Natalie Achonwa’s resume is resoundingly impressive. A WNBA standout who plays for the Minnesota Lynx. The youngest player to ever play on the Canadian national team. A member of Canada’s gold-medal winning squad at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Now, she can add poet to that list, too.
In a moving poem written in support of Canada Basketball’s Mad Love campaign, which seeks to inspire and rally Canadians together in support of female athletes in basketball and beyond, Achonwa captures the profound importance of representation.
“It’s hard when they tell you who you can be, the sky is the limit, just wait, and you’ll see,” she recites in the poem’s opening lines. “So I eagerly run to turn on the T.V., only to find out none of these athletes look like me.”
THIS SUNDAY @NatAchon joins @TaraSlone on an all-new episode of #TopOfHerGame!
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Gender inequity in sport isn’t a new phenomenon. For Canadian basketball players who are women, the impact has been acutely felt over the last 85 years. Basketball made its Olympic debut for men in 1936 but it took another 40 years before the women’s game was seen on that iconic stage.
And still, despite the historical and ongoing shortcomings in recognizing the women’s game, Canadian ballers like Achonwa have built a standard of excellence nearly unmatched in the world. Heading into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the senior women’s national team is ranked fourth out of every single program on the planet.
As Achonwa writes, it’s long past time to appreciate their greatness — and the greatness of the countless women doing the extraordinary worldwide. Because equal representation isn’t just something to aspire towards, it’s something that changes lives.
“It has never been said that equal means we are the same, we just want a fair shot at our own damn fame,” one verse in the poem says. “We want nothing more than what we deserve, a chance to inspire that next little girl.
“Instead of growing up with comments like ‘Get back in the kitchen,’ or having to cower and hide in submission. Instead she can stand with her head held high, knowing she doesn’t have to aspire to hoop like some guy.”
The message is simple, clear and vital. In her closing lines Achonwa, who will be joining Sportsnet’s Tara Sloane on this Sunday’s episode of Top Of her Game, distills what needs to be heard and understood with grace and power.
“And if some point I lost you along the way, I’ll remind you the message just repeat what I say.
“Bet on women. Invest in women. Protect women. Respect women. And I promise not to ever bore you again, if you promise to provide equal representation.
“Because no one needs a poem, a song, or a revelation. Just put women’s sports on the damn television.”
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