Senda Berenson Abbott

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Senda Berenson Abbott

Senda Berenson Abbott (born Senda Valvrojenski ; born March 19, 1868 in Butrimonys , Lithuania , † February 16, 1954 in Santa Barbara , California ) was an American sports teacher who achieved fame as a pioneer of women's basketball. Abbott was employed at Smith College in Northampton , Massachusetts , where she modified the rules of basketball for women in 1893. The first known all-women basketball game was organized and directed by Abbott at Smith College on March 21, 1893, a little over a year after the game was invented by James Naismith . In allusion to Naismith's person, Abbott is also referred to as the "mother of women's basketball". She was the first woman to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 alongside Margaret Wade for her services to the sport .

Life

Abbott's parents moved their five children from Lithuania to Boston in the United States when Abbott was seven years old. The family there took the surname Berenson. In 1890 Senda Berenson enrolled at the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics to become a PE teacher. In 1892 she accepted a position as senior physical education teacher at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She worked in this capacity until 1911 before she married the English professor Herbert Vaughan Abbott and gave up her position. Herbert Vaughan Abbott also taught at Smith College. He died in 1929. Five years later Senda Berenson Abbott moved to live with her sister in Santa Barbara , California .

Senda Berenson Abbott and basketball

About a month before Abbott was appointed to Smith College, an all-girls school, James Naismith invented the game of basketball in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts . He introduced it there for his students at the YMCA Training School. Abbott read about the game in a magazine and quickly visited Naismith to learn more about basketball and its suitability for her students. On March 21, 1893, she finally organized a game between the first and second semester women at Smith College. Male viewers were excluded. Nevertheless, the first women's basketball made headlines because this type of physical exercise was considered improper for women at the time. Abbott then modified the rules of the game, including dividing the field into three fixed areas that were assigned to the individual players and were not allowed to leave.

In 1899, Abbott's amended rules of basketball for women first appeared in print. Between 1901 and 1907 she was the editor of a specialist magazine for women's basketball, the Basketball Guide for Women . After her resignation from Smith College in 1911, Abbott remained active as the editor of this magazine until 1917.

See also

Web links

Commons : Senda Berenson Abbott  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Senda Berenson Abbott. (Biography in the NBA's Hoopedia.) ( February 14, 2012 memento on the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Senda Berenson Abbott Biography. Need For Physical Education For Women, Different Rules For Women, Wrote The Definitive Rules Book, Selected Writings by Berenson. On: Net Ideas website; Las Vegas, NV, 2011-2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018 (in English).
  3. ↑ Senda Berenson. Papers, 1875-1996 (bulk 1890-1952). On: Five College Archives Digital Access Project website; Northampton, MA, October 27, 2005-2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018 (in English).
  4. ↑ Senda Berenson Abbott at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame On: Hoophall website; Springfield, MA, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018 (in English).
personal data
SURNAME Abbott, Senda Berenson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valvrojenski, Senda (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American PE teacher
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Butrimonys , Lithuania
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1954
Place of death Santa Barbara , California