldt. Stephen's works especially, which included drawings by Frederick Catherwood, were available at most educational institutions in the 19th century and also had wide popular circulation.

The history of Basketball is as fascinating as any other sport and today has become one of the most popular games in the world.