Sports fandom gives Minnesota dads, daughters a chance to bond

Rory Hodges loves Taylor Swift. So much, in fact, that the 7-year-old carries a portable speaker to blast the pop star’s jams while she rides her bike around the Lake Elmo neighborhood where her family lives.

Meanwhile, her father, Andrew, is the family’s resident Chiefs fan. He grew up in Topeka, Kansas. “Being a Chiefs fan is kind of like the next thing after religion there,” he said.

But the gospel never reached his daughter, at least not until the reports started to surface that Swift was dating tight end Travis Kelce. Suddenly, instead of bolting when the Chiefs came on TV, Rory was sitting down with her dad to watch. Andrew Hodges said Rory quickly became a student of the game: asking questions, learning the rules and even trash-talking her friends’ teams, just like dad does.

“She started going to school and kids were talking about the Vikings being good,” Andrew Hodges said. He mimicked his daughter’s voice as he repeated her response: “They’re not as good as the Chiefs.”

Iowa basketball phenom Caitlin Clark’s record-setting season delivered the latest burst of excitement around women’s athletics, and it gave many sports-loving dads a new chance to connect with daughters around a shared interest. Families like the Hodges show the inspiration for that kind of bonding can just as easily come from pro football as it does from college basketball or Minnesota’s first women’s soccer team.

As Clark drove toward a series of NCAA scoring records earlier this season, local pediatric surgeon Asitha Jayawardena wrote her a letter to thank her for strengthening the bond he shares with his daughter. It inspired the Star Tribune to ask readers to share stories of father-daughter bonding over sports.

Andy Meinhardt of Bloomington responded that sports gave him a way to bond with his daughters. He runs an Amateur Athletic Union girls’ basketball club called the Minnesota Metro Stars, raising his daughters around women’s basketball. His oldest, Sophia, grew up watching University of Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers while she was a Hopkins standout.

Bueckers was Sophia’s first hero. For three years, Sophia has collected newspaper clippings featuring Bueckers, adding them to a wall in her room. Sophia’s father is also her coach. He regularly pauses the games they watch together to analyze what’s happening on screen.

Andy Meinhardt said he often sits back to think about who he would want his daughters to look up to. The lack of controversy around Bueckers makes her a prime candidate. “It’s a fun time to be a girl dad,” he said.

When the Minnesota Lynx made their first WNBA title run, Abby Kaluza and her dad would travel over an hour from the St. Cloud area to watch the team play at Target Center. She was 10 at the time and remembers how they would stop for fast food and listen to National Public Radio, which often sparked conversations about current events. “I was so young, but I would still find the discussions interesting,” Kaluza said.

The oldest of four kids, Kaluza, now 23 and living in Washington, D.C., said she sees now that following the Lynx was something special and specific she shared with her dad. She still calls him once a week to talk politics and current events.

As the Chiefs made their drive toward a Super Bowl win last season, Andrew Hodges said he found himself canceling game plans with friends in favor of watching with his daughter. He would let her stay up past her normal bedtime whenever a game went past it. He imitated his daughter’s voice again as he recalled an offhand remark she made that meant so much: “I really like watching football with you, Dad.”

Alex Karwowski is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.