More than a hundred years ago, James Naismith was given the challenge of inventing a male indoor sport that was to be played during the long winter months. He was only given fourteen days to come up with the game. Four days before the duration date, he developed some ideas for a male indoor game called basketball. Today, basketball is a sport played by millions of people all over the world. Two days following the invention of basketball, women's basketball was introduced. Four years later, the name was changed from women's basketball to netball. After six years of calling it netball, they decided to change the rules of the game and the court layout, which caused the game to drift away from its origin. Although basketball gave meaning to netball, the differences between the two sports today seem to outweigh any similarities they might have shared. Basketball and netball are different in many ways.
In recent years, women have come to share in the joy of basketball, and they are competing at a professional level; however, it is predominantly male sport. Both netball and basketball are played on a court, but the layout of each court is much different. A basketball court is 94ft long and 54ft wide. There is a post at the two ends of the court, with a hoop attached to a backboard. The court is divided into two halves with a semi-circle at both ends of the court, just 20ft away from the goat post. Within the semi-circle, there is a free throw line that is 15ft away from the goal post. There is also a circle in the center of the court. There are twelve players on a team, but only five can play at a time. On each team, there are two guards, two forwards, and one center. All players can be on both sides of the court and can both score for their team. A shot taken outside of the semi-circle is considered the be a three-pointer, in other words, you get three points for that shot; while any shot that is taken within the semi-circle is considered two points.
