Caitlin Clark effect: How it's impacting young women's basketball fans in Columbus
There is no denying the Caitlin Clark effect.
In her four seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark has brought an unprecedented amount of national attention to women's college basketball. Whether it be through her ever-growing highlight reel or the numerous name, image and likeness deals she has racked up, the popularity that Clark has attained is momentous for the sport.
Over the past two years in particular, fans show up in every city Clark plays. When Iowa made its road trip to Value City Arena to face Ohio State in 2023, the game was a sellout, and the ticket demand for the matchup in Columbus at noon Sunday is just as high.
Within every one of those crowds, there are kids getting to witness women elevate the sport to a new level.
Clark is not the first athlete to bring excitement to the women's sports landscape, but the impact she is having on the younger generation is still significant. It is the same type of influence that former United States national women's soccer player Brandi Chastain realized she and her USWNT team had back in 1999.
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"For me as a young girl, it was not possible to see that because no one was investing or supporting women and women in professional sports in that way," Chastain said. "So, I know that having the experience as a player was truly life changing, and therefore I would correlate that to the type of impact as immeasurable for young girls."
On Sunday, there will be many Columbus youths in the stands who have been looking forward to seeing Clark play in person. They see Clark as an entertaining player who can make shots like no one else in the game.
There will also be older kids and teens in attendance. They see her as a role model who is proving women can be on the same level as their male counterparts.
And there will be many parents in Columbus grateful for the opportunity to share an atmosphere in which an appreciation for women's sports can take root and grow.
A role model in for young girls in Columbus
When Columbus-area mother Katie Wysong suggested to her daughter Reese the idea of giving her best friend, coincidentally named Reese Miller, a ticket to the Iowa-Ohio State game for her 13th birthday, Reese Wysong knew it would be perfect.
The two girls who are AAU basketball teammates had been talking about Clark's upcoming game for what Reese Wysong described as a "super long time," and when she finally gave Miller the gift, her reaction was one of pure excitement.
Miller, who started watching Clark around the time of the 2023 NCAA championship game against LSU, not only enjoys watching Clark in action, but looks up to Iowa's No. 22 as a role model.
"Usually, you hear about boy athletes and stuff, but this is like the first really big woman's athlete that gets a lot of attention," Miller said. "So it definitely is life changing showing that a lot of girls can do it when they get older.”
The way Miller describes Clark is the exact reason Katie suggested the gift in the first place. She felt seeing this type of game in Columbus could be "a once-in-a-lifetime" experience for the two girls.
"To be able to experience that together and be able to watch such an amazing female athlete, and someone that they admire and look up to," Katie said. "I think it definitely gives them something to look forward to, in regard to their future as basketball players.”
After 10-year-old Lucy Honigford watches Sunday's matchup with her parents and two younger siblings, she will be playing in a basketball game of her own, which is scheduled for that evening. While she is still debating whether she is going to try any of the moves Clark uses against the Buckeyes, what she does know is she is "super excited" to be going.
Honigford's mother, Mallory, says that her family was able to get tickets to the game when Ohio State announced they were opening the 300-level. Despite never having attended an Ohio State women's game before, Lucy has been a fan of Clark for a while now and even dressed up like her for Halloween this past year.
"My mom brought up some ideas and Caitlin Clark really stood out to me just because she's a really good basketball player," Lucy said. "Everybody knows her. It's like she doesn't miss that much, which is really amazing, I think.”
Mallory, who thought this costume would be comfortable for Lucy and a chance for her to dress up as an athlete she loves, has also seen the positive impact Clark has had on young girls who play the sport.
"The basketball is what draws you in," Mallory said. "But then to really get to know who she is and what a great person she is, is even more important and makes her that much more of a role model.”
'Because of their age, they actually don't know a whole lot different'
Abigail Cress Brown, who lives in Worthington, frequented Carver-Hawkeye Arena to watch Iowa women's basketball when she was growing up in Iowa City, but not because it was a hot ticket at the time. When she went to games, it was more likely because her Girl Scout troop was going, or the Hawkeyes were having a ticket promotion.
Now, with her husband and their two young kids, Brown has gotten to see the team she grew up watching attract sellout crowds. What is a new and exciting time for Brown is the norm for her daughter and son.
"I get to see that they're going to grow up thinking that a woman's basketball game is just as exciting as a men's basketball game, if not possibly more exciting," Brown said. "They are growing up in a world where there's so much more equality for women. So, it's really neat to see that my daughter has the most innocent heart and doesn't even realize that this is so special."
The indirect Caitlin Clark effect
Despite the fact that many of the people going to the Ohio State-Iowa game on Sunday are being drawn in by the fact Clark is in town, a majority of fans in attendance will still be rooting for the Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes are a top-20 team nationally that already brings in a fair number of fans on a regular basis, but going up against No. 2 Iowa means even more people will be paying attention, giving an opportunity for Ohio State to gain new supporters.
Take Jen Orlins' family, for example. Orlins' husband Andrew and daughter Juliana attended last year's Iowa-Ohio State matchup, while she and her son Casey stayed at home and enjoyed the game on television. When tickets for this season's game went on sale, her husband realized it was cheaper to buy two season tickets that included the Iowa game than buying tickets on the third-party market.
Though the purchase was made because they wanted to see Clark play, because they have the season tickets Orlins and her husband have been taking their 9-year-old son, who is typically just a baseball fan, to games.
"He's become quite a fan of the OSU women as well," Orlins said. "He's a big fan of Jacy Sheldon just because partly because his name rhymes with her name. He even really likes Rebeka (Mikulasikova) and likes that he can say her really long last name. For a little kid, it's a big deal. He practiced until he could do it. And we all like Rikki Harris a lot, too.”
Luckily for the Orlins family, they were able to grab more tickets when Ohio State opened the upper bowl, meaning all four, plus some other relatives, will be at Sunday's game. But as a season-ticket holder, Orlins has realized how easily accessible Buckeyes' women's basketball is for fans, which has led to her family, specifically her son, forming an appreciation for the team despite normally not being into the sport.
This is just another way that Clark is indirectly having a positive impact on the game. It doesn't matter the reason a person purchases tickets to a women's basketball game. If they are in the building or are even just watching on TV, especially if they are a younger fan, there is a chance that they enjoy and start following one of the two teams on the court.
"It's an amazing feeling," said Harris, the Orlins family favorite who plays guard for Ohio State. "That’s what we're here for. If we're not playing hard and making younger kids fall in love with it for next generations to come, then we're not doing our job.”
The Ohio State-Iowa matchup is set for noon on Sunday, and the game will be nationally televised on NBC.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Caitlin Clark's popularity is inspiring to young fans in Columbus
