The history of basketball is traced back to a YMCA International Training School, known today as Springfield College, located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The sport was created by a physical education teacher named James Naismith, who in the winter of 1891 was given the task of creating a game that would keep track athletes in shape and that would prevent them from getting hurt a lot. The date of the first formal basketball played at the Springfield YMCA Training School under Naismith's rules is generally given as December 21, 1891. Basketball began to spread to college campuses by 1893.