The Pastor Who Invented Basketball

I came from a land where basketball is very popular, the Philippines.

Even though it’s almost 10 years I haven’t played any basketball competitions, I still love watching it and had fond memories as a young playing coach, touring in our many-island country.

Christian Beginnings

Do you know that in 1891, James Naismith invented Basketball as we know it?

Naismith is a Presbyterian pastor who studied for the ministry at the Presbyterian College in Montreal. After his theological training, he went on to work as physical education instructor at Springfield College in Massachusetts where he invented basketball.

James Naismith proceeded to work as a gym instructor at a YMCA’s International Training School in Denver with their goal to “win men for the Master through the gym.”

Elisha Coffman wrote an article “The Sport of Saints?” about the Christian history of basketball. He noted,

“Winter gets cold in Massachusetts, so Naismith wanted to devise an indoor activity that would keep his students busy and fit. Thinking back to rock-throwing games he’d played during his childhood in rural Ontario (origin of the phrase, “give me the rock”?), he nailed half-bushel peach baskets to both ends of the Springfield gym, split his 18-member class into two 9-member teams, and instructed the boys to try to toss a soccer ball (accurately, not forcefully) into the other team’s goal.”

But having 18 players on the basketball court did not look pleasant. “Naismith quickly refined the game to its current form: two five-player teams, a ball four inches larger in circumference than a soccer ball, and hoops with nets and backboards,” Coffman describes.

After the modifications, in January 1892, the basketball rules were published. Since then basketball spread from America to Europe and the whole world, including our country. It was an indoor game that found its way even to the streets and corners of the world.

Control

Were you wondering why referees penalize technical fouls in Basketball?

Every game has rules and regulations. Basketball, for example, prohibits tripping, striking, shouldering, pushing, holding, etc. To some extent, the basketball rules are reflective of its inventor.

A.A. Stagg, who is considered as “the Dean of American football,” described Naismith as the “inventor of basketball, a medical doctor, a Presbyterian Minister, a teetotaller, an all-around athlete, a non-smoker and the owner of a vocabulary without cuss words.”

Since the inventor of basketball is a man of principle, prohibitions are part of the discipline in the game.

For me, the beauty of the game is in developing that self-discipline. You could win too many titles but without discipline, it would amount to nothing in life.

Creating Winners 

It was in 1936 Berlin games that basketball became the first team sport in Olympic competition.

One of the inherent powers of the basketball game is in its compelling influence to create winners.

How come? Isn’t it that in a game, there will always be losers and seldom winners?

Take a look at NBA, as well as other leagues, it’s a winner takes all, right?

But have you noticed that there were great players who remained in the game for the love of it?

Many of them may have not won a championship ring but they have brought out the best in them through basketball. Their attitude makes the huge difference.

The environment where basketball flourished was the YMCA. It used to value the “Christian” aspect of the game. The YMCA gyms were the “basketball’s incubators” for young men to have a “wholesome alternative to hanging out in saloons. They were also intended to promote civic and religious education.”

There is no doubt that Naismith’s job at Springfield was to train men for the Christian ministry. Remember, those were the times when the Sunday school movement was growing and thriving. As such the YMCA focused on “the fourfold program” for fitness, namely the “physical, social, mental, and spiritual development.”

No wonder, the fitness program produced great spiritual men and leaders in the past.

In my life, I’ve watched men who’ve lost their temper and testimonies through basketball. Indeed, the game will build or break you. It will manifest what’s within.

I hope that in basketball season or games, we would heed Naismith’s advice. He said, “Let us be able to lose gracefully and to win courteously; to accept criticism as well as praise; and to appreciate the attitude of the other fellow at all times.”

Have you ever thought that the real winners in whatever basketball category you might be in are those who win in the spirit?

Love the game. Just don’t lose your soul.

Glenn Plastina (c) 2018