Unless you’ve been living Patrick-style, as in ‘under a rock’, for the past decade, you’ve certainly heard about Steph and Klay, the Splash Brothers. But odds are, you haven’t heard about their metaphorical parents, or grandparents rather. Meet: The Splash Sisters.
Playing in a Southern California basketball league for players aged 55 or older, the San Diego Splash stand out like a sore thumb because they have one special criteria that all of their team members have to meet: You have to be 80 years old to become part of the crew. Other than that, the motto is fairly straight forward: If you can stand up and move your legs, you’re welcome.
The entire league, including the Splash, all came about after a chance meeting in 1992 at the California Senior Olympics. These ladies have been balling since before Steph and Klay even made it to high school.
“In the past, the competitive spirit was not encouraged, it was like, you were supposed to be ladylike and you don’t play, but these women defied that, otherwise they wouldn’t be here,” Kirsten Cummings, a long-time member of the team explains. Now, however, the ladies from the San Diego Splash are out to prove a different point.
“One of the things that’s important to know is that, from my experience, the competitive spirit never really dies,” Cummings continues. And so the Splash take the field and compete in a sport that many of them were not permitted to play in their youth.
So right now, with the senior games both locally and nationally, we’re giving the women an opportunity to be competitive at their sport and allow that part of them to come out in time. That’s why this is so important.
Kirsten Cummings
While the senior hoopers are still competing to win – and more crucially enjoy playing together – their main focal point is to spread a simple message to fellow female players of all ages: “[Today, girls] are learning the skills that we never learned. They grow up learning to play basketball. And you should see those girls play. That’s my heart, and telling young women, ‘it’s OK to play.’”
