This is a team sport where two teams, consisting of nine members each, throw ball into a ten-foot high basket of the opponent in order to get a score. While one team member aims for the basket, member of the other team prevents him from doing so.

A look into the bloody precursor to the game we now love. Basketball, played the Mayan way.

Michael Jordan was born three days after Valentine's Day in 1963. He brought a new level of excitement to the game of basketball, and is now retired, much to the relief of his opponents, and despite coming back several times previously.

Some simple things you can do to improve your game.

If you have decided that you want to coach a basketball team you will want to start with the bare minimum and that is to know and understand the essentials of the game and the core concepts. Once you grasp this part of coaching you will be able to get all of the players on the same page and coordinate a game that everyone loves to participate in as well as to watch.

Two important skills in basketball are faking and moving without the ball. Both should be practiced well.

In playing basketball, each player must be conditioned to change quickly from offense to defense. This mental trick must be learned before any kind of defense can become operative.

As far as the time of practice is concerned, I feel the best time to practice is right after school. I feel it is desirable to have several practice sessions at night before we begin the regular season's schedule so that we might accustom the players to game conditions. I conduct several game type scrimmages at night before the opening game.

Writer Glen C. Brown author of `Secrets Of The Zone Press` writes from this extraordinary coaching and basketball skilled book.