It’s March Madness season, which means Americans everywhere are suddenly basketball experts. Productivity plummets. Brackets get destroyed. Grown adults lose sleep over 19-year-olds missing free throws.
But while you’re busy rage-refreshing your ESPN app, it’s worth taking a second to consider something a little wild: basketball was invented by a Christian guy as a character-building exercise. No, seriously.
Back in 1891, James Naismith—a Canadian gym teacher and seminary grad—was working at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, when his boss gave him a very specific assignment: create a new indoor sport that would keep a bunch of bored, hyperactive young men from beating each other up during the winter.
The goal wasn’t just to burn calories. It was to build character. Naismith believed sports could teach discipline, teamwork and even Christlike humility—so he literally wrote “no roughhousing” into the original rules. He nailed a peach basket to a wall, grabbed a soccer ball and called it a day. Basketball was born.
It caught on fast, thanks to the YMCA’s global network. Within a few years, basketball wasn’t just the new hot thing in American gyms—it was spreading across the world. And here’s where it gets even more Christian: missionaries saw it as the perfect outreach tool.
Turns out, people will show up if you give them a ball and a reason to play. Missionaries started organizing games, building courts and hosting basketball camps in places where they hadn’t even planted churches yet. It was sports evangelism before that was even a phrase. You’d run drills, hear a gospel message, then maybe stick around for snacks and a Bible study.
And it wasn’t just overseas. In American cities, basketball became a go-to tool for youth outreach—especially in communities where the church didn’t always feel accessible. Ministries like Athletes in Action and Fellowship of Christian Athletes built entire platforms around the idea that sports can open spiritual doors. Sometimes it’s easier to talk about faith after you’ve run full-court with someone.
Fast-forward to today, and basketball’s faith DNA is still showing. College teams bring chaplains on the road. Players like Jonathan Isaac and Steph Curry openly talk about their walk with Jesus. Even March Madness, chaotic as it is, still manages to sneak in prayer circles and post-game praise hands.
So yeah, basketball has come a long way from its peach basket beginnings. It’s loud now. Flashy. Sometimes a little ridiculous. But at its core? It’s still got some Jesus in it.
And if you’re thinking it’s weird that one of the most competitive sports on the planet started as a discipleship tool… remember: God used a donkey once. A jump shot isn’t that much of a stretch.
