AMERICAN BASKETBALL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19365, 1 July 1937, Page 15

AMERICAN BASKETBALL

Y.M.C.A. TEAMS FORMING FAST SPECTACULAR GAME TWO COACHES FROM UTAH During tha past few weeks, members of the Gisborne Y.M.C.A. gymnasium classes have been coached in the game of American basketball, which is regarded as the fastest game on foot. Very good progress has been made by the pupils, and the coaches, Messrs. H. D. Brown and R. A. Lambert, from Utah, Salt Lake City, stated to-day that Gisborne could put a team on the floor that would make it hot for any New Zealand team or for any town of its size in America for players of equal experience. The Y.M.C.A. courts are perfectly marked in every detail for the pin - pose of playing American basketball, and are the best the coaches have seen in New Zealand. Difference in Games

The courts used are the same as for basketball as commonly played outdoors in New Zealand, out the game differs in many important details. The principle of scoring goals by putting the ball in a basket is the same, but whereas in the game as commonly plaved here a player must not moye with the ball, a player is permitted in the American game to move two paces before bouncing or passing. Games are played in four quaiteis of 10 minutes each for men, with a two-minute rest between quartets and a five-minute spell at half-time. _ The time for ladies, youths and girls is cut down according to age and physical development so that it should not prove too strenuous. Teams are only of five a-side, instead of nine to a team in ordinary basketball. There is a centre, two forwards and two guards, and the speed with which the players can act on the aggressive and defence makes it an extraordinaryily fast game. Enthusiastic Reception The coaches, when giving the above explanation to-day spoke of the enthusiastic reception the game had been given in New Zealand in general and in Gisborne in particular. “We have never seen such enthusiasm as we have experienced here,” they said, “and it is even more marked than at home. In Hamilton it is going over really big, and in Auckland they have an American Basketball Association. It is also taking on down the other coast and in the south.” Over 100 pupils were learning the game at the Gisborne Y.M.C.A., and Messrs. Brown and Lambert had been teaching them during the past fortnight. They intend devoting one night a week to the tuition as a rest from missionary work they are carrying out in Gisborne and ori the,coast.

Girls, boys and men were learning the game, and the pupils were so keen that although the classes have been kept up until a late hour the pupils have been reluctant to leave.