Basketball, It's Not Just a Game in Full-Court Quest by Linda S. Peavy

672 Words2 Pages

Full-Court Quest is not only the story of ten remarkable American Indian girls who would go on to win the 1904 women’s basketball World Championship, but also profiles the development of basketball, the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, and the impact of off-reservation boarding school education efforts by the U.S. government. Even though this book shows many different aspects of the ways of Native American living, the main feature the Fort Shaw basketball girls were trying to present to their peers was that basketball wasn’t just a game to play for fun. Basketball was a competitive game that they believed was a huge part of their lives and wanted the public to be a part of it as well; may it be playing the game with them or on the sidelines watching and supporting them. In the book, the authors detail the lives of the players and those around them. The impact of being away from family also takes center stage, from dealing with the death of parents and siblings to coping with changes in family dynamics. The game of basketball also helped the girls get away from the Indian Wars and the Dawes Act that had occurred before the boarding school was founded. For many of the girls, basketball was a grounding force that continued to foster an important sisterhood among team members. Basketball at Fort Shaw could not have come into play without Josephine Langley. Winslow offered a staff position to the young Indian woman, who grew up in the boarding school system. While working at Fort Shaw, she was noticed by a visiting Colonel Richard Pratt, head of the famed Carlisle boarding school (pg. 70-71). It was during her short time at Carlisle where Josie first witnessed a game of girls “basket ball” and was taken by the sport (pg. 64-66). Langle... ... middle of paper ... ... and skills on the basketball court. The Fort Shaw girls basketball team and the novel, Full Court Quest, is very inspirational to Native American history. These girls went out on to the court, forgot all their worries, and put their heart in soul to every game they played despite cultural issues and personal issues. Basketball was being newly introduced into the public, which was mainly made up of whites. This was very brave of the the basketball girls and also all who were included associated with the Fort Shaw boarding school because they were the minority. Native Americans were suppose to forget their own culture and evolve into white culture. However, Native Americans took basketball and taught it to the whites. This made some whites contradict their previous feelings and start to believe that Native American culture isn’t completely inferior to white culture.

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