Women's National Basketball Association: The Invention Of Basketball

The history of the game of basketball is unique to other sports. Instead of the game gradually developing into a sport over time, the invention of basketball was immediate. In eighteen-ninety-one, when a local YMCA gave him the task of creating a game for students, James Naismith designed a game he named “basketball”. From there, the game quickly grew into a national and worldwide phenomenon. Only forty-five years later, in nineteen-thirty-six, basketball was introduced to the Olympics games. Founded in nineteen-forty-nine, the National Basketball Association, a collection of professional men’s teams, became the nation’s hallmark league. Finally, the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) was created in nineteen-ninety-six. Now, basketball