Direction: Read the following information carefully and answer the given questions.

James Naismith, a physical education teacher in Massachusetts, USA invented basketball in 1891. Naismith's boss asked him to invent a game that students could play indoors during bad weather and wasn't as physically rough as soccer, football or wrestling. Naismith attached peach baskets to a railing ten feet above the floor at either end of the gym. The players used a soccer ball. A person sat on a ladder next to each basket at either end of the gym and threw out the balls that landed in the baskets. Naismith decided that having only five players on each team would keep the game from getting too rough.

Two years later, metal hoops with net bags replaced the peach baskets. Officials pulled a string on the nets to release the balls that went in. In 1894, Naismith added a blackboard behind each net and changed to a larger ball. In 1913, people began using the bottomless nets that are used today. During a basketball game, two teams of five players each throw the ball into two baskets at opposite ends of a court. Players bounce or dribble the ball to the basket or pass the ball to the teammates. A team scores points by getting the ball into their team's basket. The team with the highest score wins. By the 1900s, basketball was the most popular indoor sport. Athletes in approximately 130 countries now play the game. Basketball is especially popular in the United States, China and Puerto Rico.