We want to change the women’s game.
OvertimeWBB is connecting a new generation of fans with the next generation of stars.
I still remember the first WNBA game I ever went to. My teammates and I stopped Alana Beard in her convertible, and she signed every single one of our t-shirts. Being close to the best in the game meant *everything* to me as a young basketball player.
The players I watched growing up gave me something to dream about and work towards. I wanted to dunk like Candace; I wanted a fadeaway like KT; I wanted to win the Ship like Maya; I wanted to lead my team to an upset like Sydney; and I wanted to be bold like Skylar.
I’d actually heard about some of these players when they were still in high school and already beginning to stand out. It would have been so awesome for me to actually see someone like Candace or Skylar play in the earliest stages of their careers. But until they were in college, and their games were on television, there wasn’t a way to make that happen.
There have always been elite-level high school girls players, but even today, videos and coverage about them can be hard to find. That means aspiring athletes are missing out on chances to be inspired, to pick up a ball and hit the court knowing their favorite player is somewhere out there, doing the same thing — and killing it.
That’s something I want to help change with OvertimeWBB, a new platform covering women’s basketball at every level of the game.
OvertimeWBB offers storytelling that goes beyond just the highlights. We want to introduce fans to the game’s emerging stars, especially the ones you won’t see on TV — talented high school players like Fran Belibi, Zia Cooke, Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Shy Day-Wilson. We want to make it easy for fans to discover their next favorite player and follow them from high school all the way to the league. And we hope that hearing these players’ stories, and watching their games develop, inspires girls
to set their own dreams and goals.
OvertimeWBB builds on my work with She Hoops, a women’s basketball platform where people can find videos of the most exciting players and moments in women’s hoops. Over the past three years, Marcus Crenshaw built She Hoops into the largest video platform for up-and-coming women’s basketball players. Last fall, Overtime acquired She Hoops, and once I took over the account, we began planning something even bigger.
Originally, I was nervous about She Hoops becoming part of a larger platform. But having worked with the company for a few months, I know Overtime really wants to help grow the game. Now, we’ll have a lot more resources — which means we can cover more games, and go further in-depth with players on- and off the court (like we did recently with Jamad Finn).
I’ve had WNBA players say to me, “I wish we had She Hoops when I was growing up.” To be honest… I wish I had it too. With OvertimeWBB, our hope is to give everyone a chance to see and appreciate what this next generation of female ballers can do. And we want to help a new generation of young fans dream that maybe one day, they can play like that, too.
