WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark is currently one of the most popular names in the women’s basketball league, if not the most popular one. She has been making waves ever since her college basketball days, and with the level of popularity she has and the number of people looking up to her, the pressure and stress can easily pile up and be heavier than expected. With that, the Indiana Fever advocates for prioritizing mental health.
In a recent interview, Clark diverted from the usual talk of basketball and sports and talked about the importance of mental health, and how it played a huge part in her career.
“(Mental health) has been very instrumental in shaping my career,” Clark said. “We had a sports psychologist and therapist that would travel with our team and would be there for people that had performance anxiety or had things going on completely outside of basketball, nobody watching on TV knows about it.”
Caitlin talking about the importance of mental health 🤍 pic.twitter.com/2hyWdbfBUg
— chris (@chrisclxrk) November 19, 2024
The women’s basketball superstar also touched on the topic of celebrity life and how most people forget that behind the camera, athletes and celebrities are still people.
“At the end of the day, a lot of people forget we’re humans,” Clark continued. “We have lives outside of sports. We have problems outside of sports, we have a lot of great things outside of sports, and we’re dealing with that on top of trying to perform at the highest level. It’s important to talk to somebody. It’s okay to not be okay. But also, tell them about the great things that are happening in your life.”
Caitlin Clark on Navigating Her WNBA Rookie Season
This was not the first time that Caitlin Clark has opened up and talked about her mental health. Earlier this year, Clark also touched on the toll that changes in professional sports can take on someone, even on someone like her.
This comment was made in the middle of the recent WNBA season. During a post-game interview, Clark talked about the new environment she was in back then.
“I’m trying to navigate moving to a new city by myself, I’m trying to navigate, you know, playing in a new league on top of everything else that has come with it,” she said. “I think mental health is very important, and I think it’s something a lot of people in our country struggle with, especially young individuals. I think the biggest thing is like, don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
Switching sports…Olympic swimming trials and Fever-Sky are five blocks apart. I took the opportunity to ask Caitlin Clark how she is dealing with the constant national attention she is getting and the mental health aspect of it all. Her answer: pic.twitter.com/vbC6IYKu1y
— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) June 16, 2024
Caitlin Clark is currently on her offseason and will be back to play for the Indiana Fever once more once the new season opens.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
