Teams

Basketball is a team sport, the objective being to shoot a ball through a horizontally positioned basket to score points, while following a set of rules, Usually, two teams of five players play on a marked rectangular court with a basket at each width end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw, and the opposing team also retains possession of the ball. Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniqes of shooting, passing, dribbling, and rebounding, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structers and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a handling skills and speed play point guard or shooting guard. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed fro casual play.

Basketabll was originally played with a soccer ball. The first balls made specifically for basketball were brown, and it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ballthat is now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. During the first decades of the 20th century, basketball quickly became the ideal interscholastic sport due to its modest equipment and personal requirments. Today virtually every high school in the United States fields a basketball team in varsity competition. Basketball's popularity remains high, both in rural areas where they carry the identification of the entire community, as well as some larger schools known for their basketball teams where many players go on to participate at higher levels of competition, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

The ball may be advanced toward the basket by being shot, passed between players, thrown, tapped, rolled or dribbled. The ball must stay within the court; the last team to touch the ball before it travels out of bounds forfeits possession.