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Basketball star Caitlin Clark has opened up about how her mother feels about her accomplishments.
The Indiana Fever player revealed all in an episode on the New Heights podcast Thursday with co-hosts Jason and Travis Kelce. Clark spoke about growing up and how her basketball career formed, from the time she was contacted by colleges at only 13 years old to most recently being named Time magazine’s 2024 Athlete of the Year.
After the Kelce brothers introduced Clark, they were convinced that they had forgotten to list one of the Rookie of the Year’s many accomplishments, and she jokingly replied that the brothers might have “made some up.”
Travis began by asking the former University of Iowa player which accomplishment has meant the most to her. She deferred to what she knew her mom would think.
“I’d give you the answer my mom would say – probably Academic All-American. She was proud of me for being a good student in college,” she told the podcast hosts.
The Academic All-American program is specifically for college athletes who perform well both in their respective sports and academically through their grades.
To qualify for the award the student must have a GPA above 3.50 on a 4.0 scale, and must play in a required percentage of games. In April 2024, Clark was named the 2023-24 Academic All-America Team Member of the Year with a GPA of 3.64.
She had also won the award the year prior, making her the seventh player to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons.
Although her mother may have a preference for Clark’s academic achievements, Clark herself admitted that she thinks all of her accolades mean something to her.
“They’re all cool, but you don’t really care,” she said. “It kinda just comes with it. It comes with having fun.”
The WNBA player emphasized, however, that she did think the Time article about her particularly stood out.
“I think the Time Athlete of the Year was cool, too, just because you see the list of all of the athletes that they’ve had prior to me, and a lot of those people I idolized growing up,” Clark said, mentioning that LeBron James has been the only other basketball player to earn the title.
“They haven’t had many females on the cover, too, so for women’s sports it’s kinda special,” she added.
In addition to Clark’s recognition from Time, the Indiana Fever player was also named Female Athlete of the Year by The Associated Press at the end of December 2024.
A group of 74 sports journalists from The Associated Press and its members voted on the award. Clark received 35 votes, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was second with 25, and boxer Imane Khelif was third, with four votes.
Clark is only the fourth women’s basketball player to be honored as the female athlete of the year since it was first presented in 1931, joining Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995), and Candace Parker (2008, 2021).
“I grew up a fan of Candace Parker and the people who came before me, and to be honored in this way, is super special and I’m thankful,” Clark told the outlet following her win. “It was a great year for women’s basketball and women’s sports.”
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