Basketball has always been popular in the United States. Still, the international game is moving forward at a blistering pace. Professional basketball athletes like Michael Jordan, Lisa Leslie, and Lebron James are recognizable worldwide because of basketball’s inclusion in the Olympic Games and movies. Nowadays, one could argue the current most popular NBA players are international players like Luka Dončić. However, basketball will always be an American sport since its invention in the late 1800s. The first versions of basketball looked very different from what people see today. Over time, the current rule set that we play came to be, but it took over fifty years before the modern rules came to be.

The students will play several different versions of basketball, starting with its original rule set from 1891. As the game progresses, so will the rules, and the students can compare basketball’s origin to how the rule set evolved over time to its current rules. This lesson works in conjunction with United States history and culture from the early 1900s, as well as when you are studying the sport of basketball specifically. However, I recently used this multi-week lesson spanning February for black history month. During weeks three and four, we highlight the contributions and changes made to the game due to black and African-American players and coaches.

Dr. James Naismith invented basketball because he was looking for an active sport that could be played indoors during the cold weather months. Initially played in YMCAs, it would spread to universities and eventually to urban settings. Interestingly, the game’s first version resembled the rules of ultimate Frisbee more than modern basketball. With no dribbles, the game was heavily pass-oriented. Later, a player was allowed to “pass to themselves,” which would become the prototype for the basketball dribble. However, it still wasn’t suited for offense yet, because if a player passed to themselves, they had to pass to another player and could not shoot the ball.

During the 1910s and 20s, dance halls were built because of the phonograph. People listened to more music at home and wanted to dance to live music. Because these dance halls had hardwood floors, enterprising basketball enthusiasts would also take advantage of these new halls and have them outfitted for basketball. Many new courts were being built in some of the largest cities in the U.S., including New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., etc. These large cities had thriving African American communities that now had more opportunities to play basketball because of this boom. Different all-black teams were created, and they would play all across the country, showcasing their skills and, many times, breaking racial barriers as they played all-white teams from surrounding areas.

One of the most influential coaches in basketball development was John McLendon, who would be recognized as the first black head coach at a white university and the first black head coach of any professional team. His family is black on his father’s side and Delaware Native American on his mother’s side. With the blessing of Dr. Naismith, he would revolutionize how the game of basketball was played. His teams were the first to utilize a high energy fast-break style offense and transition game utilizing the dribble to its fullest scoring potential. Before McLendon, the game was still

pretty slow-moving, even with the dribble. However, McLendon trained his to all sprint when they got a steal or rebound and turn that transition into their primary form of attack. Teams were shocked at the pace his teams would play and were quickly exhausted trying to keep up with them. This style of play would become quintessential to how modern basketball is played today.

More changes would come to professional basketball because of the dominance of big men like Wilt Chamberlin and Bill Russel. Chamberlin, who scored over a hundred points in one game, could post up, score at will, and tip in any missed shot. Goaltending rules and three seconds in the lane were created to lessen the power of these big players. While some claimed that these rules targeted certain African American players, most people agree that these rules would make the game more dynamic. However, in college, dunks became banned once Lew Alcindor played his first season on the UCLA varsity team. In his very first game, he broke the single-game scoring record, so the “Alcindor Rule,” or no dunking, was put in place to stop him, which many decried as overt racism. However, to his credit, he would develop a new shot style that was essentially unblockable due to his height, called the “sky hook.” In the NBA, he went by a different name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and he would go on to set the NBA scoring record for decades until it was broken by Lebron James recently. It is worth noting that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar refused to play for the U.S. Olympic teams to protest how African Americans were being treated in the U.S.

Dunking would be reinstated in college basketball soon after Alcindor’s departure, and the league admitted they were wrong. They claimed it was for safety, which was a false claim at the time. However, in later years, a massive man named Shaquille O’Neal would become famous for dunking so hard that backboards would shatter. As a result, backboards transitioned to plastic away from glass to curtail the exploding backboards, and the rims would be reinforced with springs to allow movement with breaking. Initially, dunks were seen as a sign of disrespect, and defenders would violently try to stop someone from dunking. However, when a dunk made it through, the picture taken of the dunk would be action-filled and become the poster or basketball card that everyone wanted. Now dunks are iconic in basketball, and defenders are more hesitant to try and stop a dunk because they don’t want to be “posterized” or featured in another person’s card or poster as the defender who got beaten.

Basketball is ruled by the more recent invention of the three-point shot as much as the dunk. Shorter players and sharpshooters could now dominate the game with long shots worth more points than a traditional two-point shot. This would forever alter the game. More and more players are becoming proficient in the three-point shot, which has changed the offense, defense tactics, and strategies.

Materials: 

·      A gym with basketball hoops or basketball hoops set up outside with asphalt

·      A soccer ball

·      An underinflated or slightly warped basketball

·      A perfect basketball

Minimum Amount of Players Needed: To make this feel at least somewhat authentic, I would say you need at least four students so you can play two versus two. The best would have at least ten students to make two teams play against each other. The version of basketball actually featured nine versus nine!

Age: All ages. It works best with older students who will understand and implement all the rule changes. If you do this lesson with lower elementary, split this lesson up into four different sessions so the younger students don’t have to adapt on the fly to all the rule changes.