Women’s Basketball Has An Important Message For Our Granddaughters
Women’s Basketball
I have loved basketball since I was a child. I was not athletic and never played the sport, but I watched it with my dad. He loved the University of Kentucky basketball team and my brother and I watched the games with him.
When I was a teen my high school didn’t even have a girl’s basketball team. The Commonwealth of Kentucky was far behind most of the country, and actually had a law that prohibited women from taking part in a sport that was “too strenuous” for them! But with the advent of Title IX, there was no choice but to comply, and we had our first girl’s team the in the fall of the year I graduated.
Like most Kentuckians I watched men’s basketball, but I did have a few friends who followed Western Kentucky University’s women’s basketball. I graduated from WKU but just never found women’s basketball to be interesting…until Caitlin Clark.
Important Message
My 11 year old granddaughter, Brynlee, stays with me frequently and we began watching Caitlin play. She loved it and began talking about basketball frequently. She would even shoot hoops by herself on the ball court behind our house.
As luck would have it there was a girl’s basketball camp starting in a few weeks. I asked her and her sister and their cousin if they would like to go. They were so excited and when camp began and they loved everything about it. This Nana thoroughly enjoyed watching them learn the fundamentals of the game.
After camp, we watched as Caitlin and Angel were drafted by opposing teams and began playing in the WNBA. We watch their games together as often as we can but thankfully, my granddaughter is too young to read the press about women’s basketball.
Why Can’t They Be Friends?
Remember the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by War? They weren’t talking about the WNBA but they could have been. I know that a lot of what we see on television and read about on the Internet is hype, meant to draw more viewers and increase ticket sales, and that their behavior doesn’t matter to the owners of the teams that play, but it matters to me and I hope it matters to you. Why? Because our granddaughters are watching..
Mixed Messages
On the one hand we have women who know that it’s a good thing to support other women. This is from an article in Forbes magazine
“We need to reverse the stereotype that women don’t support other women. There is research that shows women in particular benefit from collaboration over competition. Study after study shows women who support women are more successful in business.“
On the other hand, we have the competitive world of women’s sports. Yes, men’s sports are competitive too but women have to fight harder to get noticed and to make it to the top. Then when they get there they still operate in the shadows of men. When it comes to sports why do women earn less than men? In some cases it depends on what sport they play.
Women’s Sports
Do you know which sport pays the best salary for women? Accoridng to Forbes magazine it’s tennis. There’s a lot more to the how and why but I linked to the story so if you don’t know you can find out for yourself.
My Beef
My beef with women’s basketball has more to do with the media than the players themselves, although some players do exhibit better behavior than others. I’ll let you decide which players I’m referring to.
I know WHY the media promotes ruthless competition, rude behavior and trash talking. What I don’t know is what we can do about it.
I love that my granddaughter has taken an interest in basketball. I love that we can watch games together and talk about plays, etc. But I don’t love the dirty play when the referees aren’t looking, or the foul language that makes me want to wash their mouths out with soap.
Do I want my granddaughters to love basketball? Of course I do. It’s a tradition in our family. Do I want them to have good role models when it comes to the WNBA? That’s a given. But what I really, really want to emphasize is that it took women such a LONG time to get attention when it comes to basketball, now they need to support each other and rejoice that they are finally getting the attention and money (although not as much as men, it’s getting better) that they deserve.
A house divided isn’t nearly as strong and sturdy as one that is united. Come on, gals. Be role models for younger women. Send a positive message to all the young girls who are watching you. Cheer each other on. Play hard but play fair.
It’s your time to shine and we are watching.
