The Caitlin Clark Effect has had a profound impact on women’s basketball in many ways.

The easiest aspect to prove is the massive increase in attendance, ticket prices, viewership, merchandise sales and almost every other quantifiable statistic that shows the gigantic growth that the WNBA (and the (all of women’s basketball) experienced during the 2024 season.

But an eye test at any Iowa Hawkeyes or Indiana Fever game points to a less quantifiable side effect of the Caitlin Clark effect: its impact on a younger generation of female athletes.

While it may be harder to turn into a statistic young fans’ enthusiastic calls for Clark to autograph the merchandise they hold and their tears of joy when she does so, a report from Aspen Institute National Status Report 2024 which was released Tuesday shows that Fever’s rise to superstardom appears to coincide with an increase in the number of young women playing sports.

“Overall girls’ sports participation rates have increased in recent years, during Clark’s tenure at Iowa and now in the WNBA. Although it is difficult to quantify this directly to Clark, the senior adviser to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s Tom Cove believes she plays a role and notes that “Girls’ participation also increased in the 1990s, when Mia Hamm burst onto the soccer scene,” the study writes.

“During Hamm’s explosion onto the Olympic and World Cup scene, women’s sports lacked successful professional leagues and media exposure for young girls to dream of playing too. Today, the NWSL and WNBA are receiving greater attention, and hockey, rugby, wrestling, and flag football are examples of sports that girls now play regularly.

“Can Clark’s popularity inspire growth in girls’ high school basketball participation, which has declined significantly in recent decades?” the study continued. “More girls turning to volleyball and early sports specialization are among the factors that have impacted high school basketball. Can it inspire girls to play other sports as well?”

While it may be too early in Clark’s career to gauge the true impact she had on the next generation of women’s basketball players, a decade from now we’ll likely see many sharpshooters wearing the number 22 on the ground.