Cool Story

So You Want to Play Basketball

Basketball is an incredibly popular sport that anyone can play. It was invented in Springfield Massachusetts by James Naismith. While you might not become the next superstar like Paul Pierce or LeBron James, playing basketball is a fun group activity. So grab your sneakers and get ready to learn How to Play Basketball!

Table of Contents

    Introduction
    What You'll Need
    The Court
    Positions
    Offense
    Defense
    Fouls
    Violations
    Alternatives
    References

  Introduction
    Basketball is a universally popular game played by people of all genders, ages, nationalities and abilities. There are professional leagues for both men and women in the US as well as all over the world. You've probably heard of “March Madness”. Which is the NCAA (National College Athletic Association)college single elimination tournament held every spring. The NBA (National Basketball Association) best out of seven just finished.

What You'll Need
    Unlike baseball and football, two other popular sports, you don't need a lot of equipment to play basketball. You also don't need as many people to play. Basketball can be played alone, or with as many as ten people.

A hoop
      A hoop (also called a rim) is a metal ring, most times a net is attached. The basketball must pass through the hoop to score points in basketball.

A court
      A full basketball court is ideal, but many people play with much less. You can play one-on-one in your driveway or anyplace with a hard surface and a basketball. The court is a hard playing surface. The sideline runs down the long side of the court. This line forms the boundary on the side of the court. The baseline runs down the short side of the court, below the hoop. This line forms the boundary at the base of the court. The half-court line runs directly through the middle of the court, splitting it into two mirror-image halves with a hoop at each end. The shape of the...