revolutions per second of backspin The ball soars in an arc toward the basket The angle drops the ball into the net Swish The buzzer sounds and the team rushes out onto the court to celebrate Of course Isabelle and Kelsey weren't thinking about all the angles vectors numbers and forces in those three seconds But these concepts in science technology engineering and math STEM are visible in every game of basketball HISTORY OF BASKETBALL Basketball's inventor wasn't thinking about the science either He was thinking about giving his students a sport to play in the winter In December 1891 Dr James Naismith took over a physical education class at a school in Springfield Massachusetts Many of the students already played football and rugby They weren't satisfied with playing traditional indoor games The new sport needed to be simple to learn yet challenging to play Naismith borrowed ideas from a few other sports
Basketball has changed a great deal since Naismith's day
He came up with 13 rules for the new game Naismith hung up peach baskets in the school's gymnasium With these first baskets the sport of basketball was born In modern basketball each team has five players on the court They can move the ball by passing or dribbling Tackling and rough contact aren't allowed The goal is to get the ball in the opposing side's basket When a ball goes in a team gets points The team with the most points wins the game When Naismith's students graduated they took the sport home with them Today basketball is popular worldwide The International Federation of Basketball Associations FIBA is the organization that oversees the sport It includes basketball associations from 213 countries Men women girls and boys play in leagues in those countries The world's premier men's league is the National Basketball Association NBA The top women's league is the Women's National Basketball Association WNBA Both are based in the United States
WNBA star Nneka Ogwumike was named the league's most valuable player in 2016 STEM ON THE COURTS STEM concepts are always in play on the basketball court Science is behind the way both the player and the ball move When a player bends her knees and jumps she exerts force against the floor to propel her upward
