Basketball in Canada Basketball in Canada Basketball in Canada dates back to the 20th century. The sport is played year-round by men and women and various levels of competition. Several professional basketball leagues have teams based in Canada. James Naismith, a Canadian who moved to the United States, invented basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts in the 1890s. This new sport soon became popular as an indoor sport that needed a minimal equipment, gaining popularity at high schools and colleges in Canada. In Canada, the sport has long lived in the shadow of ice hockey, but in the early 21st Century the sport saw a
James Naismith Instead, he was more interested in his physical education career, receiving an honorary PE Masters degree in 1910, patrolled the Mexican border for four months in 1916, traveled to France, published two books ("A Modern College" in 1911 and "Essence of a Healthy Life" in 1918). He took American citizenship in 1925. In 1909, Naismith's duties at Kansas were redefined as a Professorship; he served as the "de facto" athletic director at Kansas for much of the early 20th century. In 1923, Dr. Naismith was a founder of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity at the University of Kansas. Naismith was