The Game Today

Blog 4: The Game Today

The American Association for Health and Physical Education writes the first rule book for women’s 5 on 5 basketball with two to three referees.1 This means that every player on each team will have to run the full 94 feet, the game is no longer broken into “two courts”. The game

transferred to two 20 minute halves with a 20 minute half time. This was a long period of time for girls to play compared to what they used to play. To help the girls rest there are timeouts and a few dead balls but if you think of potentially running the full court, sprinting, and jumping for 5 minutes at a time that is a lot of room for exhaustion. Due to this they added the longer half time so the girls would have time to rest and this could reduce the risk of injury. They want the game to be fast pace but not too much so where they could get injured. In order to speed the game up they added a 30 second shot clock. The offensive team must shoot the ball before the thirty seconds is up. The game is constantly changing to adapt to the women and fans.  According to NCAA today the women’s game is still a 5 on 5 game but is now broken into 4, 10 minute quarters with a 20 minute half time and 5 minutes in between each quarter.2

The change of the game not only keeps fans on their toes but coaches as well. There are different coaching styles depending on the rules and regulations of a game. If the game was still two 20 minute halves the coach would probably sub more because the players are playing for longer periods at a time. If the game was broken into quarters they might sub less because the players have more rest time. While the game changes the impact doesn’t. Senda Berenson adopted this game for exercise and fun and that is one thing that will never change.

References

1.Hult, J. S., & Trekell, M. (1991). A Century of Women's Basketball. From Frailty to Final Four. AAHPERD Publications Sales, 1900 Association Drive, Reston, VA 22901..

2.Wheelock. (2014). historical timeline - women's basketball hall of fame. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.wbhof.com/Timeline.html