Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark faced a lot of heat from other players in her inaugural WNBA season. However, Clark always endured the hazing with a smile on her face and never lashed out or misbehaved in any instance. Unsurprisingly, Fever president Allison Barber had high praise for CC for her humble and grounded attitude.
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On September 19, The Economic Club of Washington board officer Lawrence Di Rita interviewed Barber, Fever’s President and Chief Operating Officer(COO). During the interaction, an audience member hailed Clark for balancing her aggression on the court with exemplary composure and calmness during interviews.
He wondered how Clark’s example could be propagated to all athletes across all the major leagues to elevate the discourse in sports in general.
Barber admitted that she has never met anyone in her life like CC. She commended the 22-year-old for bearing the load of expectations on her with utmost grace, especially when it comes to the media. Barber said
“Caitlin is one-of-one…I don’t know anybody like Caitlin in that, she is 22, she’s a multimillionaire, she is carrying the burden and weight of this pressure on her shoulders and is great with media, and knows how to handle the media in each situation really well.”
Even if Clark’s attitude is preached around the world, Barber is sure that only a handful would be able to replicate it.
“I sent her a note one day, I said, ‘You know the best part of taking the high road Caitlin? There’s no traffic.'” And she just demonstrates that. I think people will be inspired by that.”
“She is very unique, and so I am not sure if just anybody could learn that because it’s really part of her family, upbringing, her Iowa groups, her coaches. They built it into Caitlin,” added Barber.
Allison Barber heaps praises on Caitin Clark:
"Caitlin is 1-of-1. She's 22, a multi-millionaire carrying the burden and the weight of this pressure on her shoulders, great with the media, knows how to handle each situation"
"Best part of taking the high road Caitlin is there's… https://t.co/TbmxXrSF35 pic.twitter.com/qWIAWBtZQi
— AK (@Sudharsan_AK10) September 29, 2024
Clark has showcased tremendous poise during her interviews. She hasn’t let any controversy get to her head.
For example, when asked about her ‘beef’ with Angel Reese, CC has always praised Reese for her low-post skillset and has avoided accentuating the situation further. But there are some instances where she has lost her cool too.
Caitlin Clark vs. the refs
During the first few weeks of the season, Clark wasn’t reacting as much when she faced relentless contact on many plays. She took the beating and moved on. However, as the season progressed, CC was irate at the refs for missing obvious fouls and called them out to their faces.
She became more aggressive towards refs with each day and picked up her sixth technical foul with two games remaining in the season. Had she committed one more technical foul in her penultimate game, she’d have suffered a one-game suspension.
However, as per WNBA rules, if a player picks the seventh technical foul on the last day of the season, she cannot be suspended for the beginning of the playoffs.
At any rate, it was important for Clark to let the referees know about the excessive contact. She was done with the disrespect and wanted everyone to know that she can take a stand for herself.
