As I watched basketball player Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes lose to LSU in the 2023 March Madness Championship game, I was shocked. Clark was a superhuman to me. I thought she could do it all, but I refused to accept that it was possible for her to lose.
Watching that game, and others like it, has taught me that even the best athletes can make devastating mistakes. There is comfort in knowing that superhumans mess up, get tired and succumb to pressure just like we all do.
Losing carries the negative connotation that we have failed if we do not succeed. Often, narratives such as ones the media shares only focus on those who win. We are amazed by the best of the best and by how those individuals seem to stretch the limits of all human potential, but I challenge you to find a champion who has never missed a shot. Find someone who has never made a mistake in a game. You can’t. When the greatest athletes lose, they are brought down from the pedestal society places them on. And we can finally see their imperfections, which are the traits that make them human.
Losing teaches strength, builds character and shapes us in ways that success alone can’t. It requires confidence and grace. When we face setbacks, we learn to pick ourselves up again. Losing is innately human. We can’t avoid it, but our mindset when we make a mistake dictates the strength we gain from it. Losing fosters a powerful resilience, one that can’t be developed otherwise. It’s inevitable, so it’s time we start embracing it.
Through witnessing some of the most public losses, I have been inspired to not only accept mistakes but also to welcome them. Through embracing my imperfections, I can definitely say I’m becoming stronger every day. Through repeated mistakes, I’m able to hold my head high and be confident knowing that I’m perfectly human. While it’s normal to feel disappointed after a loss, we must not let this disappointment define who we are.
Clark is one of the most influential female athletes our generation has seen. The power she has given young female athletes like myself is rooted in her ability to react gracefully. She handles loss in a way that makes her stronger. She learns from every mistake she makes, and I urge us all to do the same. Instead of letting her devastating loss in the championship game define her, she used it as fuel to cultivate her game, and she is now arguably one of the best players in the WNBA. I encourage us all to take shots in our lives, but, like Clark, we need to be okay when we miss.