James Naismith

James Naismith

In the year of 1891 a Canadian which was 30 years old was born on November the 6th 1861. His birth was at Almonte in the province of Canada.

James Naismith was the inventor of Netball. It all started when James Naismith had invented/created a men’s game called “Basketball”. He then invented the girl version of Basketball which is by the Boston YMCA. That was when the game “Netball” was formed.

Netball was then introduced in Australia and also to many other countries. The netball games were taught to people by the English school teachers in the 1900’s. Women loved the new version of basketball (Netball) except they found out that long passes were much harder to goal or execute-(achieve) due to how much strength you need to have. So women and ladies changed the game around to make it more easier for them. By doing that they had made rules like changing the courts. So they decided to divide the courts into thirds and they said that there was a rule that you must follow. The rule was to catch or touch the ball at least once in each third of the court every time. When they had finished discussing all the rules they all took the backboard off from the basketball hoop, and designed it into something else which was a smaller sized ring to fit a soccer ball but changed it into a netball ball.   

When James was a little boy he struggled in school work and learning. Except he was a gifted boy at farm labor. He spent his days playing hide-seek, playing catch and duck on a rock.     James had many honors and accomplishments awards. For example: He had earned the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, FIBA hall of fame, Canadian Basketball hall of fame, Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Ontario Sports Legends Hall of Fame, Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, McGill University Sports Hall of Fame, Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame, Inventor of Basketball. Most of his awards all ended with the words “Hall of Fame” because Hall of Fame is like a housing for famous groups, celebrities, illustrators and more.                     

James didn’t only have awards. He also had written books! There were only about 3 books but what a great start! Those lovely books were Basketball’s Origins: Creative Problem Solving in the Gilded Age, Basketball: Its Origin and Development and lastly Basketball - Its Origin and Development.

Sadly in the end he had died. His death was on the 28th of November 1939. James Naismith died at a place in the United States, Lawrence, Kansas.         

By:Faith