14 August 2011
Ye Olden Days
Before last night's game I was chatting with my friends that came, and I mentioned that my mom was a jock when she was in high school. I explained how she had played every intermural sport she could, and that she lettered in mixed doubles tennis (right, Mom?) because that was the only sport she could letter in, pre-Title IX.
My friends, aged 21 and 22, were shocked at the idea that mixed doubles tennis was the only varsity sport available to girls back then.
Today I came across (well, "came across" in the sense that Women's Hoops Blog linked to it) this article about a 92-year-old woman who was a sports sensation in 1930's Kansas. Here's her take on modern women's basketball:
Since Fairbank quit bowling three years ago, sports is limited to her cable feed.
What she sees is something quite different from what she played. Gender equity contributed to the vast changes.
And [Ruth] Fairbank, a high school All-American before girls ever played for her high school, occasionally wishes she could have played the full length of the court rather than be restricted by a half-court game reduced to three players on each end.
"I should have been born a little later. I like how fast the game is today," she said.
"I’d love to play basketball the way they do now, but I enjoyed it when I was playing. I didn’t know any better then."
My friends, aged 21 and 22, were shocked at the idea that mixed doubles tennis was the only varsity sport available to girls back then.
Today I came across (well, "came across" in the sense that Women's Hoops Blog linked to it) this article about a 92-year-old woman who was a sports sensation in 1930's Kansas. Here's her take on modern women's basketball:
Since Fairbank quit bowling three years ago, sports is limited to her cable feed.
What she sees is something quite different from what she played. Gender equity contributed to the vast changes.
And [Ruth] Fairbank, a high school All-American before girls ever played for her high school, occasionally wishes she could have played the full length of the court rather than be restricted by a half-court game reduced to three players on each end.
"I should have been born a little later. I like how fast the game is today," she said.
"I’d love to play basketball the way they do now, but I enjoyed it when I was playing. I didn’t know any better then."
# posted by mamurd @ 10:07 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Opps, I think I mislead you. There was girls singles and doubles and well as mixed doubles. I was fourth best on the team and was therefore assigned mixed doubles.
In the early 1960's, Iris played an unusual variant of basketball with 6 players to a side (presumably to keep the girls from overexerting themselves). Two were always on defense and stayed on the defensive side of the centerline, and two were always on offense and stayed on the offensive side of the centerline, and two were rover guards, who could actually play both offense and defense. So basically there was a four on four game at each end of the court. No 3-point line, of course.
I don't recall my high school having a girls basketball team, but there was singles, doubles, and mixed doubles tennis for girls. I occasionally played mixed doubles with a fellow French horn player from band.
Post a Comment
I don't recall my high school having a girls basketball team, but there was singles, doubles, and mixed doubles tennis for girls. I occasionally played mixed doubles with a fellow French horn player from band.
<< Home
