Section 2.1
How basketball spread beyond its first gym
From one gym to the world
Basketball spread outward from Springfield remarkably fast, mainly through the very network that had produced it in the first place: the YMCA.Naismith Invents Basketball | History | Research Starters | EBSCOhostNaismith’s students went home for Christmas break and took the game with them; it became popular immediately.
Open source When Naismith's own students left Springfield for Christmas break in December 1891, they took the new game home with them, and it caught on almost immediately in the places they lived.
In January 1892, Naismith's thirteen original rules were printed in The Triangle, the Springfield school's newspaper, which had national distribution, giving instructors elsewhere a ready-made way to teach the game.
Because the YMCA was already an international movement, with training schools and local branches abroad, the game did not stay confined to the United States for long. By the turn of the century, basketball had been introduced in more than a dozen countries through this same network of YMCA instructors and graduates.
Colleges picked the game up quickly as well.History of basketball - WikipediaThe first known U.S. college to field a basketball team against an outside opponent was Vanderbilt University, which played against the local YMCA in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 7, 1893.
Open source The first known college game against an outside opponent was played by Vanderbilt University against the local YMCA in Nashville, Tennessee, in February 1893, and other colleges soon followed with teams of their own. Women's basketball spread early too: by 1893 it was being played at Smith College.History of Basketball: How the YMCA Invented the Game | YMCABy 1893, even women were playing at Smith College.
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A second wave of international spread came with World War I, as American troops and YMCA staff brought the game with them overseas and exposed soldiers and civilians in other countries to it, some of whom carried it home after the war.Basketball and WWI | National WWI Museum and MemorialThe YMCA and similar organizations provided entertainment for soldiers with various activities, including organized basketball games.
Open sourceHistory of basketball - WikipediaDuring World War I, the American Expeditionary Force took basketball wherever it went. Together with the troops, there were hundreds of physical education teachers who knew basketball.
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The game's international standing was formalized over the following decades.A Brief History of Basketball - Hoop Heads Podcastthis all changed in 1932 when the FIBA came into being. The work of the FIBA on the international game helped it to become an Olympic sport in 1936, which was then won by the US National Team.
Open sourceJames Naismith - Wikipediabasketball became a demonstration sport at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis.
Open source Basketball appeared as a demonstration sport at the 1904 Olympics, and after international federations organized the sport, it became an official Olympic event at the 1936 Berlin Games.