This ‘Squirrel’ finds her calling
Eaton has made herself so at home on the court that she has become a Team USA fixture
When Kaitlyn Eaton missed the cut for Team USA two years ago, she was ready to give up on her Paralympic dreams.
Her heart broke as her name wasn’t called. The roster for 2017 U.S. Women’s wheelchair basketball team was being finalized and she wasn’t on the list.
“In the moment, I was done. I didn’t want to come back,” Eaton said. “I was done with basketball.”
Having been cut from the team for three years in a row, Eaton knew she deserved to be on that roster. And with so many emotions running through her mind, she used that to fuel her motivation.
“I’ve had this goal since I was 16 years old,” Eaton said. “I can’t just give up on it. I know I deserve to be there.”
She has made the roster each year since.
Now, the only thing sitting between Eaton and her Paralympic dreams is the 2019 Parapan American Games.
This year’s games, which will be held next week in Lima, Peru, will serve as a qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
A banner in her future
When she’s in Houston, Eaton spends her time in a gym at the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, making sure she’s getting in her 500 shots for the day.
If you’re lucky, you might see her practicing her James Harden like bounce passes; it’s something she has been picking up on because she has a hard time passing over the taller players.
She works her way around the half-court gym from the baseline to the right of the net, to the one on the left, taking about 35 top 50 shots at each corner: right baseline, right elbow, free-throw line, left elbow, left baseline.
While around to the free throw line, she points out a banner of two-time Paralympian Mary Allison Milford that hangs on a wall to the right of her, “I’m trying to get myself on there.”
Milford is pictured on the banner at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, where she and the U.S. women’s wheelchair basketball team claimed gold.
Soon, the center will be honoring Eaton with a banner of her own.
“Our sport, at least initially, started off as a bunch of males,” said Eaton, who was born with sacral agenesis, which affects the development of the spine. “Any girl that goes in there is going to see, you know, not only me, but Mary Allison who did some great things in her career as well. And they’re going to realize that they can do this, too.”
Eaton’s career has taken her to many places across the globe. She started off playing ball with a local Houston team, worked her way to the University of Illinois and now to the U.S. national team.
Along the way, she picked up friends, mentors and an interesting nickname.
To her family, she’s Kaitlyn. But to everyone else, she’s Squirrel. It’s not the most popular nickname with her family, but it’s all she has heard since her freshman year of college.
When Eaton saw how friendly the squirrels were on Illinois’ campus, she made it her mission to pet one. She told everyone; teammates, coaches, friends. It wasn’t until someone compared her ponytail to a squirrel’s tail that the nickname took action.
And when men’s coach Mike Frogley, known for his nick-namegiving skills, caught wind of “Squirrel” it was basically set in stone. His nicknames usually stick, and although he didn’t come up with this one, it’s stuck.
“It fits her perfectly,” said Paralympian Stephanie Wheeler, who coached Eaton for four years at Illinois. “I’m not sure I’ve called her Kaitlyn in seven years.”
Nickname fits her game
For Eaton’s mom, Jill, the nickname has taken some adjusting, especially when she’s watching games, but it’s slowly growing on her.
“In Illinois, she’s Squirrel, on the USA team, she’s Squirrel,” Jill said. “It’s really funny when I’m in that environment and I hear someone yell ‘Squirrel!’ I have to remember that (nickname).”
Wheeler described Eaton’s nickname as “the perfect storm of everything coming together.” Not only is her ponytail similar to a squirrel’s tail, but as a freshman, she said Eaton would maneuver around the court like a squirrel, darting in different directions.
“She was quick and she was fast and she was all over the court,” Wheeler said. “But it was like she really had no purpose to where she was going.”
With time, Eaton grew out of her squirrel-like court action and became a leader for the Illini, which is why Wheeler decided to bring her on as an assistant coach for the Illinois women’s wheelchair basketball team.
“When she came as a freshman, and she’ll tell you this, she had a lot of growing up to do as far as being a leader on the court and being a consistent leader,” Wheeler said. “She’s grown in pretty much every way you can grow as a student-athlete while she was here with us.”
At one point, she was on the verge of quitting. Now, she’s representing her country at the highest level. Eaton’s road to 2020 hasn’t been a smooth one, but she’s not letting anything hold her back.
“Every year, I had to re-evaluate, ‘Is this what I want?’ ” Eaton said. “And like, end of the day, every single time that answer was, ‘Yes, this is what I want.’
“The goal is obviously going to Tokyo. Very excited to be going to Peru, but this is just one more step closer to the end goal.”