Finding a Way to Play: The Pioneering Spirit of Women in Basketball by Joanne Lannin

Finding a Way to Play: The Pioneering Spirit of Women in Basketball Reviews

• 
  Richard

  I'm a big Women's Basketball fan. Of course, I live in Connecticut so that probably goes without saying! (Go UConn and the Connecticut Sun!)
  
  I met Joanne Lannin at a book signing when we were at the Women's Final Four in Columbus, Ohio last spring and purchased her book then. I'm sorry to say it has taken nearly seven months for it to work its way to the top of my reading pile but, once it did, I couldn't put it down.
  
  This history of women's basketball is a microcosm of women's history in America. Early in the 1880's women physical education teachers saw how basketball fit perfectly into their desire for a sport for women. It didn't require great strength, it wasn't something men were really proficient at or very interested in, it focused on both teamwork and competition, and it got away from the elitist and solo "women's sports" of tennis and badminton. It caught on with a flash despite confusing rules and regulations created to put limitations on the women's exertion.
  
  Women saw an opportunity to get into the competitive play men engaged in but that they had only been allowed to witness from the sideline. And get into it they did. Led by some very brave women coaches and educators, basketball became the choice of women in high school, college, recreational leagues, and even company sponsored teams.
  
  Of course, it wasn't long before the backlash came. Women shouldn't break a sweat. It wasn't lady like to be physically active. Competition was for men. And what was with those shameless bloomers and revealing shorts! Society, often lead by upper class women, pushed women off the court and back into the kitchen. Luckily, not for long.
  
  Women have been playing basketball actively and competitively for nearly 140 years despite the many obstacles put in their path. Joanne Lannin does a great job with this historical chronicle of the struggle related to women's basketball in America. Rather than writing strictly chronologically, she weaves around time in her chapters to show the many different ways and places women's basketball took off, as well as the chauvinistic, homophobic, and classist obstacles put in it's path.
  
  While Lannin devotes a very good and important chapter to basketball on Indian reservations, she does not do as good job on the issue of the obstacles specific to Black women players. She has some great information about the Harlem and Chicago leagues but I think she could have done a little more about how colleges limited Black women players in the 1960 - 1990 period.
  
  Other than that, I believe Lannin did an excellent job with this book. I've been an active fan and supporter of women's basketball for nearly thirty years but there was much information and history in this book of which I was totally unaware. Lannin did extensive research providing information, photos, and references to flesh out her subject. If you have an interest in Women's Basketball, Women's history, American Sociology, etc., do not pass by this book!
• 
  LindaJ^

  It's March and that means college basketball heaven. I love March madness - both the women's and men's NCAA tournaments, but especially the women's. I've been watching the women's NCAA tournament since it started to be shown on TV and it just doesn't get enough attention. So as I was browsing in the local bookstore, I encountered a table on which there were books about sports I spied two that were about women's basketball with similar covers and bought them both. Then I had a travel day that started at 3AM, so I began reading this book at 4:15AM while drinking my Starbucks coffee at the airport. I finished it that same evening, after attending a 4-hour Fund for Choice dinner event. From that you can correctly conclude that it was good and an easy read. It's much better than a 3 star read but not quite the 4 I'm giving it.
  
  I played high school basketball - for 3 years we played the 6-player women's game and then finally, as a senior, the 5-player women's game (basically the same as the men's) were put in place for high school inter-school play in Maine. (I felt liberated!) That was the extent of my knowledge of the history of women's basketball. This book has remedied that deficiency. It starts at the very beginning and explains the initial ups, the backlash and elimination of basketball from high school (except in Iowa!) and most college programs, and then the upswing resulting from Title IX, a federal law requiring colleges accepting federal dollars to provide equal opportunities in sports to men and women, including the development of professional leagues for women in the U.S. The book ends with a chapter on senior leagues - women in their 50's, 60's, and 70's who play 3 on 3 half court games, and play very hard.
  
  The book has 15 short chapters and some great pictures. Those poor girls who had to play wearing long sleeve sweaters, tights, and bloomers! And then the uniforms of Arkansas Travelers - short, shorts and knee pads. I had never heard of the industrial leagues - companies hired men and women who were good basketball players to play on their teams, which would often go on tour for weeks to play around the country. They did not loose their amateur status because they were employees! The author does a nice, if succinct, job of addressing the prejudices that have plagued women's basketball -- against women playing sports in which they would sweat, against blacks, against native Americans, and against lesbians.
  
  If you like basketball and history, you will likely find this a great read.
• 
  Anne Walker

  As I began reading this book I found myself sharing its stories and facts with my teenage high school students, many of them basketball players themselves. The book's comprehensive review of the early pioneers of the game-- the struggles faced, the multi-cultural discrimination, sexism--was at times infuriating, and always enlightening. Along with my students, I learned so very much in reading this book and have a much greater respect for all who have battled to find a way to play a game that has, no doubt, been a source of inspiration for many. Kudos to the author who takes her time to passionately become the resounding voice of all those who "ignored the odds and the naysayers in order to play the game they loved".