Courting Big Dreams

It was a show of strength for 13-year-old Matilda Beadling.

Every minute the women of the Seattle Reign were on the floor Friday was proof to the St. George’s School eighth-grader and her basketball buddies that they could do anything.

“It’s so amazing,” she said, eyes glued to the women’s professional basketball exhibition game 100 feet in front of her at the Spokane Arena.

“They’re really strong. It’s just the beginning. It really makes me believe I can play basketball.”

Hero worship intoxicated much of the small, mostly female crowd at the Arena, where hundreds of local girls were on hand to watch the strong women of the Reign play the San Jose Lasers.

The teams are competing in year two of the American Basketball League, rival to the heavily marketed Women’s National Basketball League.

Half of the excitement came from watching the women do their stuff.

“We’re here to learn more about basketball, learn some new plays,” said 11-year-old Farwell Elementary student Tanya Watson. “We’re here to check out their stuff and try it ourselves.”

The other half had little to do with basketball and everything to do with growing up strong and proud.

“We’re not shallow,” 12-year-old Allison Fischer said about her team, the Little Rascals. “This proves we can do the same stuff as boys.”

For Whitworth College ballplayers Kelly McKee and Nicole Marich, watching the Reign play was like watching women like themselves make it to the big time that didn’t exist until last season.

“It’s such a big step,” 19-year-old McKee said. “You can relate to them a lot. It’s always the dream. Everyone wants to be there.”

The younger girls who crowded the lower stands at the Arena believe they will grow old telling stories about “the great Kate Starbird” from her early days.

“Everyone knows who Michael Jordan is,” Matilda said. “But not many people can say they know what he was like in his rookie year.”

With only about one-quarter of the Arena filled for the game, Reign General Manager Jim Weyermann admits women’s sports has a long way to go to match Michael Jordan.

But it’s the glint in the eyes of a young woman watching Seattle Reign forward Shalonda Enis put up a shot that brings him back every time.

“You look at the faces of young kids and they’re just riveted thinking, ‘We can do this!”’ Weyermann said. “These women model power and strength. It isn’t some made-up fairy tale. This is reality.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo