In the modern era, few athletes have had the ability to literally turn young followers into raving fans of a sport overnight. Think Tiger Woods and what he did to spark a new generation of young athletes’ interest in golf.
What Caitlin Clark has done for the sport of women’s basketball has much the same feel of the way that Tiger got young people interested in golf. Caitlin’s WNBA debut game this week was the most watched WNBA game since 2001, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Finals matchup between Caitlin’s Iowa team and The University of South Carolina on ESPN drew a record 18 million viewers, and Nike has signed Caitlin to a $28M endorsement deal.
But we’ve heard that phenomenon of introducing a new generation to a sport before. And Olympic Swimming Legend Janet Evans tells the story so darn well in her numerous motivational speeches she gives to corporate audiences year-round. At the age of 40, Janet was on the beach with her family in Laguna Beach CA and Janet’s phone rang. It was her old college coach from Stanford calling Janet to tell her that the freestyle times that the current Olympic Women’s Swimming hopefuls were putting up were much slower than Janet’s record times at 3 Olympic Games. Janet couldn’t believe that her old coach was actually suggesting that Janet make an Olympic comeback run at her age, but there he was doing just that. So Janet accepted the offer to workout with these girls–most of whom were 25 years younger than she.
As the story goes, Janet’s times actually got her into the Olympic Trials–but the road to get from Olympic Trials to the Olympic Team may only take a week, but it’s a near-impossible week (especially for a 40-year old in a pool with 15 year old National champion swimmers). Fast forward to Day One of the Trials in Omaha. Janet’s group went off first thing in the morning, so she knew that the only people in the stands would be parents and siblings who had made the trip to Nebraska to cheer on their kids. But to Janet’s dismay–as she entered the swim stadium that morning to a sold-out crowd chanting JANET! JANET!–Janet Evans quickly realized that SHE HERSELF had sparked the interest of a brand new generation of young female swimmers.
Janet got smoked that morning in the Olympic Time Trials, but the experience and the lessons learned that day were truly worth their weight in Olympic Gold.
Rave Speakers is proud to represent 3-time Olympic Champion Janet Evans. Want to hear more from this wonderful storyteller-especially in an Olympics Year? Call Rave Speakers today (310) 614-8653 or email [email protected]
