Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs, it has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including more than 100,000 volunteers. The AAU was founded on January 21, 1888, by James E. Sullivan with the goal of creating common standards in amateur sport. Since most national championships for youth athletes in the United States have taken place under AAU leadership. From its founding as a publicly supported organization, the AAU has represented US sports within the various international sports federations; the AAU worked with the United States Olympic Committee to prepare U. S. athletes for the Olympic Games. As part of this, the AAU Junior Olympic Games were introduced in 1949, with athletes aged 8 to 16 years, or older in certain sports, can participating. Many future World and Olympic champions have appeared in these events, which are still held every year.
In the 1970s, the AAU received growing criticism. Many claimed. Women were banned from participating in certain competitions and some runners were locked out. There were problems with sporting goods that did not meet the standards of the AAU. During this time, the Olympic Sports Act of 1978 organized the United States Olympic Committee and saw the re-establishment of independent associations for the Olympic sports, referred to as national governing bodies; the rise of professionalism in all sports in the latter half of the 20th century hurt the AAU's viability. As a result, the AAU lost its influence and importance in international sports, focused on the support and promotion of predominantly youthful athletes, as well as on the organization of national sports events; the AAU was founded in 1888 by William Buckingham Curtis to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sport. During its early years the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the United States in the international sports federations.
The AAU worked with the Olympic movement to prepare athletes for the Olympic Games. After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 broke up the AAU's responsibility as the national Olympic sports governing body, the AAU focused on providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the local and regional levels; the philosophy of the AAU is "Sports for All, Forever." In 1923 the AAU sponsored the First American Field championships for women. The AAU is divided into 56 distinct district associations, which annually sanction 34 sports programs, 250 national championships, over 30,000 age division events; the AAU events have over 50,000 volunteers. The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was precipitated by grumblings of the inefficiency of the AAU to manage the multitude of sports at the Olympic level. USA Gymnastics was formed as a feeder program in 1963 as a response to perceived poor performance by the American performers in the Olympics and at World Championships; the USWF was formed in 1968 as an effort to take wrestling as an independent governing body.
Their position was supported when FILA the world governing body refused to accept membership of "umbrella" sports organizations like the AAU. After years of grumbling by athletes, the International Track Association was formed after the 1972 Olympics to provide track and field athletes an opportunity to make money from their sporting efforts. Participants in the professional league were "banned for life" from the Olympics and their record-breaking performances were never accepted. In the early 1970s, The AAU became the subject of criticism, notably by outspoken track star Steve Prefontaine, over the living conditions for amateur athletes under the AAU, as well as arbitrary rules. Congress adopted the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 in response to such criticisms removing the organization from any governance role; the AAU now continues as a voluntary organization promoting youth sports. In 2008, The AAU found itself under scrutiny over the privacy of information of athletes. A local news station near the AAU Headquarters found boxes of personal information thrown out in dumpsters, raising questions about the organization's handling of private data.
In 2015, Kobe Bryant criticized the AAU, describing it as "Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid, it doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid." Kobe, who moved to Italy at age 6 because of his father playing basketball there, stated that the AAU has been "treating like cash cows for everyone to profit off of". Steve Kerr has spoken out against the AAU, stating that the AAU's structure devalues winning, with many teams playing about as many as four times a day and some players changing teams as early as from one morning to an afternoon the same day. Kerr states that "The process of growing as a team basketball player — learning how to become part of a whole, how to fit into something bigger than oneself — becomes lost within the AAU fabric."In the wake of sexual scandals that hit two U. S. universities, Penn State and Syracuse, involving acts of sexual abuse with children, charges have reached the AAU in Memphis, through the alleged misconduct of President Robert W.
"Bobby" Dodd. In 2016, the AAU was sued for allowing Rick Butler, a youth volleyball coach accused of sexually abusing his players in the past, coach an under-18 team in the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball
Massanutten Military Academy
Massanutten Military Academy is a coeducational military school for grades 6 through 12 and one academic postgraduate year, located in Woodstock, United States. The Massanutten Military Academy, named for the nearby mountain, was established by the Virginia Classis of the Reformed Church in 1899; the school opened on September 1899 with 40 students, half of whom were boarders. From the beginning the school was coed, with the first graduating class in 1902 consisting of 3 boys and 3 girls. In 1905 the first of two significant events in the history of the school occurred: Howard J. Benchoff was appointed the school president, he stayed in that position for nearly 5 decades, to be succeeded for the next decade and a half by his son. Lantz Hall, the second structure on the academy grounds, was begun in 1907 and dedicated in 1909, to accommodate a growing student population. During the early years of his stewardship Benchoff established several policies; the first was expanding the school size to include number of students, staff and acreage.
The second, as a result of an otherwise undocumented "incident", was limiting the boarding department to boys beginning in 1910. The last policy, the second significant event in the school's early history, was adopting a military program. While the program was not implemented until 1917, early in his tenure Benchoff described the goal of a military program as "to train the boys with a discipline, valuable and give them that easy and graceful carriage, an accomplishment in any gentleman's claim to culture" In 1930 after receiving an application and inspecting the existing program, the U. S. War Department formally made the school a JROTC unit "placing it on a par with the highest rated military schools in the country"; the school has a strong academic program with the graduating class of 2017, which consisted of 24 students, earning more than $2,000,000 in scholarships alone. The school has a strong STEM Program that focuses on experiential learning. Kim Elshafie is the current Head of School.
She was the former Dean of Academics as well. The Commandant of Cadets is Lieutenant Colonel Lester Layman, U. S. Army. Average enrollment is around 125 students MMA is accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; as part of its mission the academy has a Cadet Honor Code patterned after the one at West Point. "A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do." The Cadet Honor Council consists of juniors and seniors selected by the senior class and the faculty, as approved by the Head of School. When a suspected honor code violation is reported, the Honor Council faculty advisers convene the Council for a hearing at which the cadets involved are required to explain their conduct; the Honor Council recommends punishment and/or other measures appropriate to educate the Cadet Corps about the expectations of honorable behavior. Final approval lies with the Head of School. Continued, repeated violations of the Honor Code may warrant dismissal from the Academy.
MMA’s Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps is recognized as an Honor Unit with Distinction. Since 2011, MMA Cadets have qualified to compete in the JROTC Academic Bowl. Six times they have qualified for Level Two of the competition and three times they have qualified to compete at the national level. For the 2017 competition, MMA is placed in the top 24 programs in the nation and the #1 team in the 4th Brigade of Cadet Command. Jack Ham, professional football player. Richmond, Commandant United States Coast Guard Mia Khalifa, Internet celebrity and former pornographic film actor Virginia Association of Independent Schools Boarding School Review Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States Massanutten Military Academy JROTC Insignia Official website
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is a men's professional basketball league in North America. It is considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world; the NBA is an active member of USA Basketball, recognized by FIBA as the national governing body for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player; the league was founded in New York City on June 1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with the competing National Basketball League; the league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in New Jersey; the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada.
On November 1, 1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, in a game the NBA now refers to as the first game played in NBA history. The first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including the American Basketball League and the NBL, the BAA was the first league to attempt to play in large arenas in major cities. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that league's 1948 title, the 1948 NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers won the 1949 BAA title. Prior to the 1948–49 season, however, NBL teams from Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Rochester jumped to the BAA, which established the BAA as the league of choice for collegians looking to turn professional.
On August 3, 1949, the remaining NBL teams–Syracuse, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan and Waterloo–merged into the BAA. In deference to the merger and to avoid possible legal complications, the league name was changed to the present National Basketball Association though the merged league retained the BAA's governing body, including Podoloff. To this day, the NBA claims the BAA's history as its own, it now reckons the arrival of the NBL teams as an expansion, not a merger, does not recognize NBL records and statistics. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as large arenas and smaller gymnasiums and armories. In 1950, the NBA consolidated to eleven franchises, a process that continued until 1953–54, when the league reached its smallest size of eight franchises: the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Warriors, Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Fort Wayne Pistons, Tri-Cities Blackhawks, Syracuse Nationals, all of which remain in the league today.
The process of contraction saw. The Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, to St. Louis in 1955; the Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957 and the Pistons relocated from Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Detroit in 1957. Japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks, he remained the only non-white player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter, signing with the Washington Capitols in 1950. Hunter was cut from the team during training camp, but several African-American players did play in the league that year, including Chuck Cooper with the Celtics, Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton with the Knicks, Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships and established themselves as the league's first dynasty. To encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954.
If a team does not attempt to score a field goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped and the ball given to its opponent. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, which featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, setting new single game records in scoring and rebounding. Russell's rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports; the 1960s were dominated by the Celtics. Led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966; this championship streak is the longest in NBA history. They did not win the title in 1966–67, but regained it in the 1967–68 season and repeated in 1969; the domination totaled nine of the ten championship banners of the 1960s.
Through this period, the NBA continued to evolve with the shift of the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, the Syracuse Nationals to Philadelphia to become the Philadelphia 76ers, the St. Louis Hawks moving to Atlanta, as well as the addition of its first expansion franchises; the Chicago Packers (now Wa
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one or more one-point free throws; the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play is mandated. Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots -- a dunk, it is a violation to lift or drag one's pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands resume dribbling.
The five players on each side at a time fall into five playing positions: the tallest player is the center, the tallest and strongest is the power forward, a shorter but more agile big man is the small forward, the shortest players or the best ball handlers are the shooting guard and the point guard, who implements the coach's game plan by managing the execution of offensive and defensive plays. Informally, players may play three-on-three, two-on-two, one-on-one. Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world's most popular and viewed sports; the National Basketball Association is the most significant professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries and level of competition. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague and FIBA Americas League; the FIBA Basketball World Cup and Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament are the major international events of the sport and attract top national teams from around the world.
Each continent hosts regional competitions for national teams, like FIBA AmeriCup. The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament feature top national teams from continental championships; the main North American league is the WNBA, whereas strongest European clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women. In early December 1891, Canadian James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School in Springfield, was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day, he sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored.
Basketball was played with a soccer ball. These round balls from "association football" were made, at the time, with a set of laces to close off the hole needed for inserting the inflatable bladder after the other sewn-together segments of the ball's cover had been flipped outside-in; these laces could dribbling to be unpredictable. A lace-free ball construction method was invented, this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith; the first balls made for basketball were brown, 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 ball, now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling was common by 1896, with a rule against the double dribble by 1898; the peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were replaced by metal hoops with backboards.
A further change was soon made, so the ball passed through. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point. Whichever team got; the baskets were nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators in the balcony began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference. Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called duck on a rock, as many had failed before it. Frank Mahan, one of the players from the original
Naismith College Player of the Year
The Naismith College Player of the Year is an annual basketball award given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the top men's and women's collegiate basketball players. It is named in honor of the inventor of Dr. James Naismith. First awarded to male players in 1969, the award was expanded to include female players in 1983. Annually before the college season begins in November, a "watchlist" consisting of 50 players is chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club board of selectors, comprising head coaches and media members from across the United States. By February, the list of nominees is narrowed down to 30 players based on performance. In March, four out of the 30 players are placed in the final ballot; the final winners are selected in April by both the board of selectors and fan voting via text messaging. The winners receive the Naismith Trophy. Since its beginning in 1969, the trophy has been awarded to 23 female players. Lew Alcindor of the University of California, Los Angeles and Anne Donovan of Old Dominion University were the first winners, respectively.
Bill Walton of UCLA and Ralph Sampson of the University of Virginia have been the only men to win this award multiple times, with both winning three times. Eight women in all have won this award multiple times. Cheryl Miller of the University of Southern California and Breanna Stewart of the University of Connecticut are the only three-times winners, while seven others won it twice: Clarissa Davis of the University of Texas, Dawn Staley of the University of Virginia, Chamique Holdsclaw of the University of Tennessee, Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore of the University of Connecticut, Seimone Augustus of Louisiana State University, Brittney Griner of Baylor University. Davis and Moore are the only ones of either sex to have won multiple times in non-consecutive years. Two award winners were born in United States territories: Alfred "Butch" Lee, born in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Tim Duncan, born in the U. S. Virgin Islands; the only three award winners who have been born outside the jurisdiction of the United States were: Andrew Bogut, born in Melbourne, Australia.
Patrick Ewing, born in Kingston, Jamaica. Buddy Hield, born in Freeport, Bahamas. Three of these players were developed at least in the U. S. proper—Lee was raised in Harlem from early childhood, Ewing immigrated to the Boston area at age 12, Hield attended high school in suburban Wichita, Kansas. Duncan did not move to the U. S. proper until he arrived at Wake Forest University, Bogut lived in Australia until his arrival at the University of Utah. Duke has had the most male winners with eight, while Connecticut has had the most female winners, with ten awards won by six individuals; the award has been won by a freshman three times: Kevin Durant playing for Texas in 2007, in 2012 by Anthony Davis of Kentucky and Zion Williamson of Duke in 2019 List of U. S. men's college basketball national player of the year awards Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award Official website
Three-point field goal
A three-point field goal is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two points awarded for field goals made within the three-point line and the one point for each made free throw; the distance from the basket to the three-point line varies by competition level: in the National Basketball Association the arc is 23 feet 9 inches from the center of the basket. In the NBA and FIBA/WNBA, the three-point line becomes parallel to each sideline at the points where the arc is 3 feet from each sideline. In the NCAA the arc is continuous for 180° around the basket. There are more variations. In 3x3, a FIBA-sanctioned variant of the half-court 3-on-3 game, the same line exists, but shots from behind it are only worth 2 points with all other shots worth 1 point; the three-point line was first tested at the collegiate level in 1945, with a 21-foot line, in a game between Columbia and Fordham, but it was not kept as a rule.
There was another one-game experiment in 1958, this time with a 23-foot line, in a game between St. Francis and Siena. In 1961, Boston University and Dartmouth played one game with an experimental rule that counted all field goals as three points. At the direction of Abe Saperstein, the American Basketball League became the first basketball league to institute the rule in 1961, its three-point line was a radius of 25 feet from the baskets, except along the sides. The Eastern Professional Basketball League followed in its 1963–64 season; the three-point shot became popularized by the American Basketball Association, introduced in its inaugural 1967–68 season. ABA commissioner George Mikan stated the three-pointer "would give the smaller player a chance to score and open up the defense to make the game more enjoyable for the fans." During the 1970s, the ABA used the three-point shot, along with the slam dunk, as a marketing tool to compete with the NBA. Three years in June 1979, the NBA adopted the three-point line for a one-year trial for the 1979–80 season, despite the view of many that it was a gimmick.
Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics is credited with making the first three-point shot in NBA history on October 12, 1979. Rick Barry of the Houston Rockets, in his final season made one in the same game, Kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets made one that Friday night as well; the sport's international governing body, FIBA, introduced the three-point line in 1984, at 6.25 m, it made its Olympic debut in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. The NCAA's Southern Conference became the first collegiate conference to use the three-point rule, adopting a 22-foot line for the 1980–81 season. Ronnie Carr of Western Carolina was the first to score a three-point field goal in college basketball history on November 29, 1980. Over the following five years, NCAA conferences differed in their use of the rule and distance required for a three-pointer; the line was as close as 17 ft 9 in in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as far away as 22 ft in the Big Sky. Used only in conference play for several years, it was adopted by the NCAA in April 1986 for the 1986–87 season at 19 ft 9 in and was first used in the NCAA Tournament in March 1987.
The NCAA adopted the three-pointer in women's basketball on an experimental basis for that season at the same distance, made its use mandatory beginning in 1987–88. In 2007, the NCAA lengthened the men's distance by a foot to 20 ft 9 in, effective with the 2008–09 season, the women's line was moved to match the men's in 2011–12. American high schools, along with elementary and middle schools, adopted a 19 ft 9 in line nationally in 1987, a year after the NCAA; the NCAA used the FIBA three-point line in the National Invitation Tournament in 2018. For three seasons beginning in 1994–95, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the distance of the line from 23 ft 9 in to a uniform 22 ft around the basket. From the 1997–98 season on, the NBA reverted the line to its original distance of 23 ft 9 in. Ray Allen is the NBA all-time leader in career made three-pointers with 2,973. In 2008, FIBA announced that the distance would be increased by 50 cm to 6.75 m, with the change being phased in beginning in October 2010.
In December 2012, the WNBA announced that it would be using the FIBA distance, starting in 2013. The NBA has discussed adding a four-point line, according to president Rod Thorn. In the NBA, three-point field goals became more frequent along the years by mid 2015 onward; the increase in latter years has been attributed to NBA player Stephen Curry, credited with revolutionizing the game by inspiring teams to employ the three-point shot as part of their winning strategy. The 1979–80 season had an average 0.8 three-point goals per game and 2.8 attempts. The 1989–90 season had an average 2.2 three-point goals per game and 6.6 attempts. The 1999–2000 season had an average 4.8 three-point goals
Field goal (basketball)
In basketball, a field goal is a basket scored on any shot or tap other than a free throw, worth two or three points depending on the distance of the attempt from the basket. Uncommonly, a field goal can be worth other values such as one point in FIBA 3x3 basketball competitions or four points in the BIG3 basketball league. "Field goal" is the official terminology used by the National Basketball Association in their rule book, in their box scores and statistics, in referees' rulings. The same term is the official wording used by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and high school basketball. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the NBA record for field goals made in a career with 15,837. Wilt Chamberlain, one of the most prolific scorers of all time, holds the top four spots for most field goals made in a season and has the two top field goal percentages for a season. One of the greatest field-goal shooters of all time is Michael Jordan, who led the NBA in field goals made ten times. Shaquille O'Neal has the record for most seasons with the best field goal percentage, Artis Gilmore has the record for highest career field goal percentage.
Steve Nash was one of the greatest all-around shooters in the history of the NBA, holding the record for 50–40–90 seasons, a mark of all-around shooting for two-point field goals, three-point field goals, free throws. Nash recorded four of the eleven 50–40–90 seasons in NBA history. One type of field goal is called a slam dunk; this occurs when a player jumps near the basket with possession of the ball, throwing the ball down through the basket while airborne. The word "slam" is derived onomatopoeically from the sound of the player's hands hitting, grabbing releasing the hoop. NBA records
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