Women's College Basketball - History And Background
By Jordan Dunham, Thu Dec 8th

It is well known that basketball was invented in 1891 by Dr.James Nesmith, but what is not so well known is the history ofwomen's basketball. The inaugural women's college basketballsession was actually part of a physical education class at SmithCollege for girls in Conneticut.

The very first women's college basketball game took place atSmith College for girls in 1893 where the freshman playedagainst the sophomores. Unlike women's college basketball gamestoday, the game actually took place behind locked doors and menwere prohibited from watching.

The rules of this first women's college basketball game werealtered from those of the original men's version to enhanceteamwork. The court had 3 zones and three players from each teamof nine were allowed in each zone but could not move out oftheir zone. Funnily enough, these early restrictions in thewomen's college basketball game are strikingly similar to thegame of netball that is played by schoolgirls and women all overEurope.

Women's college basketball began to spread quickly and the firstgame between two different women's college basketball teams wasplayed in April 1896 with Stanford

beating Berkley. There werestill 9 players on each women's college basketball team in thisinter-college game but instead of keeping the original rulewhere a player could only hold the ball for 3 seconds and mustdribble it 3 times before passing this was changed so that aplayer could not run more than 5 feet before having to pass theball. Once again, however, as with the first women's collegebasketball game, men were not allowed to watch the game.

The formal rules of women's college basketball were firstproduced in 1901 and went through numerous changes beforedeveloping into the game that is played today. One of the mostinteresting aspects of the early women's college basketballgames is that the basket was sewn shut so that the umpire had toremove the ball from it every time it was put through the hoop.

The familiar indoor basketball court that today's women'scollege basketball teams play on was not always made availableto the women for a couple of decades after the sport began. Somewomen's college basketball teams had to play on grass courtsoutside and did not have the chance to play on an indoor courtat all.

About the author:Jordan Dunham is an expert on college student loanconsolidation, visit http://www.students-loan-consolidation.org/today for details.