Asitha Jayawardena just wanted to write a thank-you note.
The pediatric surgeon didn’t expect that a simple gesture of gratitude addressed to Iowa Hawkeyes basketball standout Caitlin Clark would capture so much attention, though. Jayawardena isn’t a writer by trade. He only meant to tell Clark that watching her on the court felt like unlocking a cheat code in the video game of parenting.
“This is kind of out of my realm,” Jayawardena said in an interview.
His Star Tribune opinion piece, titled “Dear Caitlin Clark,” quickly went viral. Jayawardena, who works for Children’s Minnesota hospital, wrote the note thinking it would be something he could clip out of the newspaper and hold it as a keepsake. Instead, he’s been inundated with requests for interviews — he has about a half-dozen teed up over the next week with various local and national outlets.
Jayawardena has also had other fathers approach him to share their struggles in finding inroads with their daughters.
And it’s all because of a 723-word letter he wrote to one of the most influential figures in modern sports, thanking her for helping Jayawardena connect with his 5-year-old.
His daughter’s infatuation with the record-breaking player began last year when the Jayawardena clan — Mom, Dad and two daughters — attended a Big Ten conference tournament game in Minneapolis. He long ago discovered that the road to his 3-year-old’s heart is paved with cinnamon rolls and icing. Their daddy-daughter dates consist of finding the sweetest confections in the metro.
Jayawardena’s older daughter was a tougher nut to crack. And he wasn’t necessarily expecting either girl to sit still during their visit to Williams Arena. He said it felt like a gamble taking his daughters, then 4 and 2. But Clark’s court performance transfixed the 4-year-old. She cheered along with her father whenever the Hawkeyes made an impressive play.
