Dribbling was introduced in 1901. While Naismith initially wrote that team sizes could range from 3 to 40 players. Check it out here.
When was dribbling allowed in basketball.
Dr. Naismith, with all of his imaginative planning, could not have dreamed his “Peach Basket” game would develop into the world’s greatest indoor sport.
Although the original 13 rules have been expanded to over 100, the spirit and principles of the original rules are still in effect in today.
Major rule changes over the years addressed the number of players, the court boundaries, dribbling, and the elimination of the center jump after made baskets.
In the mid 1930’s inter-sectional competition led to a standardization of rules throughout the country.
Dribbling was introduced in 1901. While Naismith initially wrote that team sizes could range from 3 to 40 players, depending on the size of the floor space, five-player squads became the norm.
Originally, there was no set rule on the number of players. The idea was that the game could be played by any number of players. However, that did not work out. After experimenting with teams up to 50 players, early games were primarily played by nine players on each side – the reason being that 18 students showed up for Naismith’s class. In 1897 five players became the mandatory team size.
Wire mesh backboards were introduced in 1895 to prevent spectators in the balconies from interfering with play. Wood replaced the easily dented wire mesh backboards in 1904, and plate glass backboard usage was approved in 1909.
Backboards were mounted flat against walls. In 1916 to prevent players from running up the walls for easy lay-ups, a two foot gap was between the backboard and the endline was required and In 1939 this gap was increased from 2 feet to the present 4 feet to allow for more movement underneath the basket.
In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders’ attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score.
The first basketball games were played with soccer balls. However, they proved to be unsuitable for dribbling and ball handling. The first manufactured basketballs were produced in 1894 by a bicycle manufacturing company. In the late 1890’s Spalding took over as the official ball maker.
In 1905 the choice of basketballs was left up to the teams. Because of their inability to maintain their shape and their laces, these early brown leather basketballs were hard to dribble. In 1929 basketballs were re-designed for more bounce and with concealed laces which eliminated erratic bounces.
The balls were bigger, lighter and easier to handle. In 1942 molded basketballs that maintained a constant shape and size replaced the stitched balls. In 1967 the American Basketball Association (ABA) played with a red, white and blue basketball.
Today, the WNBA and FIBA use contrasting panels. The men’s ball is 30″ in circumference and the smaller women’s ball is 29″ in circumference.
The dribble allows for much faster advancement and thus more opportunities for scoring. It also provides an opportunity for a crafty player on the opposing team to “steal” the ball in mid-bounce.
Once a player stops dribbling the ball and holds it, the player normally must either pass it to another player or take a shot; if the player dribbles and then holds the ball in any way (either grasping it with their hands or arms, or “palming” it, i.e. holding it too much toward its underside during the act of dribbling) then continues to dribble, the referee stops the play, signals either “double dribble” or “carrying”, and turns the ball over to the other team. A “double dribble” may also be called if the player tries to dribble with both hands at the same time.