By Lazaros Aggelos Sirros, Spiros Topalis, Dionisis Roumeliotis & John Spaggouros

Basketball is a very popular sport created in 1891 by a PE teacher called Dr James Naismith in the US. His main intention was to create a safe and fun indoor sport to keep his students entertained during the winter time. During the first basketball game the only equipment used was a football and two beach baskets.

The rules of the game were originally 13 in total. The way it was played was completely different compared to its modern version. Players were not allowed to dribble the ball, the only way to move it around the court was to pass it to one of your teammates. As the years were passing by more rules were being added. Today basketball has become an exciting fast paced game with many complicated rules, whose purpose is to make the game fun but fair for everyone at the same time.

The first basketball league was created in the early 20th century, which was a critical event for the sports growth in popularity. The most important event in basketball history is the creation of the National Basketball Association, the NBA, the most popular league in the world where the highest level of basketball is being played.

Today basketball is one of the two most popular sports in the world, the other one being football. It is particularly popular in the US and it is becoming more and more famous in Europe and the rest of the world.