Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark said she is still working through the mental aspect of her recovery 10 months after her season-ending injuries.
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark said she is still working through the mental aspect of her recovery 10 months after her season-ending injuries.
Clark spoke before the Fever's 87-78 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. Clark finished with 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 9 assists in 31 minutes.
"I think the hardest part of injury is something I'm still really battling and almost struggling with is just the mental hump of getting over everything," Clark said.
"I understand my body too well to a point now, and it's something I wasn't in touch enough with before my injuries. And now I understand it very well. You just become hypercautious about certain things," Clark said.
Before Wednesday, Clark had played just one WNBA game since her season was shut down in July. She went to the tunnel twice during Indiana's season-opening loss to the Dallas Wings on Saturday to have her back adjusted, then returned to play eight more minutes.
"That moment where my back tightened up, I think I almost got confidence from that because I came back in and I played eight more minutes, so I felt great. It's something I can take confidence from. But it's going to take me a little bit to really get over the mental hurdle of trusting my body," Clark said.
Clark said she ran 4.6 miles during Saturday's game and described the physicality as significant stress on her body. She said she will continue to get used to that level of play.
Fever head coach Stephanie White said the team is working to manage Clark's workload as well as the rest of the roster.
"In a perfect world, you have a pretty consistent rotation and nobody's playing heavy, heavy minutes. So we'll be really strategic with everybody early in the season. We were, unfortunately, in a situation where people had to play heavy minutes last year because of our injuries. And we'd like to be better about managing those through the course of the regular season," White said.
White said it is common for young players to not know the proper mechanics of their bodies and that some don't get exposed until they suffer a different injury. She said it would be an ongoing process for Clark and the rest of the Fever roster.
Clark was not on a minutes restriction against the Sparks. Kelsey Mitchell added 23 points to the Fever's win.
The Fever improved to 1-1 on the season.
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