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Ralph Melnick. Senda Berenson: The Unlikely Founder of Women's Basketball. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007. 265 pages. $22.95 (paperback).
Ralph Melnick has written a richly detailed and vivid narrative tracing the life and works of Senda Berenson, best remembered as the founder of women's basketball in the United States. In Senda Berenson: The Unlikely Founder ofWomen 's Basketball, Melnick presents a portrait of Senda Berenson as an individual and as a pioneer in women's sports, deliberately providing neither a history of early twentieth century "new woman" feminism nor a history of women's basketball and physical education.
In 1890, Berenson enrolled at the Boston Normal School for Gymnastics (BNSG), which trained teachers in Swedish gymnastics techniques. The Swedish approach, as explained by Melnick, emphasized personal growth, social uplift, interpersonal skills, and physical health. In contrast, the German approach that had come to dominate American athletics during the Civil War promoted strength, nation building, and competitive athletic skills. During her training in the Swedish athletic philosophy at BNSG, Berenson accepted Smith College's invitation to fill a temporary gymnastics instructor post, only to stay at Smith for over a decade as the highly influential and persuasive Director of Physical Training. During her tenure at Smith and in spite of early faculty resistance,...