Who’s Kaila Charles? Well, her August 24th performance against the Dallas Wings is enough to explain her dominance in the W. Two Practices, and she was ready to lock down an unstoppable scoring phenom, Paige Bueckers, who had just dropped a 44-point game. That’s the kind of impact Charles brings to W. And while it’s never easy to have that kind of presence, Charles? She’s got it in her genes!

Who are Kaila Charles’ parents?

Just fourteen years before Kaila Charles was born to Walter and Ruperta Charles in 1998, a sportswoman was already writing her own legacy. A Howard graduate once competed in the 100-meter dash at the 1984 Summer Olympics on behalf of Antigua and Barbuda. But… she never took home a medal.

However, the seed had already been planted, and it blossomed in her four children, each of whom found their own unique path in sports with a shared desire to succeed. Yes, that woman was Ruperta — Kaila’s mother — a former Olympian who passed on her traits to all four of her children, she’s had with Walter, who also attended Howard University before the couple settled in the U.S.

Who are Kaila Charles’ siblings?

Those four children were Kaila, Darron, Afia, and Akil, and, surprisingly, all four of them inherited their mother’s athletic gifts but expressed them in different ways. Her older sister, Afia Charles, followed most closely in Ruperta’s footsteps, becoming a track athlete at the University of Central Florida and representing Antigua and Barbuda at the 2012 London Olympic Games. But it was her older brother, Akil Charles, who turned to basketball and played at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia from 2015 to 2017.

And that’s exactly where Kaila’s basketball dream began. She was in fifth grade, just 11 years old, when she decided to follow Akil’s footsteps and pursue the game. “I was not that good when I first started,” Kaila admitted, according to Beautiful Ballers. “I went all year not scoring a shot until the last game of the season; specifically at the last minute in the last quarter of the game where I hit my first shot of the year.” That moment? It was everything. Excitement. Adrenaline. The rush of seeing the ball finally go through the net was just enough to spark her passion for basketball. But was just knowing which passion to follow enough? No!

Kaila Charles’ sporting family background

For Kaila, the real fuel to keep going was her family’s deeply athletic roots, a mother competing in the 1984 Olympics, a sister competing in London 2012, and a brother excelling in collegiate basketball. And just like that, she was able to choose basketball the moment that first shot fell through the net.

As she put it: “From that moment on, I wanted to be the best player I can be and play at the highest level possible.” But loving a sport wasn’t enough as the former Connecticut Sun standout needed a platform to build her legacy, and she found it at Eleanor Roosevelt High School and Riverdale Baptist, where her high school career truly began.

Over three years at Eleanor Roosevelt, she led the school to a 72–5 record, winning two state championships in 2014 and 2015. And then? First-Team All-Met by The Washington Post. MVP all three years. Next Sports Phenom Player of the Year. The Gazette Player of the Year. USA Today All-America Second Team and the selection to the Jordan Brand Classic.  All these accolades were enough to get her headed to Maryland before being drafted 23rd overall by the Connecticut Sun. And throughout it all, one thing never changed, and that’s her family’s influence.

Kaila Charles’ relationship with her family

Family support is something every athlete needs, and for Kaila, it was always there. She often credits her toughness to playing against her brother Akil, who’s four years older. “He (Akil) would take me to go play pickup with his friends. They would not want to pick me because they were like, ‘she’s a girl, I don’t think she is good,’ and my brother would say, ‘well I am not playing if you don’t pick my sister.’ … When I started to score and get a bucket they would get angry and get more aggressive, so that helped me build my strength and my confidence because I was able to score and play against these guys who were older than me,” she shared in April 2020 during an interview with Newsday.

So yes, that was how her brother supported her as she learned. But while those early experiences fueled her competitiveness, she never forgot her roots, as back in 2018, she went on a trip to Trinidad and Tobago, where she enjoyed local and Caribbean foods like bake and shark, curry chicken, pelau, and oxtail.

Well, it was her way of honoring her heritage, something her father, Walter, always emphasized. “It has always been my goal to make sure that all the kids, whatever they get involved in, achieve the highest level… I just watched her train over the years. (She was a) very obedient child, did excellent in school too (by) graduating with honors. She is just very disciplined and I feel really proud of what she has accomplished and I am excited that I was a part of it all in terms of helping her,” he said.

Her mother means just as much. Back in 2022, she returned to Antigua, her “second home”, to celebrate her mom’s 60th birthday. “So blessed to have such a huge and lit family like mine! This trip was UNFORGETTABLE, I love my family!” she captioned an Instagram post. So, yeah, it’s not just her mom, dad, or siblings; it’s the entire Charles family’s support system that has fueled Kaila every step of the way.