One of the exciting things about my new job is meeting my wonderful new colleagues in the College of Arts at Guelph and finding out what they’re up to, where they’ve come from, and what they’re passionate about.
Of course, in getting to know me many of them are reading the blog and so sometimes we’re connecting about feminism and women’s sports. Justine Richardson is the project manager for the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation here at Guelph and they’ve just been awarded funding for an improv lab. Super good news for them and for us. You can read about our exciting new renovations here. Anyway, we were in a meeting the other day about space planning and we got talking about women’s basketball and this film Justine made about girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky. It also turns out it’s available free right now in honour of women’s history month. Just a few days left…
Here’s Appalshop in Kentucky: “Appalshop is dedicated to the proposition that the world is immeasurably enriched when local cultures garner the resources, including new technologies, to tell their own stories and to listen to the unique stories of others. The creative acts of listening and telling are Appalshop’s core competency.” You can also find them on Facebook.
“In honor of #womenshistorymonth, we’re sharing “Girls Hoops” – Directed by Justine Richardson, this film explores the history of girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky, from its first heyday in the 1920s, followed by a 42-year ban on statewide competition, to its rebirth into the fiercely competitive, popular sport it has become today. https://www.appalshop.org/media/girls-hoops/
Asked about her stance on the issue of femininity in a traditionally male sport, Richardson replies, “I think it gets misconstrued sometimes as being about trying to be more masculine. It definitely is not a traditional norm; you don’t learn domestic ideals when you are on the basketball court. You learn about competition, strategic cooperation, you learn a lot of things that aren’t molding you necessarily toward a traditional family life, or whatever that set of stereotypes about women includes. It’s different, but it shouldn’t be coded as unfeminine.” – from ACE Weekly magazine.
GIRLS’ HOOPS
Release Year: 1998
Running Time: 27:15
Color / B&W: color
In Kentucky, basketball is a cultural obsession. The enthusiasm of Kentucky fans permeates every community in the state. Communities draw a sense of pride and identity from successful high school teams, and people support these teams by the thousands, especially in the rural, Appalachian mountain region of the state. In the towns of Whitesburg, Jenkins, and Hazard, girls teams dominate the basketball spotlight.
Of special interest amidst the debate over the value of Title IX support for women’s athletics, Girls’ Hoops explores the history of girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky — from its first heyday in the 1920s, followed by a 42-year ban on statewide competition, to its rebirth in the 1970s and development into the fiercely competitive, popular sport it has become today. Filmed over the course of a basketball season, the program features exhausting practices, intense games, rousing half-time talks, championship performances and enthusiastic fans from small coal mining communities where a winning girls team is the talk of the town. Girls’ Hoops includes up-close interviews with today’s players and coaches, comments from a 94-year old player from a 1920s championship team, and interviews and game footage of the woman who broke the gender barrier in the mid-‘70s.
You can download it here.
Of special interest amidst the debate over the value of Title IX support for women’s athletics, Girls’ Hoops explores the history of girls’ high school basketball in Kentucky — from its first heyday in the 1920s, followed by a 42-year ban on statewide competition, to its rebirth in the 1970s and development into the fiercely competitive, popular sport it has become today. Filmed over the course of a basketball season, the program features exhausting practices, intense games, rousing half-time talks, championship performances and enthusiastic fans from small coal mining communities where a winning girls team is the talk of the town. Girls’ Hoops includes up-close interviews with today’s players and coaches, comments from a 94-year old player from a 1920s championship team, and interviews and game footage of the woman who broke the gender barrier in the mid-‘70s.
You can download it here.
