Women's College Basketball Games

The very first women's college basketball game took place at Smith College for girls in 1893 where the freshman played against the sophomores. Unlike women's college basketball games today, the game actually took place behind locked doors and men were prohibited from watching. It is well known that basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Nesmith, but what is not so well known is the history of women's basketball. The inaugural women's college basketball session was actually part of a physical education class at Smith College for girls in Conneticut. One of the most interesting aspects of the early women's college basketball games is that the basket was sewn shut so that the umpire had to remove the ball from it every time it was put through the hoop.

There were still 9 players on each women's college basketball team in this inter-college game but instead of keeping the original rule where a player could only hold the ball for 3 seconds and must dribble it 3 times before passing this was changed so that a player could not run more than 5 feet before having to pass the ball. Once again, however, as with the first women's college basketball game, men were not allowed to watch the game. Berenson eliminated physical contact as much as possible to make the sport of women's basketball socially acceptable and to ease the mind of "then" society's attitudes and thoughts toward female sports, when at the time gymnastics was the leader in physical fitness for women. Berenson also thought of physical contact as insulting, which is one of the main reasons she wanted to change Naismith's original rules.

If you went to a women's basketball game and there were wind-mill, 360, and alley-oop type dunks happening within the game on the regular. How would you feel about women's basketball then? How would you perceive these women now? Would this make you withdraw or enhance your support? Would you respect these women and the game more if this were reality? Would you pay to see this? Ponder this. Would it matter to you if these same women wore high-heels or sneakers off the court? Would or would it not matter to you, if these women's physiques were so cut and well-defined that they put most average and healthy men physiques to shame? From my 16 years of experience in women's basketball, I've noticed that not only female basketball athletes, but the majority of female athletes, are judged first on looks alone before their athletic ability is even recognized.