Know about basketball !! The rules, positions, concepts and technical words, used should be known by the players. There is doubting the fact that basketball’s popularity is on the rise in India. Thanks to satellite television, there has been an explosion of interest in the sport. Superstars of the sport such as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’ Neal, LeBron James, etc., have become household names here. Action from the National Basketball Association (NBA), the most famous basketball league in the world, in USA is watched across the country. Youngsters dribbling the ball with fast hands running across basketball courts, has now become a familiar sight in India.
Students to engage in some physical activity
However, did you know that this sport was created through sheer accident! Yes, on a rainy afternoon in 1981, James Naismith, a Canadian-American, Physical Education Professor, wanted his students to engage in some physical activity indoors. So, what did he do? He mounted a basket on a wall and asked them to dribble a ball around and then dunk the ball into the basket. Little did he know that the sport that he had just created would become so popular across the globe?
The rising popularity of basketball
One of the reasons for the rising popularity of basketball are its simple rules. There are 5 players in each team. If you shoot a basketball into the basket or otherwise known as the ‘hoop’ you get 2 points. And if you were to be skilful enough to shoot it from outside the ‘3 point line’, you get 3 points. The rectangular basketball court’s dimension measures 28m x 15 m and is usually made up of wood indoors and other materials such as concrete or asphalt, when it is outdoors.
‘Dribble’ with your hands
Just as you ‘dribble’ with your feet in soccer, you do the same with your hands in basketball. Remember, you are not supposed to hold the ball in your hand and run. Either you are bouncing the ball and running simultaneously or you just pass the ball to one of your team mate. Just like in other sports, there are lot of skills required in basketball too. For example, there is skill required to ‘steal’ the ball from an opposition player, without committing a foul. Similarly collecting a ‘rebound’ from any part of the board containing the hoop and then trying to ‘dunk’ is another skill.
Know about basketball more when you wanted to excel in it. Just as in the case with other sports, coaches formulate different types of strategies in basketball too. The 5 players are divided into a ‘center’ and then the two forwards, the ‘power forward’ and the ‘small forward’. Then there are the ‘shooting guard’ and the ‘point guard’. There are some players who are adept at playing in more than one position too. A good example is the legendary Michael Jordan, considered the greatest basketball player of all time, who played as a shooting guard and a small forward, at different points in his career.
At the school, students are provided with excellent sports infrastructure. Students get to learn the nitty-gritty of different sports from a team of professional coaches. To get to know more about what makes us a top CBSE school in Coimbatore, get in touch with our admission counsellors today!