Fever's Caitlin Clark has a warning for youth sports parents
01/02/2025 09:14 PM
Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, a standout in her first WNBA season, shared insights on balancing youth sports participation, offering a message to parents and coaches. Speaking on the podcast "New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce" on Thursday, Clark credited her parents for helping her avoid burnout by ensuring she didn't overextend herself as a young athlete.
During Clark’s time on the podcast, she recounted her time playing both AAU and high school basketball, highlighting her mother's decision to limit the number of games she played in a single day.
"My mom would be like, she is not playing more than like three games or two games in one day. That's crazy," Clark said. She noted instances when coaches wanted her to play for multiple teams, such as her seventh and eighth-grade squads, but her parents maintained firm boundaries.
This approach, Clark believes, has been key to preserving her love for basketball.
"You don't want to get burnt out," she said. "You still want to be having fun when you're doing it as a pro if you're lucky enough. Maybe as a kid I was like, 'Mom, no, I could keep going,' but looking back, I was very fortunate for that."
Clark emphasized the long-term impact of overexertion in youth sports, explaining how it can lead to burnout for some players.
"Sometimes that's why people get burnt out—because they did it too much as a kid and their parents forced them, or whoever forced it on them too much," she said. Clark added she was fortunate to have supportive parents who allowed her to maintain her passion for the sport.
Caitlin Clark played other sports growing up
In addition to basketball, Clark played soccer growing up, which helped her avoid early specialization. She attributed this flexibility to her parents, who never pressured her to focus solely on basketball at a young age.
Since the start of the regular season, sales of @WNBA merchandise are up over 500% vs. the same period last year — with fan gear sales over the first half of the season at the highest in league history.
Player-specific merchandise, including jerseys and T-shirts, have seen a… pic.twitter.com/XR6O3aWLCJ— Boardroom (@boardroom) August 21, 2024
Named the WNBA’s 2024 Rookie of the Year, Clark has captivated basketball enthusiasts of all ages since her college days at the University of Iowa. Her jersey was the league's top seller last season, with sales increasing by 1,000% by mid-year, per Boardroom. She outpaced fellow rookie Angel Reese and WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu in jersey sales through July.
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