Since Dr. J Naismith established the game of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, back in 1891, women’s basketball has gone a long way. Female basketball players may now dunk the ball and play with skill levels equal to that of men’s players less than a century later. Every year, thousands of women’s basketball scholarships become available, just as they do for men.
Women’s basketball now accepts recruitment, scouting, scholarships, and even betting on sites like Point Spreads as standard practices. However, recalling the origins of women’s basketball may be both educational and entertaining.
The Origin of Women’s Basketball
A female PE (physical education) instructor began teaching basketball to the young women in her class as a form of physical education in 1892, just down the road from where Naismith founded the game.
There were particular regulations for ladies exclusively in basketball during 1892: you may only hold onto the ball for a maximum of three seconds and only dribble it three times in a row before they had to pass it. This may sound absurd now, given that a woman’s basketball player is likely to receive the ball and dribble from one end of the court to the other, passing it through her knees and behind her back, before setting it up for a lay-up on the other side. Plus, it’s unlikely that all of this will take more than three seconds.
The ladies would post watch guards at the windows and doors of the school gymnasium to block the males from viewing them in the early days of women’s basketball, long before what we see now was a feasible option. Despite the fact that women’s basketball has a lot of attention these days, many women are proud to see guys engaged enough in their games to watch practices.
The Game Advances
Ann Meyers was offered a tryout with the Indiana Pacers in 1979 before being cut. The women’s game had thrown down the gauntlet, and it was here to stay. Then there was Nancy Lieberman, dubbed the first lady of basketball, Cheryl Miller (Reggie’s sister), and Lisa Leslie, an attorney and vocal supporter of women’s basketball. There are relatively minor variations between men’s and women’s basketball these days.
The ball is smaller, the three-point line is closer together, and the game doesn’t take place above the rim. However, there are undoubtedly far more similarities than differences. For one thing, scouting and recruiting have been permanent features in women’s basketball with the establishment of scholarships for the sport.
Women’s Basketball Today
In the beginning, teamwork and collaboration were prioritized over competitiveness while teaching women the game. While ladies’ basketball is a competitive sport, the game’s most noticeable aspect is the sense of camaraderie and cooperation. In fact, many basketball purists believe that the women’s version of the game better represents how everybody should play basketball – both men and women.
They may play closer to the ground and make fewer rim-rattling dunks than men, but that isn’t always negative – it may even be beneficial. What ladies’ basketball does is pass the ball, rely on ball movement to obtain open shots, and show that collaboration and teamwork are the game’s fundamentals. When you combine it with a desire to perform like a champion, you get a unique game that’s well worth watching.
The WNBA and UCONN
The WNBA, or Women’s National Basketball Association, is presently a professional league for women’s basketball – and they’ve just introduced the WNBA fantasy league as of April 2022. The game continues to progress for women, with a new and enhanced model appearing every few years. Then, of course, there’s the UCONN (University of Connecticut) women’s basketball team, which keeps doing things that haven’t been done before.
