BASKET BALL 612 



inventive tests. He worked out this game pr 

 tically as it stands to-day in all essential 

 features. Other associations throughout the 

 country promptly took it up, and wi-iv Liter 

 followed by schools and colleges, until now it 

 is one of the most popular of athletic sports. 



How Played. The game is played on a field 

 laid out as shown in the accompanying dia- 

 gram. This field must be longer than broad, 

 and should cover not more than 4,500 nor less 

 than 2,100 square feet of actual playing space, 



BASKET BALL 



Side Line 



DIAGRAM OF COURT 



though a boundary territory on all sides is 

 necessary; 70x50 feet is ideal, but the usual 

 dimensions are 70x35 feet. At each end of 

 the field, in the center, is a goal, which con- 

 sists of the basket, suspended ten feet above 

 the ground. This basket is a hammock net on 

 a metal ring eighteen inches in diameter, which 

 must be from six to fifteen inches from the 

 rigid surface to which it is fastened. The ball, 

 resembling a football, but round instead of 

 oval, is an inflated rubber bladder in a heavy 

 leather case. It is from thirty to thirty-two 

 inches in circumference, and weighs from 

 twenty to twenty-three ounces. 



The rules of play are in two forms, one for 

 a regular game, and the other for a so-called 

 live game, both of which are played by both 

 sexes, though the live game originated as 

 women's rules. In the live game the court is 

 divided by extra transverse lines into zones, 

 to one of which each player is confined. This 

 eliminates many of the rougher or more active 

 features. The directions here given apply prac- 

 tically to either game. A team consists of five 

 persons a center, left and right forwards, left 

 and right guards; and each player should have 

 qualifications for his particular position, though 

 the specialization is not so decided as in foot- 

 ball or baseball, and frequently in the regular 

 game a skilled player will "play all over the 

 floor." The game is played in two halves, 

 usually of twenty minutes each with ten min- 

 utes between, and its object is the "making 

 of baskets" by either team. 



Scoring. Each team has a basket for which 

 it throws, trying at the same time to prevent 

 the opposing team from making baskets. A 

 "basket" counts two points if thrown in active 

 play, but a ''basket on fouls" counts but one 

 point. Whenever a foul is called by an official 

 against any member of a team, the opposing 

 team has a "free throw"; that it, a chosen 

 player stands at the free throw line, fifteen 

 feet from the basket, and tosses the ball 

 toward the basket, no interference being per- 

 mitted. 



Course oj the Game. The centers of the two 

 teams take their positions in the four-foot 

 circle in the middle of the field, each facing his 

 own goal, (the goal into which he will try to 

 throw the ball) and the referee tosses the ball 

 in the air between them, higher than they 

 can jump. With this throwing of the ball, play 

 begins. Each center tries to strike the ball 

 as it comes down, and the players of both 

 teams follow the ball about the field, attempt- 

 ing to seize it and throw it towards the goal. 

 Though the forwards are the players whose 

 specific duty it is to throw for basket, the 

 center and the guards have the same privilege 

 in the regular game. The special business of 

 the guards, as the name implies, is to guard 

 the basket, or rather to oppose the forwards 

 of the other team, who are to be prevented 

 from throwing for baskets. .When the ball goes 

 beyond the boundary line, it is put in play 

 again by an opponent of the player who forced 

 it out of bounds, or if the referee cannot deter- 

 mine which player touched the ball last before 

 it went out of bounds, he puts it in play by 

 tossing it up between the two opposing players 

 who are nearest it. 



A player may catch the ball, throw it or 

 strike it with the open hand, but he may not 

 run with it, kick it, or strike it with the fist or 

 body, and when he holds it, it must be entirely 

 with the hands: Nor may he touch the body 

 of any other person carrying the ball, or lay 

 hands upon the ball when it is in another's 

 possession. If two players grasp the ball at 

 the same time, the referee tosses it up between 

 them as he does between the centers at the 

 opening of the game. 



The rules against foul plays, which include 

 technical fouls, such as running with the ball, 

 kicking the ball or striking it with the fists, 

 as well as such personal fouls as holding an 

 opponent, pushing, tripping or using unneces- 

 sary roughness, are very strict. As stated 

 above, any foul gives to the opposing team a 



