Behind every record broken, championship won, point scored, and accolade received by successful grown women, is a little girl dreaming and setting goals for herself in the future. Whether it’s watching Caitlin Clark breaking records or sitting in the stands at youth night for West Potomac girls basketball, young girls look up to these strong women representing their sport. When we were younger and looked up to our sports idols, little did we know how difficult it is to be taken seriously and actually get recognition for all the hard work and dedication spent in the gym, field, or pool.
Caitlin Clark from the Iowa women’s basketball team has not only broken numerous records including the NCAA all-time scoring record, but most importantly she changed the way women in sports are viewed. With highlights posted all over Instagram and other platforms, Clark is making a name for women’s basketball: teaching girls all over the world that anything really is possible if you put your mind to it. It’s a breakout time for women’s sports, and millions are watching. The ratings have been higher for the NCAA women’s basketball on FOX all season. And, for the first time, the “get in” ticket to the NCAA Final is currently $390, a full 50% higher than the equivalent men’s ticket.
We hope this explosion of interest in women’s basketball will expand to girls’ high school basketball, and other girls’ sports, here at West Po.
Although the girls basketball team had a strong 23-24 season after a regional championship in 22-23, their hard work spent in the gym and classroom is in the shadows, “…. a lot of that has to do with success and overall school spirit, overall engagement from student body, it has to do with it’s either the teams that are successful because of the work they put in so people wanna come watch or it’s schools that the student body supports one another and they show up,” said former head coach, Brian Colligan.
Over the past few years, both boys and girls teams have made names for themselves in their district and region, but not around the school. The boys team continues to be posted on social media and have lots of fans at the games compared to the girls. The lack of marketing for the girls team is a direct result of having the only fans at games be parents of the players. This year, towards the middle of the boys season a student began to make graphics of the boys team to post on social media and hang up flyers around the school to let the student body know that they had a game. There was no equivalent for the girls games.
Another instance where the boys team can be seen being favored is on a student run Instagram account that many of the students follow because their posts have to do with when West Po sporting events are and who wins the games. The girls team has been posted half as many times as the boys have, even when the girls had a better record then the boys team. These situations on social media lead me to believe that the reason girls don’t have as many fans is due to the fact that they receive no recognition from the school compared to the boys.
In addition to the talent displayed on the court, the girls team advertised their games on Instagram and Twitter, and reached out to the schools hype squad to market their games. With the help from the head boys basketball coach, David Houston, a double header was scheduled for the boys to play first, making the girls team the headline game. Having the girls play second gave the chance for the boys team to watch the girls and bring more attention to the girls game.
“I think as long as people can see that the girls game is a good game, it is like a different game,” Coach Houston said.