Iowa Star Caitlin Clark Recalls Why Playing With Boys Since Childhood Set Attitude Benchmark as an Athlete

Iowa Hawkeyes point guard Caitlin Clark recently began her senior season at Crossover at Kinnick. The exhibition women’s college basketball game was played between Iowa Hawkeyes and DePaul Blue Demons. The game was held at the home stadium of the Hawkeyes football team, the Kinnick Stadium.

Clark, as the national player of the year, led her team and made a 34-point triple-double, hooping a win of 94-72. But, where did she learn that fierce attitude toward winning?

Fearless and feisty Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark sat down with Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever’s power forward and one of the freshly drafted players of the WNBA. Taking inspiration from Taylor Swift’s songs, as Caitlin is a big Swift fan, Boston conducted the interview which has been posted on NBC Sports’ YouTube channel.

She threaded the questions in sequence and handed around 11 bracelets, one while asking a question. Each bracelet had Taylor’s song name written on it. Evidently, Caitlin enjoyed getting colorful and custom-made bracelets while answering the questions.

It was time for question No.6, Boston handed over another bracelet to Caitlin while asking – “Having that fearless attitude that you’ve talked about, um you are not afraid to ruffle any feathers, and it’s obvious that you’re not sorry in a sense of your actions because you just are a cold hard player. I mean it is a special thing though because you need that competitive action, so like how do you just continue to do that in each and every game?”

Caitlin recalls the moments and says – “Um, honestly, I think that it’s who I’ve been. Ever since I was a young girl, I grew up playing basketball with the boys. My parents, I was super competitive from a young age, so they didn’t really know what to do with me. They’re like – ‘just go play with the boys’ -? because they were just a little more feisty, a little more competitive, their skill sets were a little more advanced, um so, that’s what they did. My dad was my first coach ever and all I did was cry when I lost, that’s all I did, um so, I was just competitive. I loved basketball from a really young age and I don’t think that’s changed at all.”

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Caitlin knows that the key to a good balance can go a long way.

Clark is all about quality at work and quantity at home

It is a tough sacrifice when you are moving forward to achieve a goal in your life and devote a major chunk of your time to that thing. However, it’s not the case with Caitlin.

She shares her love for the sport saying, “Basketball is not everything to me, it’s something I have fun doing it, I love doing it, I love playing in front of really big crowds, I love winning, um but also I think I’ve understood as my time’s gone on in college is like – one loss, the world doesn’t end.”

However, she keeps her professional and personal life separate, “I’m a competitor but when I step off the court like I love life.”

“I’m definitely a fearless competitor that’s a little feisty and uh coach Bluder always says like there’s a time and a place for that, but you know you could never change that or take that away from somebody that’s what makes them who they are and I think it has allowed me to kind of flourish on this stage,” she added while recalling coach Bluder’s advice.

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What do you like about Caitlin’s on-court competitiveness alongside her love for other things in life? Tell us in the comments.