Basketball
Football
is the most famous and popular sport in the world and next to it is basketball
and other famous sports like handball and volleyball. Basketball is a
widely-viewed sport; the purpose of this sport is to shoot a ball in a hoop;
there are two teams which play against each other and each consists of 5 players;
the goal is to prevent the ball to reach your
hoop, also to get a goal from a successful pass or a throw to the
opponents' hoop.
What
gives basketball this popularity? Basketball is well known for its usage of
hands to handle the ball rather than football where players need to use their
feet. Basketball is also popular for its tournaments such as the American NBA,
National Basketball Association, which is the professional one in the USA, and
the Euroleague.
One
of the legends in basketball is Michael Jordan, he's a former basketball
professional player his fame name is Air Jordan and this title was given in the
contest of slam dunk contest. Michael played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls
and Washington Wizards; he quickly became a marketed athletes; he was famous
for his leaping ability and the slam dunk scores that he made, Jordan was also
famous for his defensive abilities. He ended his career in between 1993 and
1994 after 15 season of the NBA.
Basketball
was first invented by James Naismith in 1891; with the help of a physical
education specialist Luther Halsey Gulick, he invented an indoor sport. At the
beginning it was just a sport to replace football in the winter; it started
with football then when winter came no-one could play in the freezing winter so
Naismith thought of inventing a game which will be played in an indoor room.
The
rules of basketball have changed since it was first invented; at the very start
it had only 13 rules and the scores were only 1 or 2 points per each goal; the
goal are measured by how far the shooter is to the hoop; at the beginning it
had only one ring between the hoop and it was the 2 point ring ; a new rule
came up and they added a new ring surrounding the hoop but a little farther
than the two point ring; in the professional league this ring has been moved
farther to make it more difficult to
achieve a three point goal.
The
rules of basketball have changed slightly like the rule which prohibits players
from throwing the ball unless they use
one hand or both; the change was that some players would use their fist
so the rule was added that the use of the fist is a foul. There is a rule that
counts for a goal which is the consecutive foul process; the rule states that
if a team get 3 fouls consecutively while the other team has none then a point
will be added to that team.
Basketball
has a referee who starts a game by throwing a ball high and after it reaches
the peak of the throw then both team players will jump to take possession of
the ball; the game is divided into 4 quarters; both teams are going against
each other to score and the team with the highest score wins.
Basketball
isn't just about players' height; positioning is the most important tactic to
create a strong pressure on the opposition team; for example the best position
for the tallest person in a team would be in the center, also beneath the hoop,
and the slightly shorter player who is more agile and has more control on the
ball will be positioned as a point guard.
Basketball
is also famous in the UAE where we have the United Arab Emirates Basketball
Association; there have not been many famous achievements but one of the best
was the awards that they had in the FIBA Asia Championship; they won the award
of the best performance in the year 1997; unfortunately they had the worst
performance in the year 2007. In the year 2008 it was the first time a basketball
team in the UAE achieved a medal; Al-Wasl finished in the third spot in the
FIBA Asia Championship. The UAE national team are famous for their lack of height
in the team but they manage this difference by their fast reflexes and agility.
