LOOKING FOR CYCLING'S CAITLIN CLARK

WOMEN'S PRO CYCLING MUST FOSTER A COMMUNITY THAT WILL FEEL INVESTED IN THE SPORT FOR YEARS TO COME.

IT WAS 1996, AND THE MOVIE SPACE JAM, starring Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny and Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, had just been released. But more important to me, it featured the female counterpart to Bugs, Lola Bunny, a talented and skilled basketball player in the Tune Squad. As a 9-year-old sitting on the bleachers at my brothers' basketball practices, I wondered: Why couldn't I be on the court too? After begging my mom, my sister and I joined the league as the only girls on the newly formed co-ed team.

With my long hair tied up with a colorful floral scrunchie and my bangs puffed up (a mix of styling and a result of Puerto Rican humidity), I hit the court in a lime green team T-shirt, volleyball shorts, and whatever sneakers I had at the time. That first weekday evening game, I remember feeling a little lost after the referee blew the whistle and squeaking rubber echoed off the polished concrete. But within seconds, I was running up and down the court. Every time the ball was passed to me, I had to remind myself to dribble as the coaches and parents shouted a chorus of instructions from the sidelines.

After receiving one pass, I heard someone shout, "Shoot!" So, from the five o'clock position in the arch, I stretched my gangly frame just like I'd seen players do on TV and went for it... Believe it or not, I scored.

I didn't score again the rest of the game, and I didn't stick with basketball, either.

Dad thought it wasn't "feminine" enoughthough today, my now-enlightened father would cringe at that notion.

A year after my brief stint with basketball, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was born following the rise and popularity of NCAA women's basketball.