Lynx star Napheesa Collier is a new mom, with a sharper focus on the future of women and girls in sports
MINNEAPOLIS – Lynx forward Napheesa Collier has been busy around the Twin Cities and beyond.
She's not only raising her daughter, but also preparing for the upcoming WNBA season. And she just hosted recess for kids at Marcy Elementary in Minneapolis this week.
She also considers how our society has made progress, and how she factors into making more.
"I think just especially now that I have my daughter, just important everything is, and to recognize Black History Month, Women and Girls in Sports Day, things like that, those are important milestones, those are important days. And to emphasize that in my life now and to explain it to her when she gets older," Collier said.
As a Black woman, an athlete and as a mother, Collier thinks about this point extensively. Making sure there are opportunities for women and people of color to succeed in life in whatever they do.
"I think we're doing a really great job recently of celebrating everyone and highlighting things that are important. And especially with women, I think we've gone a long way," Collier said. "There's still steps we want to take, but days like today where we're recognizing specifically girls and women in sports, getting them more involved, hopefully getting them to stay in sports longer. Just things where we can emphasize different groups that maybe need a little more help than other groups is really important to get everyone on the level we want them to be on."
That's part of why she gave her time to these students this week.
"It means a lot. I love being around kids in general, especially on a day like today where it's so important to get kids involved in sports, especially young women, to have another female to look up to I think is really important," she said.
Plus, it's giving her some practice for when her own daughter is this age.
"She's already so fun, so when she gets to this age I know we're going to be running around a lot," Collier said.