OUT OF DOORS

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIX, Issue X, 28 August 1897, Page 319

OUT OF DOORS

Basketball is now played so much more than formerly that those to whom it is not a familiar game are piqued into inquiries concerning it. The annual spring revival in athletics shows an increase in the number of teams and in their grade of excellence. Where it is possible the games have been transferred from indoor courts to outdoor greens. The game is played on a court, the size of which is determined mainly by the amount of space available. The field is oblong and is fitted at either end with a basket of cord netting suspended from a horizontal arm which is supported by a post at a height of fifteen or twenty feet. The object of the game is the making of goals. The endeavours of each side are twofold, to toss the ball into their own basket and to prevent the opponents from placing it in theirs. To effect this, as much diligence and quickness of decision are required as in football, but sundry rules prevent the possibility of the brutal roughness that characterizes the latter game. No tackling is permitted. The ball is thrown, not kicked, and cannot be held longer than five seconds. The game is thirty minutes long, and the time is divided into two equal parts, with an interim of rest. The costumes worn by the girls playing this game are of necessity devoid of skirts. Bloomers are used instead, and a sailor blonse or sweater is worn, giving perfect freedom of motion, and when the game is played indoors, rubber-soled shoes are a necessity. The costume

prevents mixed audiences from being admitted to view the games at girls’ colleges, for the time has not yet come when the world has learned to take the girl athlete as they do her brother, and look at her playing instead of thinking of her personality. I may conclude by mentioning the new game * Travel ’ as a good means of passing a dull evening. One of the company tells a story, only using the geographical terms, instead of actual description, and the others have to guess his meaning. Thus : * A (one of the British Isles) was chasing a (town in America) when he fell in with a (ocean west of Africa). The interpretation of this is:—A man was chasing a buffalo when he fell in with an Indian.