Caitlin Clark’s Talent, IQ, Leadership Were Evident Even in High School

[Editor’s note: The following article is from Athlon Sports’ commemorative Caitlin Clark WNBA Rookie of the Year magazine. Order your copy today online or buy it at retail stores and newsstands everywhere.]

It took only a few practices at his new assistant coaching job at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, for Scott Babinat to realize the rare opportunity in front of him.

“‘You’re never going to believe this, but we are coaching a player that will become the female version of Steph Curry in many people’s minds,’” Babinat recalls telling his friend over the phone in 2016.

Babinat, who had moved from the Bay Area to West Des Moines, was used to watching Curry’s dazzling play for the Golden State Warriors. But in his 20-plus years of coaching experience, he hadn’t coached a player with a similar skill set to Curry.

Until he met Caitlin Clark.

Quickly cementing herself as a varsity starter for the Dowling Catholic girls basketball team as a freshman, Clark was anything but intimidated.

Dowling head coach Kristin Meyer specifically remembers two plays Clark made during her first team camp, held at Creighton University: a three-quarter-court bounce pass and a behind-the-back toss that perfectly set up her teammates at the rim. “It kind of shocked everyone in the gym just that she had the guts to do it but also that she was able to execute it so well,” Meyer says.

Along with Clark’s prolific passing came shots from well behind the arc and an advanced basketball IQ relative to her peers. Clark’s mention of “movements, positioning, and mismatches on the court” made Meyer feel like she was “talking to another coach” in the huddle.

Ella McVey, who was Clark’s high school teammate from 2017-20 and currently plays softball for the University of Michigan, says Clark was “always three or four steps ahead” of everyone else.

When it was time for the team to come together and watch film of their next opponent, Clark had already studied the tape two or three times. She already knew the other team’s tendencies, had a good idea of who was going to guard her and had created a plan to expose said defender.

Clark frequently texted McVey and the rest of her teammates to shoot with her outside of practice. What started with Clark alone in the gym would soon turn into a group of 10 players putting in extra reps.

“Of course, she always made sure that she was the first person to get to extra shooting, so she could get extra shooting before the extra shooting,” McVey says with a laugh.

Clark would see the game in slow motion, often passing the ball to places her teammates didn’t even know they were going to be in, leading to dropped passes and missed buckets. McVey says Clark played too fast for the referees most of the time, too.

“Because she’s so hard to guard, the opponent is fouling her pretty much every single possession, at least one or two times, because she’s just so much more skilled and quicker and knows how to get people off balance,” Meyer says. “But also, as a ref, you can’t call every single one, or, you know, the game doesn’t get to be played, right?”

The difference in skill paired with the standards Clark set for herself and her teammates naturally caused some frustration.

While Meyer says Clark’s attitude “wasn’t mean-spirited” and didn’t affect the chemistry of her team because they all got to know each other outside of basketball, it was still a concern.

As Clark became more of a household name across America, more college coaches started showing up at open gyms and games. Meyer didn’t want Clark’s body language to be a reason why espnW’s No. 4 overall recruit didn’t get to go to her dream school.

Meyer says she had several conversations with Clark about how she carried herself and showed Clark how she appeared on film.

“She understood that it wasn’t good. It didn’t help the team. It didn’t help her play better,” Meyer says of Clark’s reactions to a call by a ref or dropped pass. “But also, she gets so into the moment that she can’t help herself.”

When Meyer put Clark on the bench during a game, it was usually because she wanted to check in about her poor body language. For Clark, who always wanted the ball in her hands and never backed down from taking a game-winning shot, sitting on the bench was almost unbearable.

By the end of her high school career, Meyer felt that Clark had taken positive strides with her on-court demeanor.

“She never asked to come out of a game. Usually, when she’d come out, it only took about 20 seconds before she’d just kind of turn and say, ‘Can I go back in now?’” Meyer recalls. “I’ve never met someone who loves the game as much as her.”

Because Clark’s love for the game ran so deep and her emotions ran so hot, what impressed her coaches and teammates most was her ability to keep results on the basketball court separate from the rest of her life.

“I feel like all the greats kind of have that tendency where it’s like, when they flip the switch, they’re in kill mode,” McVey says. “But not only does Caitlin have that quality, but she also has the quality of being a sister, being a daughter, being a friend to a lot of the people in her life. Something I think people need to recognize is that she’s just a person.”

Generational talent aside, Clark was in many ways a typical high schooler. She loved dancing and singing along to the “High School Musical” soundtrack. She found joy in going to the Kum & Go convenience store and mixing slushie flavors to make the ugliest-looking drink possible or making Dunkin’ runs for her teammates before morning practice.

Clark always had a witty comment for every situation and never failed to call shotgun before getting in the car, sometimes leaving the upperclassmen stranded in the backseat.

“She would always do these quirky things, like come into the gym with a huge jersey on and socks that she pulled all the way up to her knees. She was the goofball of the team,” says Anna Wanek, who played with Clark for two years in high school before continuing her basketball career at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Starting with her freshman year, Clark made it a tradition in the Maroons’ locker room to listen to all three minutes and 20 seconds of “All Star” by Smash Mouth before pregame warmups.

As for her postgame tradition, she either had a plate of fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies waiting for her at the Dowling concession stand or was telling Wanek how badly she wanted to bake some when she got home. To this day, Wanek can’t look at a package of Nestlé Toll House cookie dough without thinking of her old teammate.

“As soon as the game was over, she would say ‘hi’ to her family and then beeline for the concession stand, which was so funny,” McVey says of Clark.

There were times when Clark would sneak by the concessions before practice or games and ask owner Brian Hobbs to slip her a couple of cookies.

One time before practice, Clark got caught in the act.

“Can’t you eat bananas or something instead?” Meyer asked Clark.

“Hey, I think these seem to be working all right for her,” Hobbs chimed in from behind the counter, eventually handing over warm chocolate chip cookies to the star point guard.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Meyer laughed.

If the concession stands were ever open after school, Clark would grab a plate of cookies then, too, before heading to the film room.

Meyer remembers getting a text from Clark one afternoon saying she and a few other teammates would be late to film because they were “waiting for cookies to get done.”

“Of course, they made Caitlin be the one to tell me because I think the rest of them would have been a little too scared to show up late to film,” Meyer jokes.

Cookies in hand or not, Clark’s teammates and coaches didn’t have to question whether she would show up to practice, a film session or a game and give maximum effort.

After being left off Team USA for the U17 World Cup in 2018, Clark came back to the gym with a vengeance. “Next time you go to try out, make sure you’re putting yourself in a position that they can’t leave you off the team,” Meyer told her.

Clark went on to average 32.5 points, 7.0 boards, and 3.5 assists her junior season and 33.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists as a senior, earning back-to-back Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year honors.

She committed to Iowa over Notre Dame in November 2019 with hopes of turning her home state program into a national championship contender.

No one had bigger dreams or expectations for herself than Clark.

“Caitlin hates losing more than she loves winning,” Babinat says. “And man, does she love winning.”

Related: Caitlin Clark Is a True Basketball Trailblazer

Related: Celebrate Caitlin Clark’s Historic Rookie Season With Athlon Sports’ Collectible Magazine