#2 The Tnternationsl Growtn ci’ Basketball.

missionary, went to Kast China in 1908, ana figured prominently in

the cxtensive development of the game there. Dr. Charles Siler, a

Yousue cage Athlete, and also a medical missionary, left the states
fo 7.912, China-bound, to add a further eontribution to the game, in
tn? wey of his personal knowledge of scientific basketball.

C, Herck, another Springficld man, transplanted the game in
Persi.c a3 carly as 1901. In 1924, Roberts College in Constantinople
became the first college in a forcign land to incorporate basketball
in ius curriculum. Chester N. Tobin has done much for the game in
Turxey. In 1924, he brought about the publication of the first
translation of the American Basketball Rules into the Turkish
lanpuege. Many of the pictures of American players were reproduced
in. this book oF Puces, |

Today, the game is enjoying a rapid and enthusiastic growth
sn she land of the Moslem. Louis W. Riess has done for Greece what
Tobin did for Turkey. He has translated the American game into
Greek. Salonica was the birthplace of basketball in Greece.

The game in Mexico is well established. H. C. Aguirre of the
University of Mexico, City of Mexico, and T. B. Rodriguez, at
Chiluahua, both graduates of the Y.M.C.A. school at Springfield,
Lave done much to promote the game in that republic. At present we
are in communication with Mexican basketball teams who are desiring
to make a tour through the United States.

In Canada, hockey is the big game among the men, although
basketball is growing in proportion to the growth of indoor play=-
ing space, much of which is now under construction in the dominion.

Canada possesses the World's Champion Girls! Basketball Team
in the personnel of the Commercial Grades of Edmonton, Alberta.

This team has successfully defended its laurels both in this country
and in Europe. Coach J. P. Page has tutored this quintette for
eight or nine years.

After the Armistice was signed, two American teams, by in-
vitation from the British government, demonstrated basketball in the
British area of the war zone. The English took to it readily. In
the earlier days in England, basketball was introduced as a giri*s
game. Until a little more than a decade ago, the British did not
know that there was a game of basketball for men.

In Poland and Russia, where the cold weather prohibits out-
door play, the lack of large indoor playing spaces is a hindrance to
the game. Czechoslovakia received the game with open arms in 1920.

In the last decade, the World War has contributed its share
of advancement to the play program of Germany. Many years have
passed since the American Army of Occupation vacated German soil,
tut it left behind something that it could not take away. That
something was the American enthusiasm for Sports and Games. The
results of the Olympic Games of 1928 verify the above assertion.
Germany assembled the largest Olympic group of competitive partici-
pants for the try-outs, ef any country in the world. A wap-weary
world turned “en masse" to recreation through sports and games.

Very early we learned that the whole is equal to the sum of
ats parts. Basketball is one of these parts. Germany is now taking
up basketball with an enthusiasm unsurpassed. To the immense pop-
ulation in her crowded and congested areas this sport. has particular