The word “Phenom” is an interesting one in the English language. According to the dictionary it means “a person with extraordinary talent or ability.” To be sure, we have millions of people in our country who are worthy of this label, if I may use that term.

One of these is a young lady who hails from the great state of Iowa by the name of Caitlin Clark. This is about the hottest name going these days in the sport of women’s college basketball. For starters, on March 3, 2024, she broke Pistol Pete Maravich’s scoring record of 3,667 points, a record that had stood for more than 50 years. However, she took 130 games to accomplish this feat, which is fantastic, but there must be an asterisk beside her record. Pistol Pete Maravich played for his father Press Maravich at LSU, when he only had three years to set his record. Here is an amazing statistic, Pistol Pete did this in three seasons, and 83 games, for an average of 44.2 points per game. Tragically Pete Maravich died at age 40 from an undetected heart defect. 

Now, let me pause here and say that I realize that not all my readers are into sports, and I truly respect that. However, the reason I decided to write this column is because Caitlin Clark has a very important quality that will help any of us have greater success and satisfaction in our lives. Before I get to that, however, let me go back and give you a little background on this “Phenom” as she now has millions of fans across the world, and I am in that number.

Caitlin went to a Catholic High School in Des Moines, Iowa, and went on to play for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes. Her team was good, very good, and they would play in the past two NCAA National Women’s Championship games, the 2023 game against the LSU Tigers and the 2024 game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Sadly, from Caitlin’s perspective, and countless others, they did not win either game. 

It saddens me a little that we did not get to see Caitlin play much on TV here in Arkansas because our team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, are in the Southeastern Conference and Iowa is in the Big Ten. Our local TV stations did not cover them much at all, which makes sense, as they are selling advertising.

Now, back to my earlier comment about Caitlin Clark having a very important quality that will help any of us have greater success and satisfaction in our lives. As I watched Caitlin play in a few television games, I was amazed that she had the ability to score 40 points. On one occasion she scored 60 points, and still made every other player on the team better than they were. 

Many times when she would get a rebound on the opponents end of the court and they would head back to their own goal, Caitlin would hit a streaking teammate in full stride just in time to hit a layup for two points. On other occasions Caitlin would have the ball in the paint and a bounce pass would be made to a teammate for a much easier and better shot. This is how you win games. It’s called teamwork and, my friend, this is something we can all do in a multitude of ways, regardless of whether we like sports or not. Give this some thought. You will be amazed at what you come up with. You have my word of encouragement.

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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states. For a personalized copy of “Your Future Begins Today” send $20, which includes postage and handling, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)