Amid a bad-luck season gone wrong for Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, she recently opened up about her grueling injury recovery journey and shared the ways she’s trying to stay positive this year.
Some of her rehab processes are light-hearted, Clark tells Glamour in an exclusive interview. For example, the second-year guard enjoys rewatching Disney movies—specifically, The Parent Trap—as a way to de-stress.
Other processes are more taxing, as she reportedly is trying different innovative treatments (red-light therapy, dry needling, and hyperbaric oxygen chambers) to help her recover from her latest groin injury, which has sidelined her for the last two games as well as WNBA All-Star weekend.
But, arguably the most important rehab process involves Clark’s mental health. Clark, who has missed 12 games including her team’s Commissioner’s Cup win and is admittedly in a bit of a three-point shooting rut, has experienced a rollercoaster of a once-hopeful MVP campaign so far.
She got extremely candid on how she’s learning to cope with all the setbacks:
“This is the first time I haven’t felt like a young body that can run around and sprint every day and just continue to do that,” Clark told Glamour. “Being a professional athlete, you really have to take care of both your body and your mind—it’s been a journey learning about that.”
Clark revealed she regularly meets with a sports psychologist on the Fever and that she has a longstanding ritual of journaling before games, a few decompressing methods that no doubt help her stay grounded.
“It makes me really intentional about what I want to accomplish and is a good reset if I’m feeling nervous or anxious about the game, to kind of wipe that away,” Clark said of her journaling habit.
With the Fever sitting 12-12 going into a crucial second-half stretch of the WNBA season, the team will need Clark at her best and healthiest moving forward. It goes without saying that Clark needs that, too.
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