On Friday night, basketball superstar Caitlin Clark made an appearance at a Mercedes-Benz event held during the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. The Indiana Fever rookie enjoyed the weekend with her family on the pristine grounds of Augusta National Golf Club before sitting down with clients, dealership owners, and editors to share her journey from college basketball to the WNBA.
When asked about the biggest difference between college and the pros, she described how the whirlwind transition—from training camp straight into the WNBA draft—left little time to mentally adjust to the magnitude of the change.
“So you basically go home for one day and pack up your whole life and then move to a new city, the city that you get drafted to,” Clark shared. “So I think it’s just the adjustment period that you have.”
She added that she’s grateful to remain in the Midwest, where she feels at home with the fans—even if the arenas are new.
“I think the biggest difference is just how fast you have to move on and change from being a college student, a college athlete, and then you’re like a professional athlete and there’s a lot that comes with that too,” Clark said.
When asked which professional athletes have inspired her most, she didn’t hesitate: “I loved Serena Williams. She was probably my favorite athlete of all time. I just thought she was the greatest—and as a young girl, having someone like her to look up to was incredible.”
However, Clark admitted that her own tennis career was “short-lived.”
“I got kicked out of tennis class when I was like 10, so that didn’t last long,” she laughed. “I got mad at the instructor because I thought it was too easy.”
Now stepping into the national spotlight as a WNBA player, Clark’s fame has only grown—though she already had a massive following during her college career. Reflecting on the heightened attention, she said it still feels surreal, admitting, “I just feel like a normal person.”
“That’s how I try to live my life every single day and you know I still tell people, like, I still go to the grocery store, I still buy my own groceries, like I still do all of that and I don’t think people always realize that. But I always had big dreams and big aspirations—I always wanted to be a professional athlete,” she said. “I don’t think I could have ever imagined it to be on the level that it is. And to see where women’s sports is going, I think it is absolutely incredible.”
Clark noted that we’re only “scratching the surface” when it comes to the potential interest in women’s sports, and called it “exciting” to see so many people—especially those who had never watched women’s basketball before—now becoming genuine fans.
“I think that’s the coolest part of it, but I don’t think you ever really get used to it,” she said, emphasizing that the rise of women’s sports “gives young girls a chance to be successful and to find confidence in themselves.”
“I think the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life have been through sports, and I think that’s so impactful for young people,” Clark shared. “So the more young girls that we can get to start playing it and then continue to play it, I think it’s incredible, and then the more opportunities we can have, you know, playing on ESPN, the more we’re on ESPN, more people watch, the more people that buy a ticket, they continue to come back.”
Clark encouraged fans to support women’s sports in simple, tangible ways: “Turn the TV on or buy a ticket and come watch us play.”
