Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 32

Hoop dreams
Given the fast-paced, high-stakes and high-definition world of modernday basketball, it’s hard to imagine this sport had very humble and Canadian
beginnings—but give it a try. If you guessed that Dr. James Naismith,
the father of the famous hooped sport, found inspiration from launching
crumpled paper in a trash bin, guess again.
Instead, imagine a rock called “a duck” placed on top of a larger stone
and a group of children gathered ‘round, launching even more stones at it.
Naismith transformed this game, simply called “duck on a rock,” into an
early version of basketball for the gym class he was teaching in Massachusetts
in 1891. The stage was set for a Canadian success story of a sporting nature.
This first attempt at basketball had a set of 13 rules, used peach baskets hung
about three metres from the floor, and quickly became a popular pastime
played at both the amateur and professional level. Speaking of the pros, the
forebear of the very first NBA game, pitting the New York Knickerbockers
against the Toronto Huskies, was played in Maple Leaf Gardens on November
1, 1946. These teams were part of the Basketball Association of America,
which eventually evolved into the NBA.
For budding athletes with serious intentions, the Steve Nash Youth
Basketball program is offered in hundreds of cities across the country. With
the focus on skills development, sportsmanship and a love for the game,
these camps are all-star all the way.
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