Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel
Appearances
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
getting cut, it not only knocked down my confidence, but it knocked down how I thought of myself as a person, like as a human being in society and everything, because, you know, having one arm, I've always wanted to find like my group, my community, my people who I can relate to. And I never could relate to anybody growing up because, you know, I was in a predominantly white area.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
So, you know, being a black girl was a standout on its own. And then on top of that, I also have one arm, so nobody is really going to relate to me. You know, so then when I started playing basketball, I have now gotten the chance to have my group of people. So when he cut me in the moment, I thought, man, like I'm so out of place right now.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
A lot of my time was taken up with basketball and I made most of my friends do basketball. And I felt safe when playing basketball because I never felt different because nobody ever treated me differently. I will say that it definitely did make me very upset, but I think I was more angry. So then that anger kind of built to, oh, like I have to prove this man wrong.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
In the game, I didn't realize how big of a deal the shot actually was. Because in my eyes, I just saw it as me shooting a basketball. I didn't see it as, you know, a one-armed basketball player shooting a basketball. So, when the shot went in, my first thought was, okay, I just have to get back on defense now. Like, I thought the game was still going to go on.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
And then that's when our coach called a timeout. And everybody was super happy. Everybody was thrilled. I was personally very happy as well. So, yeah. I came back to my room and I got a text from my coach and he told me, like, you know, I'm so proud of you. You've overcame so much this season. And, you know, I'm happy that I got to win this history tonight.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
And I looked at the text and I thought to myself, like, history, like, what are you talking about? And then that's when it clicked in my head for a second. I was like, OK, maybe this is kind of a big deal. I don't look at it in a sense of, oh, I'm going to be the first person to do this. I'm going to be the first.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
I was just doing it because that's something that I've loved and that's something that I've always loved to do. And I love playing basketball. But it was, I guess, uncommon in the grand scheme of things to NCAA to, you know, have somebody with one arm be able to not only play, but to also be able to make a basket in a game and do it twice.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
It's hard for me to still wrap my head around the whole concept of me being a role model. I am super happy that I am able to contribute to, you know, not normalizing a concept that you have to look apart to play a sport. I think anybody who puts their mind to anything can really accomplish not just sports, but anything they really do put their mind to. And I just hope that, you know, somebody...
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
who's going through somewhat of the same either like mindset or physical disadvantages I'm going through right now sees you know me playing basketball I hope that they take you know the time to look at it and tell themselves you know if she's doing it then maybe I can do it too and it doesn't even have to be you know sports whatever you want to do I say do it because there were so many people who sat there and told me that I would not be able to make it as far as I have now
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
And if it wasn't for me betting on myself and betting on my future and what I wanted it to become, I think also the switching my anger to now having that anger displaced into something that was actually workable to get to and that I actually was able to accomplish.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
So I'm happy that my story is out there and I'm happy if anybody who looks like me even watches me for a second even and tells himself, you know what, if she's doing it, then I can too.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Saving Thailand's street dogs
I looked at the text and I thought to myself, like, history? Like, what are you talking about? And then that's when it clicked in my head for a second. I was like, OK, maybe this is kind of a big deal.