Caitlin Clark has firmly established herself as a basketball star, but her ability in other sports has long been part of her story. During WNBA offseasons, she has spent time playing golf, and in her younger years, she was also involved in soccer.
Recently, Clark reflected on how she consistently stood out in youth sports, even when competing against boys.
Caitlin Clark Reveals She Dominated Boys’ Leagues With Multiple MVP Awards as a Kid
In a TikTok video shared by Xfinity, Clark recounted just how dominant she was growing up, explaining that she often played in boys’ leagues—and not only competed, but earned MVP honors.
“I think something I thought was normal growing up was playing sports with the boys,” she said. “My parents couldn’t really find girls’ sports leagues to put me in, whether that was soccer, whether that was basketball. They were, like, deciding who should be the MVP of the league. There were a few parents that were like, ‘We can’t give it to a girl, like, this is a boys’ league.’ I ended up getting MVP.
“But that was probably some friction between the parents. All my teammates were great, and they really respected me, and honestly they gave me the ball the most, so I was fine with it.”
Clark was then asked what she would say today to the parents who believed she didn’t deserve those MVP awards, and her answer showed humility.
“I’d invite them to a game now. They can come watch the Fever. How about that?”
In an interview with Chad Leistikow in 2024, Clark’s father, Brent, shared that she also tried her hand at several other sports, including soccer, softball, track and field, tennis and volleyball. He even suggested she might have excelled just as much in soccer if she had stayed with it.
“Quite frankly, and I’m not trying to brag about it, but I think she probably could have been the same sort of talent in soccer that she is in basketball,” Brent said (per Hawk Central). “She could have been on USA, junior-national type teams.”
According to a February 2024 report from Leistikow, Clark scored 26 goals in just six high school soccer matches before ending her soccer career to commit to Team USA for the FIBA Under-16 Americas Championship in Argentina, where she helped the team capture a gold medal.
