Welcome to the Evolving Folks Project’s Evolved Woman of the Week profile. Each week, we will highlight an individual who embodies what it means to be an evolved person, famous and non-famous alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to the basketball player Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel.
Her high school coach cutting Sinaman-Daniel from the team her senior year or her being born with one arm didn’t crush Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel’s dream of playing basketball—a dream LeBron James inspired in her fifteen years prior.
Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel, born without a fully functional right arm, made a three-point shot with her left hand. Her high school team previously cut the Lesley University junior guard because she was at an obvious disadvantage to her opponents.
Despite this, she was guarding the net for the Cambridge, Massachusetts, college team against Fitchburg State this season when she achieved something historic. She made a shot that went straight through the net, making her the first one-armed female player to score in a Division III game.
Sinaman-Daniel’s persistence, after two years at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, caught Rather’s attention upon entering the transfer portal and they recruited the five foot seven-inch guard. Coach Martin Rather reports that the 22-year-old Lesley University guard’s determination made her the first one-armed NCAA Division III women’s basketball player to score in a college game.
“When the shot went in I thought, ‘Hey, we have to preserve this moment for as long as we possibly can,’” said coach Martin Rather in a recent CNN article. “That also allows the team to come out and embrace her, which they did, on the court, and gives us a second to reflect on the tremendous hard work and dedication it takes to get to that point.”
Here is Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel in her own words about making her shot and hard work it took to achieve this goal:
“The entire team was filled with joy,”… “Mainly just because they have seen me overcome so many things throughout this season, and for it to finally pay off in that moment, in that game, it was a very big deal for everybody across the board. They were all screaming. Everybody came to hug me.”
She felt joy at once, and her inspiring tale will continue to be shared across many news outlets for months. Seven weeks later, she added another chapter when she scored again in a game on her birthday.
Baileigh drew inspiration from a men’s basketball player who’d faced and conquered a similar difficulty. A childhood accident in the Dominican Republic cost Hansel Emmanuel an arm, yet he defied expectations to earn a basketball scholarship to Austin Peay. As a junior for the Governors, he averages over two points and two rebounds per game while playing over 340 minutes this season.
“If it was not for him, I probably would have thought this was nearly impossible to accomplish,” Baileigh told CNN.
Now, college basketball showcases inspiring athletes in men’s and women’s divisions who transcend their physical limitations. Every play and shot brings more inspiration and lessons for rising youth. Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel shows that play has no limits with hard work, persistence, and dedication. Today, we honor Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel as our Evolved Woman of the Week.
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