Women and Basketball

History of women in basketball

Women’s basketball first began at Smith College (Northampton, Mass.) in 1892, when Senda Berenson taught it to improve her students physical health. The very first women’s intercollegiate game took place between Stanford and UC Berkeley in 1896. In 1976, women’s basketball became an official sport of the Olympics, while men’s had been in since 1936. During the 1970s, funding and interest for women’s basketball began to increase due to compliance with Title IX. The very first televised female championship happened in 1979, where Old Dominion beat Louisiana Tech University. By 1982, the NCAA began to officially sponsor women’s basketball. After many attempts at making a professional league, the NBA founded the WNBA in 1996.
Currently, the WNBA consists of 12 teams, while there is 30 NBA teams.

Women and injuries in Basketball

A study published in American Journal of Sports Medicine from 2006 found that the WNBA had a higher overall game-related injury rate. The WNBA had 24.9 injuries per 1000 “athlete exposures” (players), while the NBA had 19.3 injuries per 1000. The WNBA also saw a higher rates of “Lower extremity” (leg) injuries, with 14.6 injuries per 1000 exposures, while the NBA had 11.6 injuries per 1000. Leg injuries were the most common between both leagues, occurring as 65% of injuries. Lateral ankle sprains were the most common injury, making up 13.7% of diagnose. This study concluded that WNBA players were more susceptible than NBA players, however, there were “few statistical differences in the actual injuries occurring between the 2 leagues”.
(Source: Deitch, J. R., Starkey, C., Walters, S. L., & Moseley, J. B. (2006). Injury risk in professional basketball players: a comparison of Women’s National Basketball Association and National Basketball Association athletes. The American journal of sports medicine, 34(7), 1077-1083.)

How Title IX shaped sports participation

Title IX says “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, in 1972, when Title IX was passed, “one in 27 girls played sports. Today that number is two in five”.

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Mystics beat Sun to win 2019 WNBA championship