Women's Basketball Origins
Berenson realized that the gymnastic exercises were not quite so enthusiastically received as she had originally thought, so she cast about to find alternatives. She read about the new game of basketball, invented by James Naismith, in the YMCA publication Physical Education. Group games were "unheard of" at Smith, but she felt this would be an interesting experiment. She had tried other games, but they had not succeeded, in part because the women of that time had no experience with team play. The initial games played in class followed the Naismith rules. The response was so positive, that she felt "compelled" to schedule a game between the freshman and sophomore classes. That game, played March 22, 1893, was also played with Naismith rules. The players wore bloomers, and no men were admitted to the event. In an odd twist, when Berenson tossed the ball between the two opposing center for the first ever formal game of women's basketball, she struck the out-stretched arm of the center from the freshman team, dislocating her shoulder. The start of this game was delayed, while they attended to the distressed player, and arranged for a substitute.
Berenson was pleased with the reception to the game, but felt some changes were needed. She thought the game had a "tendency to roughness", so she sat down with her class to discuss how to modify the rules, to make it more suitable. 1892. She divided the court into three regions, and prohibited players from leaving their assigned region. Players could not dribble more than three times, could not hold the ball for more than three seconds, or snatch the ball away from an opponent. Berenson formalized her rules into a set of official rules, in 1899, and continued as editor of the rules for eighteen years. The rules would remain in use, with only minor modification, until the 1960s.
Read more about this topic: Senda Berenson Abbott
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