Matthew Creith
“What am I if I’m not a basketball player?” There are numerous methods to explain basketball phenom Suzanne Brigit Bird. She’s a Long Island native, uniquely pleasant, a humble activist, an out and proud fiancé, mentor, and total inspiration. To those that know her greatest, she is solely Sue. However, for many people within the know, Sue Bird is a titan in her chosen sport and a participant many ladies and women proceed to look as much as after retiring from basketball in 2022.
Such is the story of legendary WNBA guard Sue Bird, the topic of a brand new documentary that premiered on the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. Directed by Sarah Dowland (“The Innocence Files”), “Sue Bird: In the Clutch” explores Sue’s rise in skilled basketball from her highschool days in New York, to her iconic run on the National Championships enjoying for the University of Connecticut, to her time enjoying in 5 separate Olympics. But, like all good sports activities documentary, the movie is barely pretty much as good as its topic and the hurdles they’ve needed to overcome.
“Sue Bird: In the Clutch” is aptly named as a result of Sue’s constant fame as one of the vital in-demand skilled ladies’s basketball gamers. The first frames of the movie present Sue wrestling with the thought of retiring, set to a heart-pounding rating from composer Kotomi (“Love, Victor”). The documentary is a testomony to a 21-year profession enjoying a sport that has redefined how ladies and athleticism can, in reality, combine, regardless of apprehension from many who used to view the WNBA as a mere fad. Sue joined the league within the WNBA’s infancy, however grew to become one of the vital recognizable names in sports activities. Period.
Yet the movie doesn’t simply spotlight Sue’s spectacular expertise on the court docket and her willpower to hone mentioned expertise to perfection. It is a response to a rising pattern of speaking heads who’ve made it their mission to underplay skilled ladies athletes and the contributions they’ve made. Interviews with former teammates, coaches and contemporaries like Stephen Curry, Diana Taurasi, Jordin Canada, and Lauren Jackson assist to inform Sue’s story and the impression she’s had on ladies’s sports activities. Further interviews with Sue’s childhood associates, household and fiancé Megan Rapinoe help in sculpting the kind of person Sue is off the court docket.
Who Sue is issues, not solely as a result of she’s a fascinating athlete to give attention to, however as a result of her story is in contrast to that of many sports activities documentaries. Sue isn’t essentially an underdog, a theme that has outlined most motion pictures concentrating on sports activities figures. She’s typically been nice at what she does. She’s had success for many of her life regardless of her dad and mom’ divorce and accidents that sidelined her school profession for a short while. However, Sue has at all times picked herself up, dusted off unfavorable press, and continued to give attention to the duty at hand: Win. She discovered supportive influences that guided her to turn into a improbable participant, mentor to younger teammates, and advocate for pay fairness for ladies.
“Sue Bird: In the Clutch” doesn’t break new floor for sports activities documentaries, however its major give attention to ladies in sports activities helps to create an area the place the movie stands by itself two ft. An exploration into Sue and her teammates’ choice to play in Russia to complement their earnings in the course of the WNBA offseason within the mid-2000s introduces audiences to the inequality feminine athletes face within the United States. These occurred to be a number of the most gifted gamers in sports activities but have been paid $40,000 a season and compelled to market themselves as engaging objects of males’s affection who should exhibit a glamorous way of life always.
Cut to the current day and Sue Bird is out of the closet, upfront about her relationship with outspoken soccer participant Megan Rapinoe, and a real champion for what she believes to be proper. Sue Bird modified all of this by means of her activism in serving to to barter collective bargaining agreements with the WNBA and easily being able to be assured sufficient to be herself always. She didn’t develop up idolizing ladies as a result of solely males performed sports activities on her tv display. Sue needed to make room for herself and never be deterred from having an opinion which may problem the established order. In doing this, Sue achieved her predominant objective of becoming a member of the U.S. Olympic workforce. She received gold on the Olympics a file 5 occasions.
Sue Bird’s inspiring basketball profession and legendary tell-it-like-it-is method have been well-documented as one of the vital profitable sports activities heroes of the previous 25 years. “Sue Bird: In the Clutch” expands on the icon’s straight shooter mentality, peels again the layers of her identification as a girl and influential homosexual sports activities determine, and takes viewers by means of Number 10’s experiences in her private {and professional} journey. It’s a testomony to director Sarah Dowland’s energetic strategies that exponentially heighten Sue Bird’s historic run in basketball, assuaging any doubt that Sue’s story lives on- even in retirement.
“Sue Bird: In the Clutch” is a gross sales title at Sundance.
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