I hate basketball. No, literally, it's my least favorite sport. Unfortunately, I birthed sons who love the game so much that they argue about it for hours. And a daughter who has natural talents for shooting hoops.
So, guess what? I love basketball. No, I still don't. But I've tried harder. We built a basketball court outside our garage. I hang with them and the friends during the NBA playoffs as we watch game after game. I joined their Fantasy Basketball League (and came in 2nd, I'll have you know) after they couldn't find a sixteenth "man". This football loving girl is doing her best.
So, imagine my surprise when I found myself turning on woman's basketball one day because I couldn't wait to watch. I was excited for one reason. Caitlin Clark. I wanted to see what all the hype was about, and y'all after one game, I was hooked.
Woman's basketball has been around since 1892...one year after men's basketball began. That's literally over a hundred years ago. Who knew? Not me. I didn't even know it existed until last year (a little bit of an exaggeration since I was once on a high school basketball team for a week). I had never had one thought about women's college basketball or the WNBA. Yet here I was turning on games. Putting games on my schedule to watch. Watching press conferences on YouTube.
What in the world was happening to me?
Then my husband came home from a trip recently where he sat on a plane next to a woman who works in the marketing department for women's golf. He politely asked her how the year was going for her, and she quickly answered that women's golf interest and viewership has exploded. He wondered why. She didn't even hesitate. A name. Caitlin Clark.
Which brings me to the reason I am writing this today. I just saw a reel on Instagram this morning where girls in Kenya were playing basketball in yellow Iowa jerseys with the number 22 on the back. I'm talking playing on dirt paths, and these girls are repping Caitlin Clark.
They call it the Caitlin Clark effect. And it's literally changing the world of sports.
So I asked myself. Why are we all drawn to this girl?
Is it the logo 3's that she hits? I've not watched basketball long, but I've watched it long enough to see other WNBA players hit logo 3's. And I'm not trying to diminish Caitlin's talent at all because it is attention grabbing for sure. I'm just not convinced that this is why she's changing the game.
Is it the fact that she's white and Catholic and comes from an American dream-like family? I mean, it might be for some, and I wholeheartedly join those who oppose all snobbery, bigotry and evil racism, but I seriously doubt this is the reason for the Caitlin effect.
Is it her passion and competitiveness? I'm sure that plays into it. We all love to watch people who love their jobs. But every sport is full of that. Watch any game on TV and you'll see competitive spirit.
So why do we love Caitlin so much?
It's because she connects with us. When she sinks a logo 3, she goes to the crowd to celebrate. When she talks at a press conference, she connects with her coach and her teammates and even players from other teams with respect and positive words about their play. She even connects with the journalists, joking with them and giving them answers that she knows they've probably never heard. We see her connect with her family both on the court and off. She stays and stays and stays to sign autographs for kids and to make sure they know she's seen them. Even when she holds babies, she is connecting with them.
The Caitlin effect comes from the fact that Caitlin knows basketball, but she knows people too (I would argue that this is also the Taylor Swift effect in the music industry).
Connection is a resource that we ALL have access to. You don't have to break records to have an effect on the world. You can simply connect every single day with the people right in front of you and make a difference.
Easy, peasy, right?
In the words of Lee Corso "Not so fast, my friend." There are reasons that not everybody is good at connection. Connection requires:
A regulated nervous system and the ability to help regulate another person's nervous system (It is almost impossible to connect when we are dysregulated by fight/flight or shutdown)
A willingness to see and care about someone else and their life
Slowing down enough to connect and prioritizing people over getting things done
A sense of purpose and living for something bigger than our little life
A confidence in ourselves and who God made us to be that overcomes any self-consciousness
These are things that can be taught. We can learn how to connect in better ways with others. I am currently in this masterclass while also sharing with you all what I've learned. My course, "Resource Your Health, Change Your Life" is full of ways that you can use to build a life of connection. (I bet Caitlin was taught how to use many of the resources that I teach in my course. Just a shameless guess.)
I sincerely hope that this cynical world doesn't steal Caitlin's love for connecting with those around her. I hope she is never blinded by money or beat to a pulp by her critics. I hope that she keeps that bright, childlike quality of loving basketball to inspire the next generation.
This is the Caitlin Clark effect.
PS. If you've never heard of Caitlin Clark, I want to know in the comments. But if you have, it's probably because of the Caitlin Clark effect.
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