Caitlin Clark reveals ingenious way her parents shielded her from fame… and the ‘sad’ reality of college recruitment

Caitlin Clark has lifted the lid on the hack her parents used to use to protect her from the sudden influx of attention when colleges came sniffing during her high school years.

The WNBA superstar was unveiled as this week’s special guest on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast on Wednesday.

In a teaser clip for her guest appearance in the special episode, which is set to stream Thursday, the Indiana Fever guard opened up on her college recruitment experience.

The 22-year-old revealed that she began receiving offers from schools to join their basketball programs as young as seventh grade.

However, her parents, Brent and Anne, developed tactics to shield Clark from the limelight in order to allow her to live a normal teenage life.

Clark revealed that her parents would tell her older brother to get the mail so that she wouldn’t have to see the offers flooding in.

The WNBA star shared the tactic in a teaser clip for her appearance on New Heights this week

‘They wanted me to just be in seventh grade and enjoy middle school and hang out with my friends. You shouldn’t have to be worrying about where you’re going to college,’ she told the NFL star brothers.

‘So I didn’t really take any visits until my freshman year of [high school] and then I didn’t decide until my senior year. I was never in a rush and my parents did a really good job of making sure I had a really good circle around me.’

Jason, who retired from the NFL following a 13-season career with the Philadelphia Eagles last year, then commented on the trend of athletes posting the college offers online.

The former Super Bowl-winning center asked Clark if the fad had begun to occur towards the end of her high school years.

Clark confirmed that she had just managed to avoid the trend but admitted that it had begun to creep in among high school athletes.

The WNBA 2024 Rookie of the Year went on to open up on the ‘sad’ development of college recruitment.

‘Now it’s all you see on social media,’ she said, referring to offers being posted on social media. ‘It’s all people talk about. It’s crazy. But obviously times have changed too.’

After teasing the appearance of a special guest for weeks, the Kelce brothers revealed that the Indiana Fever star would be joining them on the show in an episode that will be released on Thursday.

Jason revealed that Clark is the ‘most requested guest in the history of our show’ – before showing a clip of her video call from the episode’s recording.

‘I don’t get excited about many things but this – this is at the top of my list,’ Clark revealed to the brothers.