FINE GAME FOR GIRLS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23073, 25 June 1938, Page 9 (Supplement)

FINE GAME FOR GIRLS

By ARTHUR RILEY

Basketball, Born In Is a Very Fast-moving Sport

IF any bby or girl were asked, suddenly and without much of a chance to consider, to name the most arduous and the fastest athletic games in the world, it is more than likely that Rugby football would be placed first, and perhaps some other variety of football, or probably hockey, second. Yet they would be wrong, for there are faster games than any of these, although they are not so widely played, at least in New Zealand. Ranked first, among the fast-moving athletic sports is ice hockey. This game, which is played extensively in Canada and the United States, is almost unknown in New Zealand, but another sport enjoyed by thousands of the girls of the Dominion, basketball, is a close second. High Degree of Skill Boys, at least those in the Dominion who have never had a game of basketball, take little or no interest in the game, which they consider as beneath their notice, and fit only for girls to play. They are making a hig mistake, however, and at the present time in Auckland there are signs that public opinion with regard to this fine game is changing. More men are learning to play, and are realising for the first time what a high degree of skill and what vast expenditure of energy are necessary to play properly. A much better appreciation of the true value of basketball, both as physical training and as an enjoyable sport, exists overseas than in New Zealand, In the United States particularly, and in many other countries as well, thousands of men are regular players. In fact, there is keen public interest in

New Zealander to understand. Even then, some people still wanted a faster game, and basketball on roller-skates was devised. This form of the game is comparatively rare, and with an unskilled team it is a humorous event tor the spectators, but with skilled -fflayers who are also used to roller-skating, it is tremendously, fast. In New Zealand, very many schoolmistresses and other educationists advocate basketball for girls. In some schools, in fact, it is a compulsory game for all girls who are in good health. Sineeit is not played altogether in the American manner, and there is not a great deal of rough play, it is regarded as a suitable game for the majority ot girls of school age, and there are also, of course, older girls, or young women, who make up the many University teams. The Team Spirit The complaint is sometimes made, particularly by boys, that girls are not good at sports. This is generally an unjust criticism, but when it is true, it is usually because there are far fewer team games suitable for girls than there are for boys, and that as a result some girls never have a chance to learn the team spirit. This aspect of basketball is one of the most important and valuable features of the game. Being suitable for girls to play, and also being essentially a game in which full cooperation is necessary to ensure success, it thus gives all who play it a chance to develop the team spirit in the true sense of the word. Another of the attractive features of basketball is the fact that comparatively little expense is involved in providing equipment for two teams to play to their hearts' content. Even the smallest country school, while not always being able to provide a properly-paved court or an elaborate indoor lay-out, can allow the girls enough ground on which to play, and can also make avail-

matches between highly-trained teams of men. The matches are played sometimes outdoors, and at other times on indoor courts. In the United States Among the keenest basketball players in the United States are University students. Although ball games are among the oldest in the world, basketball as it is known to-day was devised by an American University professor only about 40 years ago, but in spite of its comparatively recent origin, it has gained tremendous popularity in its native land. Probaoly the most surprised young men in Auckland were members of a party of husky young fellows, many of them keen footballers in excellent condition, who, more or less for a joke, agreed to play a team of Auckland girls in an unofficial match. The men were so sure of their superiority, although they had never played before, that they wanted to allow the girls so many ponits before the game started. The team of girls was not a regular side that had been playing together. It was merely a "scratch" team, yet it was able to score a decisive victory. Before play had been in progress many niinutes, some of the most stalwart of the young men, several of them wellknown for their ability to withstand the battering of a Bugby scrum, were short of breath, and very little later they were almost completely exhausted. "Swing Into It" As played by American University teams, basketball is almost as rough a game ns American football. Players wear kneepads and other body protectors, and swing into the game with an enthusiasm difficult for the average

able the posts for goals. Some of the keenest players begin on comparatively primitive courts, when team members sometimes fall through slipping on the grass, but lose nothing of their enthusiasm for the sport. The cost of the ball is also not excessive, and very often, where the authorities have nofc seen fit to provide one, the girls have subscribed a very small sum each, and have been able to buy a new one for themselves. Basketball is growing in popularity in New Zealand. There are hopes that the health and vigour of the girls of the nation will grow with it, adding further to the Dominion's reputation as a sport-loving country.