Goth basketballer wears full face of makeup for games
With a full face of make-up every time she takes to the basketball court, Goth athlete Caitlin Cunningham makes no apologies for being the standout.
In fact, she relishes in the spotlight and hopes she is a role model for other aspiring athletes – or anyone too afraid to be their authentic selves.
'I've always had heavy eye shadow and a very black goth aesthetic every single game I've played in my life, that's just me, some people get it, some don't,' Cunningham told news.com.au.
'I've always just messed around with makeup. Then last season I did a bit of a crow, extended the eye lines out. I always thought it would be cool to have full clown makeup, but I guess this is the next level down. I have quietly extended it,' she said.
How does she keep her artwork intact for the full two hours of play?
'I guess I'm lucky I have never been much of a sweater,' she said.
Cunningham said being the odd one out wasn't always easy.
'I was definitely the black sheep of the sport. Basketball in Australia is very political. I was always the odd one out, misunderstood, the one the coaches didn't get.
'I wouldn't be selected, wouldn't be a favourite. It got to the point where I stopped playing WNBL for a while.'
Drafted to the Canberra Capitals at 19 after three years at the Australian Institute of Sport, Cunningham moved to Adelaide then Dandenong in Victoria, gradually became 'sick and tired' of people not believing in her.
'I thought 'f**k this' and started going out and hanging out with music friends and friends in fashion, other creative people and I just stepped away from the game, I was 25,' she said.
Once the pandemic hit, and imports couldn't enter the country, Cunningham had several coaches asking her to reconsider her retirement.
She took a contract on the Gold Coast and is now signed to Rockhampton in central Queensland.
'My style of game? I'm quite tall and skinny and these days a lot of players are heavy and strong girls,' Cunningham said.
'I'm like a little rat that runs and jumps, my game is pure athleticism.
'I don't have the physical brute but I am very tricky, agile and I can shoot.'
Cunningham has the balance just right – living in Melbourne where she is continuing her music career and is soon to release her first song, personal training clients and working with youth at the YMCA, then flies to Rockhampton for matches and training.
'I'm really lucky I am doing it all, following all my dreams,' she said.
'I want people to know they should follow their dreams, do what they love, be their authentic self,' she said.
As her online fan base increases exponentially, Cunningham takes her job as a role model extremely seriously.
'I have so many fans and people reaching out to me as a player, but also as a musician and as a person,' she said.
'I'm a queer Goth and if I had that person on the internet to look up to when I was young I would have felt so seen.
'It's empowerment, that's what life is about, having people that inspire you to be you, and live the best life you can, that's priceless.'
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