While you watch the Wreckers girls’ basketball team run across the court, sneakers squeaking and the crowd roaring, note that the confidence the girls play with has increased over the years.
1996 was a year that changed the course of professional basketball for young girls and women. It was the year that the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was introduced as a professional league of players, composed of only women. But they were not as popular as they are today.
“There were women out there who were paving the way for the Caitlin Clarks and the Paige Bueckers, but they didn’t have that national recognition,” social studies teacher Nell-Ayn Lynch said. “ You couldn’t see them on TV all the time or buy their tee-shirts or go watch them play professionally.”
But this all changed in the last few years. Starting in 2021, the WNBA’s crowd attendance has gone from 2,620 to 9,807, partly due to the Indiana Fever, who drafted MVP Cailtin Clark in 2024, as noted by OLGB.com.
“Off the court, the WNBA has empowered me to be a stronger leader and role model,” girls’ basketball co-captain Aviva Ross ’25 said. “Through coaching sixth and seventh grade girls in the Westport PAL and CT Hoops programs, I’ve seen firsthand how important it is to show younger players what confidence and leadership look like in girls’ sports.”
These women have set higher standards for future female athletes and have shown them that gender does not restrict them from accomplishing their dreams and inspires them to reach farther than they may have before.
“When she [Sabrina Ionescu] competed in the 3-point contest with Steph Curry, it wasn’t just about competing,” Ross said, “it was about showing that women can perform at the same elite level and deserve to be seen.”
Today, athletes are proud to see women athletes making these impacts, because there were young girls who grew up without this influence.
“As a little girl, I didn’t have women to look up to in that sense,” Lynch said. “I didn’t have Catlin Clarks or Paige Bueckers to look up to.”
