• Basketballbasketball image by Jeff Dalton from Fotolia.com
  
  Basketball is a sport enjoyed by many youths and adults across the globe. While the sport is most popular in the United States, the popularity of the sport rapidly spread throughout the world over the past century. Many youths begin playing basketball as soon as they develop adequate hand-and-eye coordination.
  
  

Basic Rules

• Each organized basketball team consists of five players, with two teams on the court at one time. Most teams have additional players on the bench that serve as substitutes throughout a game in case another player is injured or fatigued. The court has two halves, each with a basketball goal. The main objective of the game of basketball is to shoot the basketball into the hoop on the basketball goal. In organized basketball games, one goal equals two points. However, if you score a goal from beyond the three-point arc, which is 23 feet 9 inches in the National Basketball Association and 20 feet 9 for men (19 feet 9 for women) in college, the goal is worth three points.
  
  

Offense and Defense

• The team with the ball is the team on the offense, while the team guarding the offensive team is on the defense. The defensive team's goal is to try to block a shot, steal the ball or keep the offensive team from scoring a goal.
  
  In pickup games, there may be only four, six, or eight total players, meaning that each team may consist of two, three, or four players per team. In these cases, they play half-court or one-goal games instead of full court or two-goal games. In many pickup games, a goal is worth one point.
  
  

Dribbling, Passing and Shooting

• The team with the ball advances down the court by either dribbling or passing to a teammate. A player cannot stop dribbling unless he intends to pass or shoot. Once he stops dribbling, he cannot begin dribbling again unless a player from the other team knocks the ball away.
  
  

Violations and Fouls

• Violations include traveling, double dribbling and goaltending. Traveling includes an act of taking more than two steps toward the goal without dribbling. Double dribbling means a player stops dribbling and begins dribbling again without passing or shooting the ball. Goaltending is a violation that includes blocking the ball while it is heading downward into the basketball goal.
  
  In an organized basketball game, a personal foul indicates that a player made unnecessary or excessive physical contact with another player. Contact may include hitting, pushing, slapping, holding or tripping. A foul may also include an charge, which is when the offensive player knocks down the defensive player while the defensive player's feet are in set position. A flagrant foul is a foul committed by a player in which the contact is overly excessive or violent. An intentional foul is a foul committed by a player in which he makes contact with no intent to steal the ball from the opposing player. A technical foul is a foul committed by a player or coach that may or may not consist of physical contact. Any act disrupting the integrity of the game is a technical foul, such as obscene language, excessive arguing or obscene gestures.