Caitlin Clark spent the last two years of her college career under the media microscope. Many believe that the reason why she lost the NCAA final was because of the added pressure she was living under for the past year. Only an athlete of her stature can imagine what that can do to a person’s mindset. During a recent interview with Holly Rowe of ESPN, Clark unveiled how she managed to get past the mental hurdles and thanked the people who made it all possible.
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After the Iowa Hawkeyes lost the NCAA final, Rachel Nichols was one of the first people to comment on the unnoticed reason behind the loss. She said, “She would have to be superhuman for all four quarters and mentally, that is just an incredible weight to carry.”
When asked about how she managed to keep her mental health in check throughout the season, Clark said that the team psychologist helped her keep a sane mind through all the madness. She also said that there are a handful of people who always check up on her and that makes her feel good.
Her decision to stay away from social media, especially during the March Madness also proved to be a great call for her. Besides that, she has a lot of people to thank who played their role very well in her rise to stardom.
“I have a great team around me, my agents, my family that are able to coordinate a lot of my life for me and I can just say yes or no and go about my business, and they make it easy.”
Clark also thanked the Iowa University for providing her with all the necessary resources for nutrition, fitness, mental health, and physical health.
It seems like the Hawkeyes ran a very good program behind the scenes to help propel their star player into the icon that she has become recently. Also, the fact that she was unaware of the $5 million that was offered to her from hip-hop legend Ice Cube’s Big 3 is a testament to the focus that she kept throughout the tournament.
Caitlin Clark is prepared to silence the naysayers
While Clark was climbing up the ranks to become a bona fide legend at the collegiate level, she also became a soft target for many people. Towards the end of her last NCAA campaign, the Iowa star was constantly ridiculed by several WNBA legends among other people.
The criticism grew to a point where people started questioning her abilities on whether she would be able to accomplish something significant in the new chapter of her career with the WNBA.
In the interview with ESPN, Clark made it clear that the naysayers will get their answers when she steps foot on the WNBA court. She said, “Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but I think the biggest thing for myself is like just having confidence in who I am and what I’ve been able to do with my career.”
The 22-year-old said that she doesn’t pay attention to the negative noise coming from outside and if she continues to play at the highest level, everyone who is doubting her will get their answer.
