Specialty Column

The Effect That Young Female Athletes Are Having On The Sports World

Caitlin Clark. Trinity Rodman. Sydney McLaughlin. Coco Gauff. 

Even though these women all play different sports, they all have one thing in common. They are all under the age of 25 and they are doing amazing things within their sport. 

(Transition)

22-year-old Caitlin Clark, 6'0" forward for Iowa, has changed women's basketball. She has packed out stadiums and broke records. She recently broke Pete Maravich's record for most points scored in a D1 college basketball career. Maravich had 3,667 points and Clark currently has 3,771, and she still has games left to play. 

Clark is already up there with some of the best female basketball players of all time, with Kelsey Plum, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, but she has done so much more economically for this sport then they ever have. 

She is famous for her "logo three's." As soon as she passes half court, she needs to be guarded or else she'll jack up a shot and more likely than not, it'll go in. But that's not all she can do. Clark is an effective play maker and can drive to the hoop with speed and power. When she gets knocked down, she gets right back up. 

Clark is a once in a generation kind of player. There has not been a player like her ever, and who knows if there ever will be. Maybe one of the young girls who is sitting in the crowd was so inspired by her that she's already practicing her three-point shot.

Another athlete who's making waves is 21-year-old Trinity Rodman. She plays as a forward for both the United States women's national soccer team and for the Washington Spirit. 

An older generation might know her as Dennis Rodman's daughter. Rodman is a former NBA player who played on teams like the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers. 

But now, it's more like Dennis Rodman is Trinity Rodman's father and not the other way around. Trinity has been a force to be reckoned with on the soccer field, both physically and verbally. 

Trinity is barely of legal drinking age in the U.S. and she's already scored seven goals for the USWNT. 

Recently, in a Gold Cup match against Columbia, Trinity rushed to the defense of her teammate, 34-year-old Alex Morgan. On multiple occasions, Trinity confronted multiple Columbian players, even saying "back the fuck up" to them when they tried to get into Morgan's face. 

In past years, actually seeing a female player say that to another player on the field might have elicited some negative reactions from the audience. 

Not this time.

News outlets and social media saw this as a teammate defending her captain and shared it all over the internet. People reposted it and, even though the content of the message was a little questionable for younger viewers, now the USWNT is getting recognition for its teammates defending each other and not taking any crap from other teams.

Not necessarily the most popular sport in the U.S. but definitely an athlete whose name has travelled outside of the sport is track and field athlete Sydney McLaughlin. 

Best known for qualifying for the Rio Olympics at 16 and participating at 17, she is now 24-years-old. McLaughlin was the youngest American track and field athlete to qualify for the Olympic games since Moscow in 1980. 

Despite her only making it to the semi-finals in Rio, it was obvious that she was going to do great things. One year after graduating from the University of Kentucky, McLaughlin went pro and earned a silver medal at the Doha World Championships behind Dalilah Muhammad, who is 10 years her senior.

Only two years later, McLaughlin surpassed Muhammad and broke the world record in the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics. 

She is set to run at the Paris Olympics this summer, inspiring young track and field athletes and drawing more viewers to not only the sport, but to women's track and field. 

Thanks to Serena and Venus Williams, women's tennis has become more popular over the past few decades. Now, it's time to pass the torch to 20-year-old Coco Gauff. 

She's won ranked No. 3 in singles in the world and No. 1 in doubles in the world by the Women's Tennis Association.

Gauff won a single major title at the U.S. Open in 2023, and she has eight doubles titles. She has done all this, and she's not even allowed to legally drink in the United States. 

She won her first professional match at the age of 14 and became the youngest player to reach the main draw at Wimbledon by qualifying in the Open Era when she was 15. 

In her main draw debut, she defeated Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. 

(Finish Gauff)

These women are changing the game. Literally. Increasing viewership and inspiring young women all over the world. 

Sure, men's sports are interesting because they have big muscles and are built like freight trains. But I think it's time for them to step aside and let the ladies show them how it's done. 

**personalize it

**add color to it

**make it more fun