Women's basketball
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Women's basketball is one of the few games which developed in tandem with men's. It became popular, from the east coast of the United States, to the west coast, in large part via women's colleges. The most successful team in the history of Women's basketball, or indeed in North American sporting history, is the Edmonton Grads.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early women's basketball
Women's basketball began in 1892, at Smith (a women's college), when Senda Berenson, a physical education teacher, modified the rules to a game James Naismith made up and taught it in her classes. Basketball's early adherents were affiliated with YMCAs and colleges throughout the United States, and the game quickly spread through the country. By 1896, it was well established at several other women's colleges.
[edit] College basketball and early leagues
Berenson's freshmen played the sophomore class in the first women's collegiate basketball game, March 21, 1893. The doors were locked at the Smith College gym and men were not allowed to watch Berenson's students compete. University of California and Miss Head's School, had played the first women's extramural game in 1892. Also in 1893, Mount Holyoke and Sophie Newcomb College (coached by Clara Gregory Baer, the inventor of Newcomb ball) women began playing basketball. By 1895, the game had spread to colleges across the country, including Wellesley, Vassar and Bryn Mawr. The first intercollegiate women's game was on April 4, 1896. Stanford women played Berkeley, 9-on-9, ending in a 2-1 Stanford victory. Clara Gregory Baer published the first book of rules for women's basketball in 1895 she first called the game 'Basquette', a name later dropped in her first revision of rules called Newcomb College Basketball Rules published in 1908.[1] I L
[edit] U.S. high school basketball
The 2006 national championship in women's high school basketball was won by Holy Family Catholic High School, Victoria, Minnesota. The runner up was Mt. Vernon High School, Mt. Vernon, Indiana. Leading scorers in the competition were Chris Unseth 35, Nicky Dellwo 22, and Katie Burke 13. After they won the game the women's basketball saw they have lost 3 games and won the others.
[edit] Modern Leagues
[edit] American Basketball League
In 1999, the WNBA's chief competition, the American Basketball League, folded. Many of the ABL's star players, including several Olympic gold medalists (like Nikki McCray and Dawn Staley) and a number of standout college performers (including Kate Starbird and Jennifer Rizzotti), then joined the rosters of WNBA teams and, in so doing, enhanced the overall quality of play in the league. When a lockout resulted in an abbreviated NBA season, the WNBA began coming into its own.
[edit] Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association or WNBA is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States. The WNBA was formed in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997. The regular WNBA season is May to August (North American Spring and Summer). Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts.
Officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996, the creation of the WNBA was first announced at a press conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. While not the first major women's professional basketball league in the United States (a distinction held by the defunct WBL), the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA. The WNBA logo, "Logo Woman" paralleled the NBA logo and was selected out of 50 different designs. On the heels of a much-publicized gold medal run by the 1996 USA Basketball Women's National Team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA began its first season on June 21, 1997 to much fanfare. The league began with eight teams. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles and was televised nationally, in the United States, on the NBC television network. At the start of the 1997 season, the WNBA had television deals in place with NBC (NBA rights holder), and the Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation joint venture channels, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network, respectively. Penny Toler was the first woman to score a point in the league.
The league is divided into two conferences. As of 2006, there are 6 teams in the Eastern Conference and 7 teams in the Western Conference. Each team plays a 34-game regular season schedule, beginning in May (after the NBA regular (winter) season) and ending in August. As of 2006, teams play two teams in their conference 4 times each and play the remaining 4 teams 3 times apiece (20 games). They each play teams from the opposite conference twice each (14 games). The four teams in each conference with the best winning records go on to compete in the WNBA playoffs during September.
The All-Star Game is held in the middle of July, while regular play stops temporarily for it. It is part of a weekend-long event, held in a selected WNBA city each year, played on the selected WNBA team's home court. It features star players from the Western Conference facing star players from the Eastern Conference.
The WNBA Playoffs Series is a competition amongst the top four teams in each conference. it is held after the regular season, usually in August and early September. The winning teams each conference face the other team in the WNBA Finals, held in September. The WNBA Finals is a best-of-five playoff games series
By the 2000 season, the WNBA doubled in size. Two more teams were added in 1998, another two in 1999 and four more in 2000. Teams and the league were collectively owned by the NBA until 2002, when the NBA sold WNBA teams either to their NBA counterparts in the same city or to a third party. This led to two teams moving and two teams folding before the 2003 season began. The 2006 season was the WNBA's tenth; the league became the first team-oriented women's professional sports league to exist for ten consecutive seasons. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, the WNBA released its All-Decade Team, comprising the ten WNBA players deemed to have contributed, through on-court play and off-court activities, the most to women's basketball during the period of the league's existence. In December of 2006, the Charlotte Bobcats organization announced it would no lomger opererate the Charlotte Sting. Soon after, the WNBA announced that the Charlotte Sting would not operate for the upcoming season. A dispersal draft was held January 8, 2007, with all players except for unrestricted free agents Allison Feaster and Tammy Sutton-Brown available for selection. Teams selected in inverse order of their 2006 records, with Chicago receiving the first pick and selecting Monique Currie.
In 2002, the WNBA Players Association threatened to strike the next season if a new deal was not worked out between players and the league. The result was a delay in the start of the 2003 preseason. In the off-season, a set of rule changes was approved that made the WNBA more like the NBA. Rules are governed by standard basketball rules as defined by the NBA, with a few notable exceptions:
The three-point line is 20 feet and 6.25 inches (6.25 m) from the middle of the basket, in line with FIBA regulations. The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in circumference, 1.00 inch (2.54 cm) smaller than the NBA ball. As of 2004, this size is used for all senior-level women's competitions worldwide. There is no block/charge arc under the basket. Starting with the 2006 WNBA season, all games are divided into four 10-minute quarters as opposed to the league's original two 20-minute halves of play, as to fit with international procedures (many WNBA players play in Europe or Australia in the winter). The NBA rule on jump balls will be used, including determining possession for the second, third, and fourth periods.
Also beginning in 2006, the shot clock will be decreased to 24 seconds from 30 seconds and will adopt NBA rules (14 second reset on any defensive foul if less than such time remains when a foul is called). The rule changes signaled a move away from rules more similar to those of college basketball and toward those that provide a more NBA-like game.
There have been a total of 17 teams in WNBA history. A total of 4 teams have folded since the league's inception: the Cleveland Rockers, the Miami Sol, the Charlotte Sting and the Portland Fire. Two other teams, the Utah Starzz and the Orlando Miracle moved to San Antonio (Silver Stars) and Uncasville, Connecticut (Sun) respectively. Most team names are also very similar to those of NBA teams in the same market, such as the Washington Wizards and Washington Mystics or the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx.
[edit] Eastern Conference Teams
Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun , Detroit Shock, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, Washington Mystics
[edit] Western Conference
Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Houston Comets, San Antonio Silver Stars, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs
[edit] Business
WNBA Presidents are Val Ackerman, 1997-2005, and Donna Orender 2005-Present. So far the WNBA has not mirrored the monetary success of the NBA, though it is targeting profitability in 2007. The average attendance of WNBA games, league-wide, is roughly one half the average attendance of NBA games. The maximum salary for a WNBA player in 2004 was $90,000. Many WNBA players choose to supplement their salaries by playing in European women's basketball leagues during the WNBA off-season. As of 2006, WNBA games are televised throughout the U.S. by ABC, ESPN2 and NBA TV. Two women's-oriented networks, Lifetime and Oxygen, have also held broadcast rights at various times in league history. NBC showed games from 1997 to 2002 as part of its larger contract with the NBA before losing those rights to ABC. WNBA games are also seen in multiple countries around the world. Many teams have local telecasts, and all games are also on local radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.
[edit] International basketball
Though it was originally an American sport, it quickly spread internationally and outstanding players and teams are found today all over the world.
FIBA, the world governing body for the sport, has organized a World Championship for Women since 1953. It is currently held every four years in even-numbered non-Olympic years.
Women's basketball has been contested in the Summer Olympics since 1976.
Women's basketball leagues now exist in most countries around the world including Australia, Asia, South America, Europe.
The Women'sEnglish Basketball League has been continually growing over recent years, and has now reached a level of thirty national league sides. The league is split into two levels.
Division 1 is very much as close to professionalas women's sport gets un the United Kingdom with teams such as Rhonnda Rebels and Sheffield Hatters bringing in players from the USA and Europe. The Nottingham Wildcats make up the trio of Clubs who helped establish the women's league and remain amongst the top three or four places. The gap between these top teams and the rest of the league has continually remained but gradually as the women's game has been developed the gulf in results has been reduced and each year there have been more competitive games.
Promotion from division 2 has always re-enforced the gap between the two leagues as the winner of the division 2 promotion play-offs has found the step up difficult.
The division 2 play-offs take the top four from the North and South of the Second Divisions with the top playing the bottom of the other pool.
This year (2006/7) saw several new teams join the second division showing the continual growth of the women's game these included SevenOaks Suns, Enfield Phoenix, Taunton Tigers and Bristol Storm
[edit] Rules and regulations
[edit] History and Development
The modern rules for women's basketball become more similar to men's each year. Though, many women have used the same rules as men from the beginning. In 1892, Berenson was taking risks simply in teaching the game to women. And, in order to keep it "acceptable" for women to play at all, she taught modified rules. This included a court divided into three areas and six players per team. Two players were assigned to each area (guard, center, forward) and could not cross the line into another area. The ball was moved from section to section by passing or dribbling. Players were limited to three dribbles and could hold the ball for three seconds. No snatching or batting the ball away from a player was allowed. A center jump was required after each score. Peach baskets and the soccer ball were the equipment. Variations of Berenson’s rules spread across the country via YMCAs and colleges.
See the article basquette for more information.
[edit] Playing regulations
Women's basketball is played with the same court and rules as men, with a few exceptions. The standard court size is 94 feet long by 50 feet wide. The three-point line is 20 feet and 6.25 inches (6.25 m) from the middle of the basket in WNBA and FIBA competition. The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in circumference, 1.00 inch (2.54 cm) smaller than the NBA ball. As of 2004, this size is used for all senior-level women's competitions worldwide. Also, there is no block/charge arc under the basket. The WNBA shot clock was recently changed from 30 to 24 seconds. Women's NCAA college basketball uses a 30 second shot clock. Most high school and college games are played in two separate 20 minute halves, while WNBA and FIBA games are played in four 10 minute quarters.
[edit] Equipment
The standard equipment for a women's basketball game, that already has a hoop, is the regulation sized 28.5 basketball. Also the proper clothing and shoes!
[edit] Violations
You can not lean or swat at a player with the ball.
[edit] Common techniques and practices
[edit] Positions and structures
[edit] Shooting
Each shot within the 3 point line(arch above free-throw line) is worth 2 points. Any shot from beyond the 3 point line is worth 3 points. If any part of the body touches the line, the shot is worth two points.
[edit] Passing
There are three types of passing; Chest pass, bounce pass, and over head pass.
[edit] Dribbling
You can not hold the ball in your hands and then continue to dribble again.This is called double dribble and is a violation.
[edit] Height
[edit] References
- ^ NCAA Women's Basketball, access date 24 January, 2007
