It did not take long for colleges to start recruiting Caitlin Clark.
Travis Kelce said he heard that Clark's first recruitment letter came in seventh grade, and Clark confirmed that during a recent appearance on "New Heights."
The Indiana Fever star said she feels very fortunate with how her parents handled the early recruitment letters from schools.
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"It’s honestly sad, like where college recruitment has kind of gone, it’s just insane. I feel very fortunate. My parents were just like, they told my older brother, ‘Go get the mail, like we don’t want your sister to see that.’ They wanted me to be in seventh grade and enjoy middle school and like hang out with your friends, like you shouldn’t be worrying about where you’re going to college," Clark said.
Clark said she did not think too much of it at the time, as she was just playing basketball and having fun.
"Seventh grade was wild, and I was playing up two years, so I was playing with high schoolers, but yeah, I didn’t really like think anything of it. I was just going out there and hooping and having fun. It’s kind of just what came with it," Clark said.
The former Iowa star said her parents protected her from potentially burning out from playing too much basketball.
HOW CAITLIN CLARK BATTLED THROUGH CULTURE WARS EN ROUTE TO HISTORIC 2024
"I played AAU, and then I played for my high school team, but my mom would be like, ‘She is not playing more than like three games or two games in one day, like that’s crazy,’ because sometimes they would want me to play for the seventh grade team and the eighth grade team. So, my parents were really good about that, like they didn’t want me to lose the love of it, like you don’t want to get burned out, you still want to be having fun when you’re doing it as a pro if you’re lucky enough," Clark said.
"And, maybe, as a kid, I was like, ‘Mom, no, like I can keep going, like I can keep playing,’ but looking back, I’m very fortunate for that, because I haven’t lost that fun of it and that passion for it and always wanting to get better and sometimes that’s why people get burned out. It is because they did it too much as a kid and their parents forced it on them or whoever forced it on them too much and that was never something I really had to deal with, so feel very fortunate."
Clark said she was in no rush to decide where she would go to college.
"I didn’t really take any visits until after my freshman year of (high school), and then I didn’t decide until my senior year. So, I was never in a rush and my parents did a really good job of making sure I have a really good circle around me, like it wasn’t always about college recruitment. I wasn’t like posting my offers, like also that wasn’t really a thing when I was growing up," Clark said.
Clark ended up choosing Iowa, saying she wanted to stay in the Midwest, and went on to have one of the most successful college careers of all time.
She is the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader and was named the AP Player of the Year twice, among countless other accolades.
Iowa has already retired her No. 22 jersey number.
Following her success at Iowa, she was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Fever.
Clark was named WNBA Rookie of the Year, was selected to the All-Star team, led the WNBA in assists, and helped lead the Fever to the playoffs in her rookie season.
Clark was also named Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year for 2024.
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