If you’ve been following NCAA women’s basketball this season, you’ve probably heard of Caitlin Clark.

If you look up the Iowa Hawkeyes Women’s Basketball team, the 6-foot point guard dominates the “Images” tab on Google. Her popularity is not unfounded – the Iowa native has consistently been at the top of the field, winning awards such as “Women’s College Player of the Year” and “Best Female College Athlete.” Clark is considered one of the greatest women’s basketball players ever, but many of her fellow teammates aren’t as well recognized. 

Like most teams, the NUHS girls basketball team has stars. However, it also has players that aren’t as well known. Senior Abby Rathmann has been playing basketball for over a decade and has been part of the NUHS team for five years. She is a self-proclaimed “benchwarmer,” as she doesn’t get put into games as often as other players.

“If I do, it’s when we’re winning by a lot or losing by a lot,” Rathmann said. 

She says it can sometimes be frustrating to watch her teammates on the court and wishing she could contribute more, but she always makes sure she’s encouraging them from the bench by cheering them on.

“If you have a negative attitude, other people will see your negative attitude and drag each other down, or it will drag them down,” she said.

Head coach Mrs. Rogers agrees that benchwarmers can be huge motivators for the players on the court.

“I can’t say enough how helpful it is to hear that sound behind you and know that you’re not alone on the court,” she said. And even if you make a mistake and you hear somebody say, ‘Hey, get the next one, it’s no big deal,’ it’s very uplifting to your spirit and to your psyche. So I don’t think our bench can be too loud.”

Rogers, who also teaches high school math, has been a coach for over 30 years. This is her third year coaching girls basketball at NUHS. She’s grateful to have formed closer relationships with her players rather than simply being their teacher. She recognizes all of her players’ contributions, even if they are mainly from the bench. There have been several players that have been out of commission due to injury or sickness, so the benchwarmers need to be ready to fill those roles.

“There are some people that are on the bench that they know that they’re coming in,” Rogers said. “Their role is to pay attention and watch and see if they can figure out tendencies of the girl that they’re going to guard going in or see what might be open on offense. So they’re really in a student cognitive role . . . trying to anticipate what they’re going to be able to do once they get in a game.”

Rathmann also does her best to contribute to the team off the court. During practice, she pushes both herself and her teammates to become better by challenging them during practice. According to Rogers, the usual benchwarmers are essential to helping the team improve.

“They are vital to our success because every single practice, our goal is to get better. And the only way we can get better is if we challenge each other to get better,” she said. “If I only had, you know, seven girls in a practice and they didn’t have anybody against and they were just . . . running through their routine, they wouldn’t know at what speed to run their cuts or how long they have to get a shot off or how to read a defense as to where an advantage might be obtained. And so those kids that come to practice every single day and challenge that starting five or that top seven, they’re the ones making those kids better.”

Rathmann has worked hard at practice for years and also mentors younger players on the team. Additionally, she helps coach NUBBA practices for elementary schoolers, encouraging them and teaching them about the game. Even though she doesn’t play as much as she’d like to, she has still gained valuable experiences from her time on the team.

“I’ve been able to speak up more about things and contribute more to the team,” she said. “I’ve also been able to coach the younger players with helping them to either post or rebound, or learning the plays, because I know that they can be very difficult, especially because we are learning three to four a day.”

Rogers recognizes how some players are sometimes less appreciated than others. She believes that it’s much easier to recognize the star players of the team because they are the ones more often on the court and in the news, and this gives them more recognition with fans.

“It really takes a whole team effort to make sure that we understand that we are only successful if we are successful all together,” she said. “We kind of have to fight society or norms that we see around, because, you know, you open up the newspaper or turn on ESPN, and they’re not acknowledging the athletes that helped Caitlin Clark make a winning shot, they’re acknowledging Caitlin Clark.”

She likens the team to a restaurant staff in the aspect that everyone needs to work together.

“Let’s say you go to a restaurant and the waiter delivers the food and you tip the waiter because they did such a great job. But really, all they did was relay the information and carry the product to you. All the good work is happening back in the kitchen, and there’s somebody that’s washing the dishes that you ate off of, and there’s somebody that’s made up the menu, and there’s somebody that’s actually cooking the food. So all the real, valuable work is back in the kitchen,” Rogers said. “But as a society and as sports teams, we really acknowledge the waiter. And so that’s what kind of continues to happen.”

She believes that one of the keys to recognizing some of these underrepresented players is the language that people use.

“It’s perfectly okay for [family members or friends] to come down and say, ‘Hey, good job, your team played well,’ always acknowledging that it’s a team effort, not necessarily like, ‘Good job, you played well,’ like, we function as a team. So, make sure your language is always about a holistic approach. That even if your child or your friend . . . didn’t get into the game to say, ‘Your team played really well tonight,’ I think is acknowledging that they had a contribution that they made,” she said.

As the team continues their season, they face several challenges. They are going against many tough teams, but Rogers is confident that they will improve, even if they don’t win every game.

“Our team goals are always at the top of the list. Individual goals have taken second, third, fourth place,” she said. “We’re just gonna come out and give it everything we got and hopefully be successful.”