The Birth of a New League
In 1891, Dr. James Naismith was asked to develop a game that could be played indoors during the winter season. After doing some research on such games as, soccer, football, and field hockey, he created what is to be called basketball. From there basketball spread through the cities and even into high schools and colleges. Sendra Berenson tailored the game and added rules to coincide with women's athletic and physical abilities. It was believed that women could not play at the same pace or intensity that men could, so they had their own set of rules. But it was the women who had the first set of uniform rules for the game, not the men. Though the women had the first set of rules, the men would have the first professional league. Today, women have taken the game to great lengths and refused to be ignored any longer.From the time basketball was invented, some one hundred years ago, only recently there has become a professional league for women. The idea for a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was introduced to the NBA Board of Governors on April 24, 1996. The NBA Board of Governors approved the idea and the WNBA was set to commence in June of 1997. The twenty-nine member teams of the National Basketball Asso
ciation own the League. They eventually decided that the WNBA season would be played in the summer when the sports calendar was less crowded. The WNBA adopted most of the rules used by the NCAA, thus making the transition from college to pros easier for the women. They use the 19-foot, 9-inch three-point line, a 30-second shot clock, two 20-minute halves, eleven player rosters and a collegiate regulation size basketball. The NBA uses a bigger three-point line, basketball, has larger teams, and a longer game, but they have a shorter shot clock. With the creation of the WNBA it gives young athletes a chance to further their education in the game of basketball, not to mention get a paycheck for playing the game they love! With less than fifteen months until the first tip-off, the league had many things to decide before hand. They had to find a station, or stations, to broadcast the events. One of the reasons they decided to make the season during the summer was because they could televise the games live and on prime time TV. The league announced its broadcast partnerships with NBC, ESPN, and Lifetime, even before a player was signed. The first inugural season produced more than fifty million viewers over the three networks. But in the second and third seasons, almost one million viewers watched the WNBA per week. It was announced that eight teams in two conferences would start the inaugural season. The western conference consisted of the Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, Sacramento Monarchs and Utah Starzz. The eastern conference was comprised of the Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Huston Comets and the New York Liberty. The WNBA would expand from eight teams to sixteen over the next three years. Spalding teamed up with the WNBA to create a ball that would catch the eye, and not be too disturbing at the same time. They wanted something traditional, yet something new. They had many balls made with many different colors, and tried each of them out at Madison Square Garden. The one that caught their eye was of course, the alternating orange and white. The WNBA's focus has two initiatives: WNBA Be Active, and the WNBA Breast Health Initiative. WNBA Be Activ
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1484
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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