Culture of Women’s Basketball There has been a lot said about women’s basketball throughout recent years as it has expanded into a bigger sport. Critics have said, “the game is too slow”, “none of them can dunk so why watch”, and “not real basketball.” The game has been a favorite for all its viewers, but whenever women play no one seems to take any interest. Why won’t people in society show any interest for women and the sports they play? It has nothing to do with the women themselves, but more to do with social media and history about women’s rights. There isn’t much thrown out at the media about women’s basketball unless it’s about one woman who plays similar to a man or has an indescribable amount of wins as a head coach. It is still a …show more content…
One being a specific coach or player on the team that is very skilled at the game. One of the most influential coaches to ever coach the game of basketball is Pat Summitt. Pat is the winningest coach in the history of division one basketball with 1,098 victories over her 38-year career at the University of Tennessee where she coached the women’s basketball team (Gregory). Summit first started coaching the team in 1972. In that year, the document Title IX was put into action. Title IX stated, “No person in the United States shall, based on gender, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (Barra). This gave women freedom to play soccer, basketball, volleyball, softball, and hockey which led to more women becoming involved in college sports. By the time Pat Summit stopped coaching in 2012, she transformed the game tremendously, women’s basketball games were selling out NBA size arenas on national television. She inspired women to play many sports besides basketball. When Pat first started coaching there were fewer than 300,000 girls participating in sports, now there are over 3 million playing the sport they love