Koszykówka

Koszykówka, also known as basketball, is a team sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop, a raised horizontal circle, which is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The ball can be advanced by bouncing it or passing it to a teammate. Players score points by shooting the ball through the hoop. A successful shot from open play is worth two points, unless it is taken from beyond the three-point line, in which case it is worth three points. A player who is fouled in the act of shooting or who is fouled while having possession of the ball may be awarded free throws, each worth one point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.

The game was invented in December 1891 by James Naismith, a Canadian physical education instructor working in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Naismith was looking for a less injury-prone sport than football to keep his students occupied and in good shape during the long Massachusetts winters. He devised a game with 13 basic rules and initially used peach baskets as goals, hence the name basketball.

Basketball is a popular sport played worldwide, both recreationally and professionally. The National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States is widely considered the premier professional basketball league in the world. International competitions, such as the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Olympic basketball tournament, also attract significant attention. The sport requires a combination of athleticism, skill, strategy, and teamwork.