What is basketball?
Basketball is a team sport that can also be called basketball. The name in Portuguese comes from the English basketball, in which basket means basket and ball is ball. The literal translation of basketball would be ball to the basket, an expression that is also used as a synonym for the name of the sport.
The origin of the game is North American. The objective of the two teams, of five players each, is to hit the ball in a basket at the end of the sports court. Each basket accumulates points, and the team with the most points wins the match.
Professionally, there are men’s and women ‘s basketball modalities, which are coordinated by national and international confederations and official leagues. In Brazil there is the Brazilian Basketball Confederation, CBB, the National Basketball League, LNB, which represents the men’s sport, and the Women’s Basketball League, the LBF.
At the world level, there is FIBA, the International Basketball Federation, the first organization in the sport and responsible for establishing the rules of the game.
The most famous league in the world is the NBA, National Basketball Association, the North American basketball league.
Basketball Rules and Fundamentals
Basketball is a team sport. There are two teams on each side, with five players per team and five more on each bench, who occupy the following positions:
- Point guard/Base, who starts with the ball and plans the plays.
- Wing / Point guard, goes from support to the base to the basket.
- Pivot / Post, has a fundamental role in defense as well as being responsible for finishing plays and making baskets.
Three referees supervise the match. One of them throws the ball up in the center of the court, which can be closed or in the open, starting the game.
Basketball matches last 40 minutes, in four 10-minute halves. In the NBA, there are four 12-minute halves, totaling 48 minutes.
You can only catch the ball with your hands. And you can’t take more than two steps holding it, but always bouncing on the ground.
The score is scored from the baskets in the opponent’s field. Free throw is worth 1 point, field goal is 2 points, and before the three-point line, 3 points.
There are specific rules that regulate ball control and fouled markings:
- 3-second rule:In the opposing team’s restricted area, the player only has 3 seconds in the area with ball possession.
- 5-Second Rule:While being marked, the player has 5 seconds or less in possession of the ball.
- 8-Second Rule:Whoever gains possession of the ball in the defending court has 8 seconds to take the ball to the opponent’s court, either by himself or by passing it to another team member.
- 24-second rule:The team with the ball in hand has 24 seconds to make and finish the play.
Basketball history
Basketball was created in 1891 in the United States, at the Young Men’s Christian Association of Springfield, Massachusetts. The entity is known worldwide by the acronym YMCA, being in Brazil called ACM.
The founder of basketball was James Naismith, a Physical Education teacher who had the challenge of thinking of a type of sport to be played indoors, to be practiced during the winter.
The first recorded basketball game was played in 1892. The first women’s game was played in 1896, between students from Stanford University and the University of California.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the sport became popular and spread throughout the world. In 1936 he entered the Olympic modalities at the Berlin Olympics. The first time women competed in the Olympics playing basketball was at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
Basketball in Brazil
Basketball arrived in Brazil in the 19th century, at the hands of Augusto Shaw, an American who came to the country to teach at Colégio Mackenzie, in São Paulo.
The dissemination of the sport in Brazil also had the participation of the same entity in which basketball in the United States emerged, the ACM. The first tournaments were held in 1912, and in 1916 the Metropolitan League of Sports Athletics recognized basketball as a sport, creating the first official championship in 1919. Flamengo team won this championship.
Among the main names in basketball in Brazil, we have Oscar Schmidt, Hortência, Paula and Janete. All Olympic and outstanding athletes in national leagues.
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is a Paralympic sport regulated in Brazil by the Brazilian Wheelchair Basketball Confederation, CBBC.
The sport arose on the initiative of former US soldiers after World War II. Injured or amputees, they started to use their wheelchairs inside the court to play matches with each other. The idea soon became popular and was made official by the IWBF, the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation.
The rules are similar to those of Olympic basketball. The player cannot hold the ball for more than two touches on the wheels, and must bounce, pass or shoot.
List of Acronyms Related to Basketball
