Sophie Cunningham: “I found my superpower when I stopped trying to be like everyone else”

Sophie Cunningham didn’t always feel comfortable with what is now part of her identity. The Indiana Fever player recalled that during her childhood she was taller and more strongly built than many girls her age and that she even was teased for being bigger than some boys .

She shared it during her appearance on Sons & Daughters, the podcast hosted by Shannon Spake . Cunningham explained that she grew up surrounded by tall, athletic women: her mother is 1.78 meters tall, her aunt is 1.91, and her grandmother is also 1.78. She and her sister Lindsey even wished they would reach 1.83 meters.

'From mockery to "superpower"'

Cunningham herself recalled how she experienced that difference when she was a child. Her family managed to turn what was then a cause for jokes into one of her greatest strengths.

“They made fun of me for being bigger, for being taller than the boys, for looking different from the other girls and for not being small, for having a more athletic build”, she explained.

But at home she received a very different message. Her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother did not want her to try to hide what made her different. On the contrary, they kept telling her that one day that difference would be precisely one of her greatest advantages.

“That is going to be your greatest superpower someday. Pull your shoulders back”, Cunningham recalled about one of the pieces of advice she received from her family.

Over the years, that difference ended up becoming a tool. Cunningham played several sports during her childhood and adolescence, including basketball, volleyball, track and field, and American football. In college, she especially stood out in basketball and ended up becoming one of the great players of Rock Bridge High School before arriving at the University of Missouri.

“I found my superpower when I stopped trying to be like everyone else”

The idea resurfaced when Cunningham spoke about her college years. The player explained that for a long time she had tried to fit in, until she understood that her greatest advantage lay precisely in stopping.

“I think I really found my superpower when I stopped trying to be like everyone else. I simply was myself”, she said as she recalled her decision to play at Missouri.

There she ended up becoming the all-time leading scorer in the Tigers women's program, with 2,187 points, before making the jump to the WNBA .

His intention, she explained, was always to combine that strength with her feminine side. “Yes, I’m tall and maybe I’m not small, but I’m still strong. I want to wear heels. I want to be feminine. I want to be a badass on the court”, she said.

A lesson that stayed with her all the way to the WNBA

What once made her feel different during her childhood ended up becoming part of the player she is today.

Cunningham has built much of her public persona around self-confidence and not worrying too much about what others think , something that also appears as one of the main themes of her conversation with Shannon Spake.

The height, physique, and personality that were once the subject of jokes ended up becoming part of her strengths . Her family had warned her when she was still a child: one day, the very thing that made her different could become her greatest advantage.