Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark revealed on the “New Heights” podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce that she began receiving college recruitment letters when she was, basically, a kid.
As in, the seventh grade!
Clark expressed her feelings about the intensity of modern college recruitment, describing it as “sad” and “insane.”
“It’s honestly sad, like where college recruitment has kind of gone, it’s just insane. I feel very fortunate. My parents were just like, they told my older brother, ‘Go get the mail, like we don’t want your sister to see that,’” she explained.
“They wanted me to be in seventh grade and enjoy middle school and like hang out with your friends, like you shouldn’t be worrying about where you’re going to college.”
Lucky girl. I know plenty of people whose parents wouldn’t shut up about where they were going to eventually attend college.
Caitlin Clark Credits Her Parents For Keeping Her Humble During The Recruitment Process
Caitlin Clark revealed her parents played a significant role in managing these early pressures, ensuring she could enjoy her childhood.
They aimed to keep her focus on middle school and friendships rather than future college decisions.
“I played AAU, and then I played for my high school team, but my mom would be like, ‘She is not playing more than like three games or two games in one day, like that’s crazy,’ because sometimes they would want me to play for the seventh-grade team and the eighth-grade team,” Clark said.
“So, my parents were really good about that, like they didn’t want me to lose the love of it, like you don’t want to get burned out, you still want to be having fun when you’re doing it as a pro if you’re lucky enough.”
Advanced Even At A Young Age
Another fun part of her appearance on “New Heights” was Caitlin Clark’s revelation that she was playing two levels up from where she was supposed to be.
“Seventh grade was wild, and I was playing up two years, so I was playing with high schoolers, but yeah, I didn’t really like think anything of it. I was just going out there and hooping and having fun,” Clark said. “It’s kind of just what came with it.”
Which is funny, because she was playing up two levels in the sport of softball as well.
A report from Hawk Central shows that Clark grew frustrated with softball. Apparently, even though she was already playing two age groups ahead, her throws were so fast from shortstop that the kids playing first couldn’t catch them.
Opposing parents from their sons basketball teams even complained about Clark.
“Caitlin was such a game-changer that a losing opponent’s parent complained that girls shouldn’t be allowed to play on the boys teams,” the report reads.
Clark noted that she didn’t take any visits until after freshman year of high school and “didn’t decide until my senior year.”
She made a pretty good decision by going to Iowa, where she became the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader and was named AP Player of the Year twice.
Now she’s WNBA Rookie of the Year. What’s next for this superstar?
More about:College Basketball News
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