Early Women In Basketball

Early Women in Basketball

In 1891 Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball for men. He created it as a way to get energy out and release high levels of testosterone. Only about a year later Senda Berenson, a physical education teacher, adapted the game and Women took the court (Allen 1).
Many modifications were made to make the game more acceptable for women to play. The first court was a peach basket nailed to the wall. In the rare event that the ball went in, a janitor stayed around with his ladder to retrieve it. The court got divided into three sections and each player was not aloud to leave their section. Overall, the game changed in favor of less physical exertion (“History of Women’s Basketball” 1).
Players were not aloud to do many things we think of as normal basketball behavior. They were not aloud to snatch the ball, hold onto the ball for more than three seconds, dribble the ball more than three times, loud talking was banned, and you were not aloud to call people nicknames while you were on the court. Dinner was served after the each game for a more sociable affair. These were the rules for the very beginning but later on some were dropped (“Women’s Basketball has come a long way” 8). In 1896 the first women’s intercollegiate basketball game was played. The match was played between the University of California Berkley and Stanford. The game was played in San Francisco and Stanford won, the score was 2 to 1. The spectators at the game would say as they got home “I just went to a netball game” because that was what people back then referred to women’s basketball as (“History of Women’s Basketball” 2).
The first professional club was not founded until 1936. Founded by a comedian “ole” Olsen or his real name John Siguard. The team name was the All-American Red Heads. Players on the team either had red hair or were forced to die it red. They traveled around the country playing men and women’s teams. The All-American red heads came to an end but new clubs and leagues were soon to come, they stayed in operation over 50 years (Bradley 1).
The Liberty Basketball Association was founded in 1990. The league played only 1 exhibition game before disbanding. The one pre-season game played was a match between the Detroit Dazzlers and the LBA All-Stars. The game was broadcasted on ESPN and shown Live to 10,753 spectators.
In conclusion, early women’s basketball had a rocky start. The players were very athletic and clearly interested in the sport but years ago there wasn’t the finances for it. Thankfully the WNBA got formed a while later and women can now play basketball professionally (Porter 1).