‘I want to play every single game’: Caitlin Clark breaks her silence on injury
· Yahoo Sports
Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark missed Wednesday night’s game against the Portland Fire after she was scratched from the lineup due to back soreness less than two hours before the game. The incident sparked a flurry of conversation from fans and media. Now, Clark herself is speaking on it for the first time.
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Fever head coach Stephanie White announced about 100 minutes before Wednesday night’s game that Clark had been ruled out for the matchup because of soreness in her back. The suddenness of the announcement, coupled with the inconsistent messaging from the team, led to a lot of criticism, with one analyst going as far as to suggest that someone should be fired for the way things were handled.
Clark, as usual, had a much more reasonable response to the situation when she finally spoke on her status ahead of Friday night’s game.
Clark’s Injury Situation
Ahead of Wednesday night’s game, White addressed Clark’s status during a press conference, explaining that the star guard woke up dealing with soreness and that the team did not want to risk aggravating the issue.
“Just woke up with some stiffness and some soreness,” White said during the press conference, via ESPN. “For us, it’s not the time to take a chance. We just really want to be cautious.”
While White maintained that Clark had simply “woke up” with back soreness, she also said that Clark sat out Tuesday’s practice while undergoing treatment for her back. Conflictingly, White insisted that Clark was healthy, while also claiming that the decision had “absolutely not” been related to load management.
“She’s healthy,” White said. “We’re not managing anything. This is just a back issue that we want to make sure we give the time to be ready.”
The mixed messaging surrounding Clark’s condition quickly sparked criticism aimed at both White and the Fever, with many fans pointing out the contradiction in describing Clark as both healthy and injured simultaneously.
Clark Breaks Her Silence
On Friday, before the Fever’s game against the Golden State Valkyries, Clark spoke to the media for the first time since she was ruled out on Wednesday. The Fever star offered a full timeline of her injury leading up to when she was ruled out for the game.
“So I woke up Tuesday, I was here, I got treatment as I’ve done many practices before, as many of my teammates have done,” Clark said before the game. “Had every intention of playing, didn’t indicate I wasn’t gonna play. Approached Wednesday, that was the day of our game, as I was 100% playing. Woke up Tuesday, felt a little sore, texted our training staff, texted my personal physio.”
“Then I had PT at home,” she continued. “Then I came down here about like 1 o’clock and we tried to do everything we can, got on the court, I lifted, went through a hard workout. And I actually went back and looked because of all these narratives that are going crazy online about when I told my mom I was going to play the game. 4:47, you guys found out at 5:20. So one of the most important people in my life found out 40 minutes before you guys.
“So that’s what my last two days leading up to that Wednesday game looked like.”
Clark was then asked what ultimately led to the decision to keep her out of the game on Wednesday. She said that she believes she was responsible for the final call.
“I think at the end of the day it’s me and my confidence,” Clark said. “And obviously, I have a great team around me. It’s not only me. Like, I trust our medical staff a lot. I have my own personal people that have really helped me too. And you know, my sports psych, talk to him a lot too.”
‘I Want to Play Every Game’
Clark went on to explain that she wanted to be extra cautious after her recent injury history.
“Coming back from injury and having three soft tissues or however many soft tissue injuries is a real mental challenge… And these are the best players in the world. And if I don’t feel 100% confident in my body, like, on game 5 of the year, I don’t know if that’s really worth it in that scenario,” Clark said.
Clark said that while she wants to be on the court all the time, she knows that she has to take care of her body, too.
“I want to play every single game. I want to play 44 games in a season. I’m doing everything I can to do that. By putting my body in my best position I can to, and I feel really good and really confident in my body, but there’s moments where I still struggle a little bit and I get in my head and things like that, and I’m sore. Like, that’s just reality of it. You can ask any athlete, you can ask any basketball player, women’s basketball players, or any athlete around the country, any professional sport, they’ll tell you the same exact thing,” Clark said.
Clark was able to return to the court on Friday evening as she was in the starting lineup for the team’s game against Golden State.
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