Celebrating the Growth of Women’s Basketball | Raptors Today, IWD 2024

Celebrating the Growth of Women’s Basketball | Raptors Today, IWD 2024

I would love nothing more than to see other women working in sport both in front of and behind the camera when you have people of different walks of life your potential is honestly unlimited we have created many young female leaders it takes a community to raise a child

Our program Le Ballers Camp help raise young females who have tremendous potential representation matters and being able to see somebody on television that looks like you is huge there’s a responsibility for all the women working in sport to blaze that trail for the Next Generation women’s basketball is booming

The business of it the audience of it and the appetite for it so we are very excited on this International women’s day to discuss a little bit about what makes the women’s game so special and why it’s growing Chelsea late KS UA Kumar I’m Ashley docking all right let’s

Get into it because one of the things that we saw first of all KS I’m going to start with you is the moving of the needle when Sabrina and Steph had their Three-Point Contest at All-Star it was the most watched event of the weekends I

Think we can all agree that that was our favorite my it was my favorite part about it was the only reason I was there the only reason I was there it was the hype before and the hype surrounding stuff for Sabrina was at the beginning a little like nerve-racking I think for me

And then it like exceeded all expectations it was so much more fun to watch in the rest of Allstar Weekend sadly but just the hype in general around all the basketball community and just casual basketball watching audience in general was amazing yeah I think one thing that

We can always agree upon is like the Battle of the Sexes is always going to draw and Sabrina did not disappoint and Steph was such a good sport about it in the sense where he came and he brought his aame and had to bring his aame because she is just a phenomenal Point

Blank period so Chelsea what is it about this women’s game this version of it that we’re seeing now that you think is just so appealing to viewers because right now currently on Fox women’s college basketball is drawing a more a bigger average audience than the men I

Think it’s just the fact that these athletes are just showstoppers like they know how to bring the moment Caitlyn Clark in particular you know is one of the biggest names in basketball right now just because every time she steps on that floor she brings some sort of showstopping moment she’s able to bring

The crowd to their feet she’s able to save her team from you know moments where they may lose and so that’s what fans want they want to see showstopping basketball it’s why you know the NBA has you know the Three-Point Contest and the dunk contest and stuff like that is

Because that’s what people like to watch in basketball and the fact that these women are now bringing that and people are finally realizing that this game is so interesting to watch no matter who you’re watching on the court um it just brings so much hype and I mean for us us

It’s so exciting to see people you know like Kia said uh In that clip to like that look like us and that represent us and you know are absolute Ballers so it’s it’s just a really fun time for women’s basketball I think that game where she passed the scoring record the

NCA D1 scoring record the most watched women’s basketball game since 1999 regular season and I was reading it it got more viewers than Warrior Celtics did that same day mhm which was insane yeah and I mean it just proves that these women are putting on a show that

People want to watch and so you know it the the money and the the advertising and the deals and stuff will follow I think that’s a huge conversation in women’s college and professional basketball right now that people aren’t understanding is that the money is going to follow them because their talent

Isn’t just going to go away when they when they go professional yeah ponytail Pete Caitlyn Clark just became the NCAA leading score period in basketball uh in D1 so congratulations to her Juju Watkins another person who is just like absolutely blowing everyone’s mind um but you mentioned where the money

Resides and that’s right now in women’s programming if you’re looking for sponsorship if you’re interested in marketing if you don’t have a female or women’s component to your organization it’s kind of a tough sell and we have a lot of organizations here in the city that are really doing the

Work at the Grassroots level which we love to see and we want to highlight some of those so KS I’m going to start with you lady Ballers why do you love it why did you want to bring it up today I think it’s just such a great initiative

To get the young girls the opportunity to like want give them a sense of community and show them how sport can really help them get to the next steps in life even like learn different skills that are so transferable basketball like these camps will give them so much opportunity to

Like grow their Community meet different people get different opportunities and that’s just not something that a lot of women get to get or get to have sorry opportunity to do yeah a th% all right and then chelse uh a an organization near and dear to my heart personally

I’ve worked with them for the last two years um hoop Queens who which is an organization founded by nikisa Kling who actually does work for mlsc as well why do you love hoop Queens what draws you to it I think just the dedication to making sure that not only young girls

Have the opportunity to play basketball but that women of all ages still have the opportunity to go and play basketball even when you know their professional or their college careers end I really appreciate the fact that there’s still opportunities for adult women to go and play professional basketball have a community of

Basketball you know a competitive basketball environment but at the same time the dedication to the Next Generation and making sure that you’re still doing programming for young girls that’s going to inspire them and the fact that those young girls also have the opportunity to look up to the older

Um women in hoop queens and the league that they’re making and the fact that they’re you know they have a dedication to make sure these women are getting paid is so good for these young girls to see it and will really show them what opportunities are out there for them

Hoop Queens lady Ballers make sure that you’re supporting and checking out these organizations not cuz it’s the right thing to do because they’re fantastic organizations and as you mentioned KS I think it’s so important that you know women athletes become leaders period even if you don’t go anywhere with it in

Terms of professional basketball but now the opportunity is even more apparent uh we’re having another WNBA game in Canada in may you have the Seattle Storm taking on the LA Sparks I believe it is Edmonton so as I said before women’s basketball is absolutely booming and I

Cannot wait to see the heights that it goes to so before we get out of here we have to give a shout out to our producer Jasmine and our intern Anna thank you guys so much this was an all female cast for international women’s day we’d like

To thank mlsc and Jakey Jake for making this happen for chel for KS myself Ashley and the girls in the background who really make everything happen uh thank you for joining us today on Raptors today thanks for watching Toronto rapt YouTube channel check out our latest videos and subscribe for more Trent answers

Back Gary s side step great got it

Ashley Docking, Keerthika Uthayakumar, and Chelsea Leite join Raptors Today to talk about the popularity of Women’s Basketball with must see events like Steph vs. Sabrina, and Caitlin Clark’s quest to being the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history.

0:00 Raptors Women’s Empowerment Month Feature
0:45 Steph vs Sabrina
2:05 Caitlin Clark
4:00 Ladyballers
5:00 Hoopqueens
6:03 Shoutout Producers
6:57 Thanks for watching!
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