Basketball is collective ball sport in which players only touch the ball with their hands. The aim of the game is to score point by throwing a ball into a circle framed by a net at a few meters from the ground (around 3 meters). The winning team is of course the one with the highest score.

Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher at Springfield College, Massachusetts. He wanted to keep his students busy during the soccer and baseball winter inter-seasons, during which training outside is quite difficult.
The first basketball game ever, took place on December 21th 1891. The game was adapted for women the same year.
Step by step, basketball became popular in U.S High Schools (mostly through the YMCAs which promoted this game all over the world). In 1946, the famous NBA (National Basketball Association) was created to make the best professional team compete. Nowadays the NBA is the most famous basketball league in the world.

A basketball team consists in 5 players on the court and 5 to 7 bench players. A game last 4 periods of 12 minutes (according to the NBA rules). Points are scored by throwing (shooting) the ball through the basket above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling)) or passing it between teammates.

The youngest Player to be ever drafted in the NBA was Jermaine O'Neal of Portland in 1996, he was 18 years and 53 days then.