Caitlin Clark tells her whole hoops story – from childhood to Iowa to the WNBA draft | Inside Look

Caitlyn Clark she is the greatest scorer college basketball has ever seen a deep one you back Kaitlyn Clark Here Comes Clark how will she go for history there it is the alltime leading scorer in women's college basketball on this journey that you've been on lately you keep saying you know when I was a kid I dreamed of stuff like this like this isn't stuff I hadn't thought about what was your dream as a little girl oh man that's a great question I think well my mom has this like piece of paper like when I was in second or third grade and it has like you write down like all your dreams and like these little Bubbles and I remember one of them was play in the WNBA and earn a basketball scholarship like those were two of my like goals there was a bunch of other ones probably like I don't know get a dog or something like that but um so I think those were two of my biggest goals um and then obviously college basketball has come true and then hopefully the WNBA here very shortly but I think as a young girl I was super competitive and my parents always knew that and I was always somebody that was driven by goals and I think that's kind of remained the same throughout my life whether it was in school whether it was soccer whether it was softball whether it was track really any sport I was doing but especially in basketball like I always wanted to be the best and there was times where I definitely wasn't or I failed but you know you just keep you get back up and you keep trying and um I think perseverance has always been a big thing too is you know my parents never told me I couldn't do something or were always there and had my back when things didn't go my way and teaches you a lot of life lessons for sure so you you have these dreams and you have these things that you're doing you're doing a lot of sports when did you start crystallizing on basketball and what this could look like yeah I think growing up especially throughout like even Middle School like I was still doing a bunch of different sports and once I got into high school I was just doing basketball and soccer for the most part and then after sophomore year I gave up soccer and kind of knew my future was in basketball and that's where I was going to be the most successful obviously my college recruitment started picking up a little bit um and that's what I wanted to spend my time practicing and doing and getting better at so that's kind of what I started to focus on probably about sophomore year of high school and kind of knew I would have a future even more so before then but that's when I really started focusing in on it you said you worked for moments like this what did the work look like what were you doing as a sophomore in high school that was unique or interesting well I kind of vividly remember it's funny during before one of my soccer games we were playing at home one night and I went and worked out in the gym like on the shooting gun and like had a full workout my shirt was like just drenched and sweat and like my soccer teammates weren't very happy because they're like this girl cannot be working out before uh she has to go run around and play a soccer game because I played forward so I scored the goals for us and like they just couldn't believe that I like wanted to go and work out before I had to go run around a soccer field for 90 minutes or however many minutes so um I think it was just like I always wanted to be in the gym I always wanted to get better and I had an older brother who played Sports so I always tagged around to his practices even before I could even ever shoot a three-pointer like I was just dribbling around and going to his practices my dad was my first ever coach and it was really all I knew like all I knew was going to the gym um I would always ask my dad to rebound for me like that was just something I enjoyed doing it was something that was fun and a bond that we kind of shared so that leads me right into my next question is how did your brothers impact your competitive Spirit yeah I think my brothers hly still impacted a lot they're two of my biggest supporters and probably two of my biggest haters too they humble me all the time and um when I have a game there I don't maybe don't shoot as good or play as good like they're the first to text me to say something funny but um I think it just puts everything into perspective and that's kind of been my whole take on my whole career is like you know you win some you lose some um you learn you get better and you grow and I think that's something I've learned you know I wasn't always that way as a freshman and sophomore but as a Junior and senior like that's super important and being able to understand that but um I think my brother is like growing up my mom probably had to deal with way too many fights I I threw my brother into a wall one time and he split open in his head um and my older brother was always just bigger stronger faster so whenever I wanted to play with him and his friends like I just got picked on or or you know I never won really anything and my mom always said like if you want to play with them you got to find a way to hold your own like you're the one that wants to hang out with them and play sports with them like that's just how it's going to be so um I'm really appreciative of that now and a lot of of those people that I grew up you know hanging out with or playing sports with whether it was the boys or older girls they're some of my biggest fans and it's cool to see them Reach Out now and just be really supportive and appreciative of everything that I've been able to do I'm glad you brought that up because Colin did tell me he had to get Staples in his people like don't believe that like really he had a staple his head like if he had a buzz cut now he'd have like a whole bald spot in the back of his head yeah I vividly remember it like I literally got so mad I think he like had just scored on me I literally grabbed him with two hands and just like launched him into the wall and it was like where the corner of two walls meet and he just put his hand back and went like this and he's like Mom cuz his hand was just full of blood and my mom was not happy but I was thinking I think it was on a day where like it was a snow day so we didn't have school so we were hanging out in the basement like we didn't really have anything else to do and can't really leave your house and next thing you know my mom's driving him up the street to the walk-in clinic to get his head stapled back together I love that story so I do think there's a piece of you you know having to keep up with the boys you're an MVP of a boys League you know tell me what playing with the boys how did that change you as a as a competitor a player yeah I think growing up playing with the boys like I played with the boys honestly I think until about sixth grade which is probably a lot longer than most girls and I also played soccer with the boys too and my parents kind of just knew I was a little more advanced in my skill set from a young age and I think they also struggled to find teams where there were girls that were pretty competitive and was going to you know help me get better and I was going to have fun doing it looking back like I never and I never like questioned it I it never was like oh why am I playing with the boys it was just what I did like and those are seriously some of my best friends to this day and they always message me and like are so proud of me and they those are some of the boys that know I would beat them one-on-one so it's funny they would admit that but it's honestly like I think a huge reason of who I am is growing up and playing that way and my dad was my coach even when I played with the boys and they all loved him too and um obviously growing up and having two brothers I think that certainly helped like I was always around you know boys that pushed me and wanted to play sports and yeah I think it was super special in my development and also it was never something that ever phased me it was just like you know I'm a girl I can hold my own like this is not anything I've been afraid of I love it so much there's you've told me a story before about like you getting taken out because you were crying why do you care so much about winning I think especially when I was younger I really struggled with understanding losing um and my parents did not really appreciate that at all whenever I would lose when I was in either softball basketball whatever it was I would just cry that was my immediate reaction cuz I like couldn't comprehend why wasn't I winning like all I wanted to do was win no matter if it was a board game um a card game really anything like I just was going to do whatever it took to win I got in trouble in school all the time for wanting to win so bad I got kicked out of PE class cuz I was so competitive had to have a meeting with my parents parents because I was like cared so much about PE class but I think it's been something that I've been able to balance especially as my career's gone on um and I think that's super important playing on this stage is you know nobody ever said you're going to have a perfect record and a lot of the losses in my career have really fueled me to be who I am today whether it was getting upset my sophomore year in the round of 32 to creaton like probably one of the worst losses in my entire basketball career but I'm not sure if I don't have that loss are we as good I don't think so so I think being able to learn that and understand that as my career's gone on has been really important for myself how did you develop your range and confidence you know like the logo 3 is your thing why how honestly I think it's come with just developing strength more than anything and also I think the way people guard me like it's makes me more difficult to guard like I got to their defense has to stretch out more um and it wasn't something I always did early in my career here as a freshman I did it a little bit but I think sophomore year as I had a year of strength and conditioning under my belt you could really see my body was kind of starting to come into its own um my legs got a lot stronger my arms got a lot stronger um and I think the biggest thing is like a lot of my shooting form like a lot of it comes from my legs like I don't really shoot with my arms and I think that's super important my balance is really good but yeah I think the biggest thing is like I grew up watching a lot of basketball I loved Steph Curry um I was never like oh like I need to make like really long three-pointers it was just kind of something that evolved in my game game and something that I really embraced and the crowd embraced and fans embraced so um you know it's it's probably people's favorite part of my game and um it definitely I think helps my team it just spaces the floor so much um it makes us that more difficult to guard do you have a favorite shot you've ever hit favorite shot I've ever hit oh that's tough I would probably say the Indiana shot if I had to pick one shot the Indiana buzzer beater last year oh well Michigan the record-breaking shot here u i probably picked that I don't know there's been a lot of really shots there's just too many you can't choose them I know when you got to Iowa why did you decide to come here oh man looking back I think well first of all this is like one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life is coming here and I was really torn about where I was going to go whether it was going to be Notre Dame or whether was going to be here and obviously Notre Dame is an amazing place and Coach McGraw was you know an idol to me growing up and it was like ah how can I not want to go to Notre Dame like it's Notre Dame um but I felt in my heart like I had to be here like something was really pulling me here and obviously this is my home state and I wanted to represent my state and I wanted to do something that really hadn't been done for a really long time obviously went been to the final four since 1993 and Coach C Vivian Stringer had really built this program to be a Powerhouse and obviously coach BL has done really amazing things been to the lead eight been to sweet 16s but our goal was to get back to the final four and that's what coach blor always pitched to me and I like just loved that challenge like I really wanted a challenge and something about it like I was like I can't pass this up and I think that's the main reason I I came here what were crowds like when you first came well when my first year was Co so literally no one was here which in a way I almost feel like was a little kind of a positive for myself cuz I had a year of college basketball under my belt obviously I missed the crowds but I got to play and understand the game and learn my teammates without a bunch of fans just screaming at you and I feel like that was almost a benefit for me in the way in a way and then moving into my sophomore year the crowds were they were good but they're obviously not on the mag itude that they are now we have we can turn our Arena into like half an arena we can put down these curtains to make it about I think 10,000 or 8,000 whatever it is and we had the curtains down a lot and then my Junior and Senior year like the curtains are never down like it's sold out it's rocking and it's been cool to kind of see the evolution of how the crowds have kind of changed over my my four years starting with absolutely no one to now you can't hardly get a ticket to get in the door I know your teammates are so important to you and that's been a huge part of it but what Pride do you feel that a lot of these people are coming to see you play honestly it's like really hard for me to wrap my head around like understanding that but at the same time like I just was that young girl that like wanted to go to basketball games whether the crowds were sold out or whether it was you know I grew up going to games at Drake University because that was the team in De Mo so it was like 15 minutes from my house so my dad would always take me and I just loved it and there weren't always like a ton of people there but I just wanted to be there so I mean it means the world to me people are spending so many so much time money and resources just to get in the door and watch us play and um the way the crowds scream like it's something that literally will never get old and something that I never take for granted and during every national anthem like I literally just look around and like SOA in the crowd and like take a deep breath because like these are some of the best moments of my life and I get to do it with my best friends but also like the way we've been able to kind of change women's basketball and bring more attention to it is really special the first time I saw you play you were playing against Paige Beckers Connecticut it was this huge hyped match up because you two had played against each other as young kids and I thought you were too small like you were you weren't strong enough how have you changed your body to become the basketball player you are now yeah I was it's funny I was just looking back on like some like I watched our Kentucky game and that was the game before Yukon and like I just look so like frail and skinny and like kind of just like a twig out there um so I think like just my body has matured just naturally but also like I put in time in the waight room like I knew like that was an emphasis for me like I had to be stronger I had to be quicker um and especially like that's the same going to the next level that's something I have to continue to develop but um yeah I think I'm always somebody that's probably going to be a little undersized like I'm just skinny kind of a frail set but also like I'm quick like I need to be fast things like that I think at times people don't realize how fast I am like it's a little deceiving and um but I think adding the strength was you know the most important part and you can see from pictures like as me as a friend freshman now me as a senior like I look completely different my face is the same but my body is much more chiseled and I think honestly I'm not sure I add certain parts to my game that I have over the course of these four years if I don't first off start in the weight room getting bigger stronger faster really okay my other thing I don't think people know about you is just look right into the camera and give me your hands you you think I have big hands they're huge I know I've always have the kind of bigger hands how how does this help you because I think in your passing in your on the ball all these things it's important yeah I think I've always been somebody that has loved to pass the ball um honestly like I kind of knew I had big hands until you pointed it out but um I don't know I mean maybe it does help me handle the ball I can like grab it and I don't know maybe throw it harder um it's never been something that I've been like oh maybe this is why I'm such a good passer but yeah I think passing is something that's kind of underrated in my game too I think a little bit like I I get just as much joy throwing a really good pass to my teammates as I do making a logo three um and I think that at times can make us a lot harder to guard and I even myself harder to guard because sure you can take away my shots and stuff but I'm going to find a way to get my teammates open and I take a lot of pride in that how are you remaining calm in the eye of this storm like I have gotten frazzled at some of these games on the road cuz people screaming at you and yelling and it is a lot Caitlyn how are you doing it honestly like I feel like at this point like I'm really used to these crows s whether they're screaming for us whether they're screaming against us lucky enough it feels like a lot of the times they're screaming for us and even going forward throughout the NCAA tournament I kind of think that'll be the same way our fans have traveled so well you know there's Iowa fans all across the country but there's also just basketball fans and people that just appreciate the game and want to watch and support uh women doing really great things but I think just leaning on my teammates like I know I don't have to do every single thing and I think that's also been something that I've had to learn over my career is freshman and sophomore Caitlyn have thought the world was ending if she didn't do all these things for her team but I think Junior and senior me like understand like I'm always going to be able to impact this game whether I'm scoring whether I'm not um but also just being a good leader and being there for my teammates this is a team sport and I get to play with four other girls on the court at the same time as me so lean on them and rely on them and I think that's kind of where I find my calmness and my joy and my peace when I step on the court is like I know I don't have to do everything like that's why I have teammates that's why this is a team sport and that's what makes us so fun what has the record Chase been like honestly like it wasn't something I ever really thought about too much like I was aware of it just because of like the media and like that's what people would talk about a lot but it was never something like oh my gosh like I need to do this or I need to break this it's kind of just something that has come with my four years of playing basketball and being myself and um I know a lot of people thought that we purposely didn't get it at Nebraska but breaking news that's not true um you know we did we were doing everything we could to to win the game and um unfortunately you know Nebraska went to a boxing one and kind of just threw us off our game a little bit but um I think the biggest thing is like I've been so fortunate to have a coach that has really just allowed me to be me and like ever since I stepped on campus she believed in me so much and she never said don't do this or do that like it was just like be yourself like go out there and have fun she's never um restrained me or told me you can't do that seriously like it's always been like just be Caitlyn and she's allowed me to thrive but also she's coached me really hard she never stops coaching me and she knows there's still so much room for me to improve and that's what I I love about her has it been a relief to break it and kind of have this behind you or yeah I think it I think it was nice to finally break it and kind of just kind of move on from that and kind of focus on my team and focus on these games that we have going forward because now like all that matters is like if we're winning that's how we're going to be able to play more basketball games you have one more big record out there what did people call you as a kid ponytail Pete I think that's what a lot of people and I vividly remember like the first time I ever heard about Pistol Pete I think I was a freshman in high school and there was this substitute teacher at my high school who came up to me and he's like he had seen me play basketball before and he was like do you know who Pete marovich is and I was like H not really like he's like well you need to YouTube him like you are exactly like him and so I did and like I remember seeing like the the first thing like I vividly remember watching is like his ball handling videos it's almost like like is this video even real cuz like the way he was able to handle the basketball is just incredible and I feel like that was the first time I ever like really heard of him um and obviously I've seen a lot of videos of him and stuff like that and um it's cool to just be in the same realm of people that have forever changed our game and some Legends of our game and people that I even grew up idolizing especially on the women's side whether it was Jackie Styles Britney Griner Maya moral and delodon like Kelsey Plum you can go on and on like it's hard for me to Fathom even being in the same you know vicinity as them because those are people that I just think the world of okay what went into your decision to go to the W yeah I think it was definitely a a difficult decision just because you have two such amazing options so it's like how am I going to choose and be able to pick one when you want to be able to do both and I think the biggest thing for myself is was just you know I'm kind of ready for something new A new challenge a new chapter and I feel like I really given my heart and soul to this place and that's what's going to make it so hard to leave but that is also what gives me so much confidence in myself of going to the next level is I've given this place everything and I'm leaving here with no regrets and obviously there's still so much time left like I want to be a national champion and that's our goal and I think that also played into it of you know I want to be just be free in March I want to play I want to have fun I want to have the closure of knowing you know this is going to be my last few times on the court with my teammate I don't want to have to be up in question of like is this her last time is it not it's just like this is going to be it for me and I'm very confident in that and I'm happy with that decision and um I think it's going to allow me to soak it all in and really feel the all the emotions and even the same for my teammates and they can get all the flowers that they deserve too and allow my family um to enjoy it as well so um like I said like I'm just very excited and happy for the future but also my main focus is taking this team as far as we can go and I think this decision is also going to just help me do that too what's up for March what's the goal I think the biggest thing in March especially going off of last year is like we know how long it can be and how tiring it can be so being able to take care of your body and just focus on game to game and also I think you know there's going to be games where you don't play well that's just if if you want to reach your goals you got to win six or seven games um so you have to be able to compartmentalize not having a good game and I think our team understands that now and um going from the Big 10 tournament to the NCAA tournament um you can really get a lot of momentum if you start playing your best basketball and I think that's the thing I really appreciate about Coach bler is she finds a way to have her teams playing the best basketball in March and that's when you really need it and um I think just taking game by game you can't look far ahead you just got to win every single day every single practice and that's always what what coach BL preaches and um I think March Madness is the greatest postseason tournament in all of sports you know if you're you're not ready to play one day your season can end in the blink of blink of an eye and I've been on the losing side of that and I've also been on the winning side of that so I think I have good perspective going into my last um NCAA tournament and you know that's what's so exciting and then my last question will be how aware are you of Clark conomics because I had some WNBA people reach out to me yesterday season tickets at opposing Arenas have been selling like hot cakes like you are selling tickets how aware are you of your financial impact on this game it's crazy to think about um and honestly it's like really hard for me to wrap my head around like I'm only 22 years old and um my biggest focus is just like going out there and playing basketball and having so much fun but I would be lying if I if I didn't say like I do realize everything that's happening around me and just you know know hotel prices on days we have games here in Iowa City or the way restaurants are packed or um how expensive it is just to walk into a door um to one of our games so um I think it's something I'm aware of something I'm thankful for and um you know I hope it stays that way for women's basketball across the country cuz that's the way it should be I love that you're saying the best part of this year hasn't been yourself and your records it's been your team success why does that matter so much I think that just speaks to our culture that coach BL has built here it's always about the team and I think coming into this year we knew how good we were going to be um every single person in our locker room believed that um I think that just speaks to the way that we develop Talent um you know people don't want to leave this place because they love it they love the culture that we build but also they got to learn from two really great players that gave a lot to our program in Monica and McKenna and I know in the outside world there was a lot of questions about what we would be able to do but um I think we've exceeded a lot of people's expectations and um we're a different looking team but we're also a team that you know we have the same foundation and we know what it takes to get back to where we want to be in March and I think that's the most exciting part and that's what I've Loved about our team is we've never doubted one another even if there's been a tough loss is we believe we can be right there with the best of them in March and um that's what gets me so excited

Channel: ESPN

Views: 330,777

Keywords: espn, sports, caitlin clark, caitlin clark highlights, caitlin clark basketball, caitlin clark iowa, iowa, iowa basketball, holly rowe, women hooping, holly rowe interview, espn women's basketball, espn inside, espn college basketball, espn cbb, espnw, iowa women's basketball, caitlin clark interview, caitlin clark breaks record, caitlin clark highlights 2024, Pete Maravich, iowa hawkeyes, inside look, espn interview, InsideLookPrincipal2024

Id: N0OZgZpKtog

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 22 2024