Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 380. Sticking To The Plan: Kate Martin Talks Her First 2 Years In The WNBA, Best-Practice Recovery Tactics & Seeing Injury As An Opportunity

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380. Sticking To The Plan: Kate Martin Talks Her First 2 Years In The WNBA, Best-Practice Recovery Tactics & Seeing Injury As An Opportunity · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Don't doubt yourself. Why not you? You know, really, if
0:03
Speaker 1: you put your mind to anything like you can, you
0:05
Speaker 1: can go get it.
0:21
Speaker 2: What's going on? Everyone? Emily A body here? You are
0:24
Speaker 2: listening to Curdle.
0:25
Speaker 3: A show that dies into the true stories and mindset
0:28
Speaker 3: secrets of the most inspiring women in sport and wellness.
0:32
Speaker 3: What an incredible week of awesomeness for the show with
0:36
Speaker 3: the launch on the Iheartwoman's Sports Network. Thank you to
0:40
Speaker 3: all of you for your support for re sharing and
0:43
Speaker 3: commenting and uh oh gosh, just spreading the good word
0:48
Speaker 3: that is Hurdle.
0:49
Speaker 2: I would not be able to.
0:50
Speaker 3: Conquer any of these on my own without you. This week,
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Speaker 3: I am so amped to bring you my conversation with
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Speaker 3: the One, the Only, Kate Martin. She's a WNBA player
1:03
Speaker 3: for the Golden State Valkyrie. She's also playing in the
1:05
Speaker 3: upcoming second season of Unrivaled. In our conversation today, Kate
1:11
Speaker 3: takes us on a deep dive on what it takes
1:13
Speaker 3: to thrive in the professional game, sharing how she's constantly
1:17
Speaker 3: evolving both on and off the court. She opens up
1:21
Speaker 3: about the major adjustments she's made since leaving college. Playing
1:24
Speaker 3: next to Caitlyn Clark at Iowa, not just to the
1:27
Speaker 3: rigorous WNBA schedule, but also to her own mindset. We
1:32
Speaker 3: talk about the unexpected challenges of playing a lot of
1:34
Speaker 3: games in a short period of time and how the
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Speaker 3: chaotic travel schedule has forced her to quickly become a
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Speaker 3: student of her own body. Kate talks about dedicating her
1:44
Speaker 3: off season to intentional growth and admitted that she's still
1:48
Speaker 3: trying to figure out who she wants.
1:49
Speaker 2: To be as professional player.
1:51
Speaker 3: She shares some really inspiring takeaways from her devastating acl
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Speaker 3: teir in college and told me that despite it being
1:59
Speaker 3: outsolutely misroll, she wouldn't have changed the thing because that
2:03
Speaker 3: experience taught her how to be a cheerleader before anything else. Lastly,
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Speaker 3: she highlights the tools in her toolbox, ranging from recovery
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Speaker 3: techniques to drip drop hydration that help her feel her
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Speaker 3: best day after day.
2:18
Speaker 2: Love this Combo again, Still on such.
2:21
Speaker 3: A high from the season twenty premiere, the iHeart Women's
2:24
Speaker 3: Sports News, we are in the groove. Make sure you're
2:27
Speaker 3: following along with Hurdle over on social It's over at
2:30
Speaker 3: Hurdle Podcast.
2:31
Speaker 2: You can check out.
2:32
Speaker 3: iHeart Woman's Sports as well as me over at Emily
2:36
Speaker 3: A Body. Listen to Hurdle with Emily Body on the
2:39
Speaker 3: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
2:44
Speaker 2: With that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling today.
2:55
Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Kate Martin. She's a pro
2:59
Speaker 3: for THEMBA. How are we doing today, Kate, Welcome to Hurdle.
3:03
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. I'm great.
3:04
Speaker 2: How are you? I'm so good. I'm so excited to
3:07
Speaker 2: have you.
3:08
Speaker 3: The first thing that I do every episode is to
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Speaker 3: take a deep breath and I ask you, how are
3:13
Speaker 3: you doing?
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Speaker 2: Really?
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Speaker 1: I'm actually really great. I really am so Yeah, just
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Speaker 1: been living life, enjoying the off season. Spent a lot
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Speaker 1: of time with family, so enjoying these moments for sure.
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Speaker 3: What does the off season look like for you right
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Speaker 3: now and your enjoyment?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, I went on vacation for a little bit,
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Speaker 1: which was lovely, went home and spent time with my nephews,
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Speaker 1: my sister, my parents, my brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, you know,
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Speaker 1: really soaked in that quality time and then just working
3:51
Speaker 1: out during all of that and getting better in the
3:54
Speaker 1: off season. That's enjoyment for me, honestly, and then just relaxing,
3:59
Speaker 1: like taking my downtime as my downtime, and yeah, like
4:03
Speaker 1: doing fun I don't know, fun things, going to different restaurants,
4:07
Speaker 1: exploring a little bit the Bay Area, and that's my
4:10
Speaker 1: kind of fun. I guess you know what's so interesting.
4:13
Speaker 3: I talk to a lot of athletes and they tell
4:15
Speaker 3: me that they're quote unquote not good at relaxing. Are
4:18
Speaker 3: you this person or are you fully embracing this time to
4:21
Speaker 3: like be a little bit down.
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Speaker 1: I think I'm a little bit in between. When I
4:25
Speaker 1: was home, I definitely was doing everything that I possibly could,
4:32
Speaker 1: feel like I make up for lost time because I'm
4:35
Speaker 1: not home often. But then like being back in San Francisco,
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Speaker 1: like I can enjoy and just sit on the couch
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Speaker 1: for a few hours and RelA and relax. That's what's
4:46
Speaker 1: nice about living alone, honestly. But I'm definitely an in
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Speaker 1: betweener for.
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Speaker 3: That, an in between r and in between her being
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Speaker 3: good at relaxing and then going all in.
4:56
Speaker 2: You're two in the w down.
5:00
Speaker 3: How are you feeling looking forward ahead to unrivaled and
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Speaker 3: what will be your three?
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Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean definitely learned a lot in my first season,
5:08
Speaker 1: learned a lot in my second season both looked a
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Speaker 1: lot different, and just going to take all of that
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Speaker 1: knowledge into my off season and getting better at the
5:18
Speaker 1: things that I wasn't so great at this past year,
5:21
Speaker 1: and then refining the skills that I was good at
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Speaker 1: and just continuing to grow with that and take that
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Speaker 1: into Unrivaled, and of course I'll learn even more about
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Speaker 1: my game, you know, and Unrivaled. And I think that's
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Speaker 1: something I'm realizing, is like, I'm still learning my game.
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Speaker 1: I'm only two years in and I, you know, hope
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Speaker 1: to have a very long career in the WNBA, and
5:44
Speaker 1: so just figuring out, you know, what I am really
5:47
Speaker 1: good at and what things I need to be better
5:49
Speaker 1: about and learn that now while I'm still young and
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Speaker 1: you know, hopefully I'll have just a long and great career.
5:57
Speaker 3: Then Yeah, I mean, the frequency in which you play
6:01
Speaker 3: in the w is just so much different than what
6:04
Speaker 3: happened at IOWA.
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Speaker 2: Talk to me about how that.
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Speaker 3: Adjustment was for you over the last two years, and
6:09
Speaker 3: maybe the adjustments that you've made so that you can
6:12
Speaker 3: keep showing up and playing your best with this busier schedule.
6:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would definitely say, like I didn't really know
6:19
Speaker 1: how to handle it in my rookie year, just with
6:21
Speaker 1: all of the travel, I didn't like expect that. I
6:24
Speaker 1: guess it's just you fly from one place to the next.
6:27
Speaker 1: Maybe you go home for a day and then you're
6:29
Speaker 1: flying somewhere else or whatever. And so I think this
6:33
Speaker 1: year I definitely learned better tactics of how to keep
6:38
Speaker 1: my body like ready to go and feeling better and
6:41
Speaker 1: just like using like stem machines or you know, on
6:46
Speaker 1: the plane, or just really hydrating, Like I literally drank
6:50
Speaker 1: a drip drop every single flight because I would get
6:54
Speaker 1: so dehydrated and not like just little things like that
6:58
Speaker 1: really helped me. And then as soon as I got
7:00
Speaker 1: off the plane, like going straight into the weight room
7:02
Speaker 1: and like moving my body so I'm not so stiff,
7:05
Speaker 1: Like mobility has been a huge thing for me. And
7:08
Speaker 1: so just like learning just little tweaks like that honestly
7:11
Speaker 1: has been super beneficial for me. And I'm sure even
7:14
Speaker 1: next year, at the end of the season, I'll be like, oh,
7:16
Speaker 1: like I found something else that really helps my body
7:18
Speaker 1: and makes me feel good and ready to go. And
7:20
Speaker 1: so I think that's also kind of what's cool about
7:24
Speaker 1: the season, you know, being so busy is like in
7:28
Speaker 1: the moment, you can figure out changes, but even after
7:30
Speaker 1: the season, you're like, oh, I could have done this better,
7:32
Speaker 1: Like I'll be able to implement that next year, like
7:35
Speaker 1: with unrivaled or whatever. So that I think that like
7:38
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe I'm weird, but that stuff's fun
7:40
Speaker 1: for me.
7:42
Speaker 2: I think it's cool.
7:43
Speaker 3: And it's really a testament to who you are as
7:45
Speaker 3: an athlete, right having this mentality of Okay, it's not like,
7:48
Speaker 3: oh I'm doing this so bad. It's like, Okay, maybe
7:51
Speaker 3: I'm not optimizing in this way. How can I take
7:53
Speaker 3: that information and learn how to be better?
7:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's a great point is like with the
7:58
Speaker 1: busy schedule, you kind of have to learn how to
8:00
Speaker 1: optimize your time as best as you possibly can. Like
8:04
Speaker 1: you might not be able to get on the court
8:07
Speaker 1: every single day, but like when you are on the court,
8:09
Speaker 1: like how are you working out? Like what are you
8:11
Speaker 1: working on? And then like you might not be able
8:14
Speaker 1: to get into the gym hotel with your weight trainer
8:18
Speaker 1: like right away. So it's like in that time that
8:21
Speaker 1: you get to like how are you going to like
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Speaker 1: maximize and like optimize that time in there? And that's
8:26
Speaker 1: like huge with the busy schedule.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
8:29
Speaker 3: And so you've said twice now I know that there
8:32
Speaker 3: are some things that you want to work on or
8:35
Speaker 3: that I need to work on.
8:36
Speaker 2: What would you say some of those things are?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, like I think I kind of said this, but
8:40
Speaker 1: like I still am just figuring out my game and
8:42
Speaker 1: like who I want to be as like a professional
8:45
Speaker 1: basketball player. And I think last year, not to get
8:49
Speaker 1: into too many details, I think I, you know, kind
8:52
Speaker 1: of lived and died by the three a little too much,
8:54
Speaker 1: and like I am a good, smart basketball player where
8:57
Speaker 1: I make good reads, I can get downhill, I'm strong
9:00
Speaker 1: finishing around the rim, and so, like, you know, just
9:02
Speaker 1: working on getting back to that, you know, kind of
9:06
Speaker 1: having an attack first mindset, and then just continuing getting
9:10
Speaker 1: better defensively, like if you can play defense, you can
9:12
Speaker 1: play you know, and so, but then also just being
9:15
Speaker 1: more consistent from the three point line. I didn't shoot
9:17
Speaker 1: as well as I would have liked to this season
9:20
Speaker 1: as to how I know I can shoot, and so
9:24
Speaker 1: being able to shoot under fatigue and be consistent under
9:27
Speaker 1: fatigue is something that I've really been working on right now,
9:30
Speaker 1: which is hard but great because you can only work
9:33
Speaker 1: on shooting under fatigue when you're fatigued, So you know,
9:37
Speaker 1: it's a lot of running and trying to get in
9:39
Speaker 1: shape right now, which I think will ultimately benefit me.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:42
Speaker 3: You know, it's really cool to hear you say I
9:47
Speaker 3: recognize that I can be better, and I genuinely want
9:50
Speaker 3: to work on it. How have you gotten to this
9:52
Speaker 3: place where you're not so hard on yourself when it
9:55
Speaker 3: comes to the things that maybe aren't going as well
9:58
Speaker 3: as you'd hoped Aka, like the three pointer, as you said,
10:01
Speaker 3: I could have been bed better at shooting from the three,
10:04
Speaker 3: I could have made more baskets.
10:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say that that is still work in
10:08
Speaker 1: progress for sure. Like I definitely could sit here and
10:14
Speaker 1: tell every single one of my teammates, don't be so
10:16
Speaker 1: hard on yourself. Like negative self talk is terrible. It
10:21
Speaker 1: does nothing, it benefits nothing, and then they're all go
10:24
Speaker 1: out there and I will have negative self talk. You know.
10:27
Speaker 1: I would just say, like, nobody's perfect, and I was
10:31
Speaker 1: very fortunate to have such great teammates and such great
10:34
Speaker 1: coaches around me who really believed in me and wanted
10:37
Speaker 1: me to, you know, keep shooting even if I have
10:39
Speaker 1: missed four or five in a row, and so having
10:42
Speaker 1: that support system around me was very beneficial. But then
10:45
Speaker 1: just knowing like I don't just like identify as a
10:48
Speaker 1: basketball player, and I know just if I like if
10:51
Speaker 1: I have a bad game or whatever, it doesn't define
10:53
Speaker 1: who I am. And so just remembering that, but also
10:57
Speaker 1: remembering like, this is the coolest job in the world,
11:00
Speaker 1: and this is the best job in the world, and
11:01
Speaker 1: so getting better at it is all I want to do.
11:04
Speaker 1: You know, I eat, breathe, sleep, basketball, and so I
11:07
Speaker 1: think that is you know, there's definitely a fine balance,
11:10
Speaker 1: and I have not figured out the perfect balance yet,
11:13
Speaker 1: but I definitely have gotten a lot better from my
11:16
Speaker 1: younger years. For sure.
11:18
Speaker 3: I would be remiss if I didn't touch on this
11:22
Speaker 3: reference to you kind of being the glue, like your
11:25
Speaker 3: ability to hold a team together.
11:27
Speaker 2: You really stepped into that.
11:28
Speaker 3: Role maybe more in year one, and then you stepped
11:31
Speaker 3: up a little bit differently in year two.
11:33
Speaker 2: What does that glue role demand of you? Would you say?
11:39
Speaker 1: I would say, like, really, what it means is just
11:41
Speaker 1: like making sure everyone around you is good, you know,
11:44
Speaker 1: trying to stay steady and you know, hold it together
11:47
Speaker 1: for everybody. You know, being that like more calming presence.
11:51
Speaker 1: I definitely would say I was more of that in college,
11:55
Speaker 1: where people could come to me and I was gonna,
11:57
Speaker 1: you know, be there for them no matter what. And
12:00
Speaker 1: that's still me, like that's just who I am to
12:02
Speaker 1: my core, still in the WNBA, but with a lot
12:06
Speaker 1: of vets, Like when you're playing with Asia Wilson, Chelsea Great,
12:08
Speaker 1: you know people like that. You know, it's not really
12:10
Speaker 1: like you're I'm not being like this huge leader or anything,
12:14
Speaker 1: but I am going to continue to be a great
12:16
Speaker 1: teammate because that's just like, you know, what I value.
12:19
Speaker 1: Wouldn't I wouldn't say it's the easiest role in the world,
12:22
Speaker 1: but it's also just you know, checking in on everybody,
12:25
Speaker 1: making sure everyone's good and just like putting others before you.
12:30
Speaker 1: And I think that whenever I'm doing that, I feel
12:33
Speaker 1: like I'm at my best, which ultimately helps me be
12:36
Speaker 1: a better basketball player. When I'm feeling at my best,
12:38
Speaker 1: it makes me play better. And so I kind of
12:40
Speaker 1: found that to be my role and kind of ran
12:43
Speaker 1: with it, and it's just kind of been my identity
12:45
Speaker 1: I guess since then.
12:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, makes you feel your best, but also ever gets exhausting.
12:51
Speaker 2: Question mark, I.
12:52
Speaker 1: Would I would say yes, as like any job could,
12:57
Speaker 1: you know, like I think you're body can go on
13:00
Speaker 1: for days and days, but mental fatigue is real, and
13:03
Speaker 1: so like you know, leaning on the people around you,
13:06
Speaker 1: like I lean on my family a lot, my dad,
13:09
Speaker 1: my mom, my sister, my brother, and you know, sometimes
13:13
Speaker 1: just getting away from basketball, not even talking about basketball,
13:16
Speaker 1: that can be a little bit of a mental break,
13:18
Speaker 1: or just ranting to them too. You know, they've been
13:21
Speaker 1: there for me every step with the way, and so
13:23
Speaker 1: I would say that's kind of how I combat that
13:27
Speaker 1: mental fatigue with it.
13:28
Speaker 3: Would you say that your upbringing contributed to you wanting
13:33
Speaker 3: to welcome stepping into a role like being the glue
13:37
Speaker 3: so to speak?
13:38
Speaker 2: For sure?
13:39
Speaker 1: I mean I grew up around sports, like my dad
13:42
Speaker 1: football coach, played football, My aunts and uncles all played
13:46
Speaker 1: basketball or football, and then my aunt coaches at Iowa,
13:51
Speaker 1: So I grew up around the women's basketball team there,
13:53
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to be like my siblings and
13:56
Speaker 1: they were such leaders, good leaders to me, and so
14:00
Speaker 1: we just I would kudos to my parents for me
14:04
Speaker 1: and both my siblings are very strong and independent and
14:07
Speaker 1: that's just kind of how they raised us, which I
14:10
Speaker 1: feel very grateful for. And so I've just kind of
14:15
Speaker 1: always been like a natural like leader, you know, where
14:18
Speaker 1: I've just always wanted to, you know, be the first
14:21
Speaker 1: one to step up, or like the teacher would be
14:24
Speaker 1: like can any strong boys carry these books? And I'd
14:27
Speaker 1: be like, hey, what about me? You know, like right here?
14:31
Speaker 1: You know. So it's funny, I don't know, just like
14:34
Speaker 1: a silly story, but I think that's just kind of
14:37
Speaker 1: always been in my DNA. And yeah, shout out to
14:39
Speaker 1: my family and my parents for sure.
14:41
Speaker 3: And shout out to your experience then playing football yourself. Yes, yes,
14:47
Speaker 3: I love the really you know flag twenty twenty eight la,
14:52
Speaker 3: but I guess maybe we have some sights set on
14:54
Speaker 3: something else.
14:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, no, I know. And like there's so
15:00
Speaker 1: many women's flag football leagues and I just think it's amazing.
15:04
Speaker 1: It makes me so happy. And women's wrestling as well,
15:07
Speaker 1: Like my high school has women's wrestling or girls wrestling now,
15:09
Speaker 1: and I wish I would have had that when I
15:11
Speaker 1: was in high school, and so it just makes me
15:13
Speaker 1: really happy to see it growing.
15:15
Speaker 3: It's so crazy to think about that now because there
15:18
Speaker 3: were just so many misconceptions about why young girls shouldn't
15:22
Speaker 3: have opportunities to do these sports previously, and so to
15:26
Speaker 3: see the change coming. I mean, I can only speak
15:30
Speaker 3: for myself, but I'm sure you feel the same way.
15:31
Speaker 2: It's just so invigorated, it really is.
15:34
Speaker 1: It makes me so happy, and like I'm literally only
15:37
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, but like the fact that I
15:39
Speaker 1: didn't even get those opportunities, it's just like cool to
15:42
Speaker 1: see in ten years how much it's it's grown, and
15:46
Speaker 1: it just makes me so happy because you know, when
15:48
Speaker 1: I raise my own children, I want them to be
15:50
Speaker 1: able to have those opportunities to play flag football if
15:53
Speaker 1: they want, or wrestle if they want. I if you know,
15:56
Speaker 1: a boy can do it, I don't see why a
15:57
Speaker 1: girl can't. Like I've never understood that, Like it didn't
15:59
Speaker 1: make sense in my brain. When my I asked my
16:02
Speaker 1: dad if I could play tackle football, He's like, you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: that's not for girls. I'm like, why not? You know
16:07
Speaker 1: that doesn't make sense. It did like I was eight
16:09
Speaker 1: years nine years old. It didn't make sense to me,
16:11
Speaker 1: and so it's just kind of funny, I guess that's
16:13
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like it's just kind of been in
16:15
Speaker 1: my DNA, like why not?
16:17
Speaker 2: Why not me? I love that?
16:18
Speaker 3: So, I mean, speaking of things that weren't really a thing,
16:22
Speaker 3: you were really you know, coming up at Iowa when
16:26
Speaker 3: I NIL was really becoming a big thing as well,
16:30
Speaker 3: and that definitely played a part in your rise to
16:35
Speaker 3: being known on top of your game, right that people
16:39
Speaker 3: were getting to know who you were because of your
16:42
Speaker 3: success as a player, and then also the exposure that
16:44
Speaker 3: you were getting through different Nile opportunities.
16:47
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about how it felt.
16:49
Speaker 3: For you as the human you, as the young woman,
16:54
Speaker 3: getting all of this attention from such a young.
16:57
Speaker 1: Age actually folk really weird, and being honest, I was
17:03
Speaker 1: lucky to be in while I was in college for
17:06
Speaker 1: what felt like thirty years. So I was there pre NIL,
17:12
Speaker 1: I was there pre COVID, during COVID, and then post
17:15
Speaker 1: COVID when NIL was also a thing, so I kind
17:18
Speaker 1: of got to see all sides, and it was it
17:21
Speaker 1: was different. I definitely didn't take advantage my last two
17:24
Speaker 1: years of college as much as I could have in
17:26
Speaker 1: the NIL landscape. I've definitely benefited off of it as
17:31
Speaker 1: a professional way more now. But yeah, it definitely felt
17:34
Speaker 1: odd because you know, there can be jealousy in the
17:38
Speaker 1: college landscape with it, you know, one person might be
17:41
Speaker 1: making hundreds of thousands and one person on the end
17:45
Speaker 1: of the bench might not be making any money. So
17:48
Speaker 1: I think, like you can definitely see that on college teams,
17:52
Speaker 1: and so I always wanted to like keep everybody feeling
17:56
Speaker 1: good and every you know, everybody, you know, everyone matters
17:59
Speaker 1: in our goal and like there's not one person that's
18:03
Speaker 1: higher or you know, lower than another. And I think
18:07
Speaker 1: coach Bluter did a great job in college of making
18:09
Speaker 1: that known, but there could have been a lot of jealousy.
18:12
Speaker 1: There wasn't on our team, but there could have been,
18:14
Speaker 1: And so I didn't like that personally because I just
18:17
Speaker 1: wanted everybody to just feel valued. But I also think
18:22
Speaker 1: that in so many ways it's just amazing and that
18:26
Speaker 1: we did deserve to benefit off of our name, image
18:29
Speaker 1: and likeness. And I'm so happy that everybody is getting
18:32
Speaker 1: the opportunity to do that now because there have been
18:36
Speaker 1: so many people that I've played with who have done
18:39
Speaker 1: so much for their university or so much for the
18:41
Speaker 1: game of basketball, and we all deserve to benefit from
18:45
Speaker 1: that because we've worked extremely hard to get there, and
18:48
Speaker 1: so it's like a sometimes I'm like, oh, this is
18:53
Speaker 1: just so weird, but sometimes I'm like, man, this is
18:55
Speaker 1: amazing and this is what we deserve. And so yeah,
18:57
Speaker 1: I definitely think there's like a little bit I'm like
19:00
Speaker 1: in between sometimes with it.
19:02
Speaker 3: I mean, it's good to hear that you felt that
19:05
Speaker 3: coach did a good job like kind of diffusing it,
19:08
Speaker 3: especially considering who you were playing with. I think that
19:12
Speaker 3: for so many from the outside looking in, they could
19:14
Speaker 3: make so many assumptions of what it could have been
19:16
Speaker 3: like to be playing alongside Caitlin as she was gaining
19:20
Speaker 3: so much name recognition. Rightfully, So do you think that
19:25
Speaker 3: it helped to have one another as you were navigating
19:29
Speaker 3: the unknown that was the world learning who you were?
19:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. It Actually, I think is part of
19:37
Speaker 1: the reason why we made it to Final fours is
19:40
Speaker 1: because we didn't listen to outside noise, We didn't care
19:44
Speaker 1: about other people's opinion, and whenever all of that stuff
19:47
Speaker 1: and all of the quote unquote fame was rising and
19:51
Speaker 1: all of the tension we were getting, we knew that
19:53
Speaker 1: we needed each other that much more and we didn't
19:56
Speaker 1: want anything to break our circle. And so that was
19:59
Speaker 1: really our mindset, and whenever you have that where nothing,
20:03
Speaker 1: no outside noise, no outside opinions can break our circle,
20:06
Speaker 1: then we just had that great chemistry and we just
20:08
Speaker 1: stayed together. And I think it's a testament to coach
20:12
Speaker 1: Blueter and the coaching staff, but also to the girls
20:15
Speaker 1: that I was playing with, and then the reason why
20:19
Speaker 1: we won a lot of games. There was a lot
20:21
Speaker 1: of love in that circle, for sure.
20:22
Speaker 3: I read up that you liked to like completely get
20:26
Speaker 3: off of social media when the pressure was really on.
20:29
Speaker 3: Talk to me about that decision and how you think
20:31
Speaker 3: that actually helped you mentally and your game.
20:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was the twenty twenty three season. I deleted
20:37
Speaker 1: social media for the whole year. It was like seven months,
20:42
Speaker 1: and I loved it. I read so many books and
20:47
Speaker 1: it was just nice. I didn't see what was going on.
20:50
Speaker 1: It was honestly refreshing. You see a lot of negative,
20:53
Speaker 1: a lot of people's opinions that do not matter. I
20:57
Speaker 1: deleted it for a little bit this season too, for
20:59
Speaker 1: a couple months, and it's just sometimes good to just
21:02
Speaker 1: get a little break and not see so much negative,
21:05
Speaker 1: see so much hate. And there's a lot of benefits
21:07
Speaker 1: to social media and a lot of great things, but
21:09
Speaker 1: there can be a lot of negative comments and remarks
21:13
Speaker 1: that just don't benefit any human beings. So I always
21:18
Speaker 1: think it's refreshing to get off of it for a
21:20
Speaker 1: little bit.
21:21
Speaker 3: I appreciated what you said before about really wanting to
21:25
Speaker 3: support your circle and show up for each other, and
21:27
Speaker 3: that's actually a really big.
21:29
Speaker 2: Part of your draft day story.
21:31
Speaker 3: I love talk a little bit about this because here
21:34
Speaker 3: you are just in New York thinking you're here to support.
21:37
Speaker 2: Caitlyn, and you have quite the day yourself.
21:39
Speaker 3: Tell me about the vibe surrounding that day where your
21:42
Speaker 3: head was at, and so for yeah, yeah.
21:45
Speaker 1: We had all decided we were going to pack nice
21:48
Speaker 1: outfits to go to the draft and support Caitlin, and
21:53
Speaker 1: so I just like, yeah, just whatever, We're like a
21:58
Speaker 1: decently nice out And I remember.
22:01
Speaker 2: Would you have changed your outfit if you projected.
22:04
Speaker 1: Yes, of course I would have.
22:06
Speaker 2: Called from the closet, right, Yeah, I.
22:09
Speaker 1: Would have tried to like, I don't know, look a
22:12
Speaker 1: little cooler. But whatever it is, it just adds on
22:17
Speaker 1: to the lore.
22:18
Speaker 2: Uh so good.
22:19
Speaker 1: But Caitlin's agent, who is now my agent at the time,
22:23
Speaker 1: was like, hey, like, if you hear your name called,
22:25
Speaker 1: like you should go walk up on the stage, and
22:28
Speaker 1: like every mock draft I had seen, it was like
22:31
Speaker 1: late third round, and so I was like, no, I'm
22:34
Speaker 1: not doing the pity walk across the stage, like that's
22:37
Speaker 1: so embarrassing, which in reality, like I would have told
22:40
Speaker 1: anybody else to do that, that's so cool, but like
22:43
Speaker 1: for me, I was like, uh no, you know, we
22:45
Speaker 1: actually rode the subway to the draft, so like I
22:49
Speaker 1: rode the subway in New York City to the draft,
22:52
Speaker 1: was with Jada and Gabby and middle of the second round,
22:57
Speaker 1: you know, there's a camera on me like pick like
23:00
Speaker 1: teen or sixteen, and I'm like, oh my god, Like
23:02
Speaker 1: am I about to get picked? Somebody had just come
23:05
Speaker 1: over and was like you need to move to the
23:07
Speaker 1: outside right now, and I was like what is happening?
23:10
Speaker 1: And like Gabby and Jada are already crying and they're like,
23:12
Speaker 1: oh my god, Like I stopped. So I had just
23:15
Speaker 1: texted my family and said, hey, I think I'm about
23:18
Speaker 1: to get drafted, and they were having a watch party
23:20
Speaker 1: at my cousin's house. And so then pick eighteen came
23:24
Speaker 1: and the camera's right in front of my face, and
23:26
Speaker 1: that's why. I Like, everybody's like, you didn't look surprised.
23:28
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, it's hard to look surprised when there's
23:31
Speaker 1: a camera five feet in front of your face. So yeah,
23:34
Speaker 1: but that was a dream come true. And I just
23:37
Speaker 1: feel really grateful for Vegas and coach Hammond for giving
23:41
Speaker 1: me that opportunity. And yeah, it's cool what's changed in
23:45
Speaker 1: two years, But excited for the rest of my career.
24:07
Speaker 3: What's changed in two years, Kate? Besides obviously geography.
24:11
Speaker 1: Geography for sure, I feel like, you know, really learning
24:17
Speaker 1: from the vets that I was around, like how you
24:20
Speaker 1: approach workouts, you know, the mental side to it. I
24:25
Speaker 1: feel like, really this year I've been more focused on
24:30
Speaker 1: like my recovery and how I fuel my body, just
24:35
Speaker 1: figuring out like what works for me, what makes my
24:38
Speaker 1: body feel the best, what makes me feel ready to
24:42
Speaker 1: perform at the highest level that I can. And so
24:45
Speaker 1: I'm still figuring that out and just learning and growing
24:48
Speaker 1: on that has been like a big journey the last
24:53
Speaker 1: couple of years being in the league.
24:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so admirable and obviously so many tools
24:58
Speaker 3: in the toolbox. If you have to highlight a few
25:01
Speaker 3: things that are kind of non negotiables for you. Right now,
25:04
Speaker 3: when you think about wellness routine, how you take care
25:07
Speaker 3: of you, what comes to mine.
25:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would definitely say fueling my body, whether it
25:13
Speaker 1: comes to food or hydration. I am a very simple girl.
25:17
Speaker 1: I just eat the same foods every single day. I
25:20
Speaker 1: do not straight away. I know what I like and
25:22
Speaker 1: that's okay with me. So I just always have eggs
25:26
Speaker 1: and rice in the morning. During my workout, I have
25:31
Speaker 1: a drip drop and water every single day. And for lunch,
25:36
Speaker 1: I'll eat whatever is provided, typically a chicken breast or
25:42
Speaker 1: like a Caesar salad, you know, like a salad with chicken.
25:45
Speaker 1: And then for dinner I make chicken, rice and broccoli
25:48
Speaker 1: pretty much every night every night. It's a chef right though.
25:53
Speaker 1: I but seriously, I have been trying not to eat
25:56
Speaker 1: out as much and that has made like a huge difference.
25:59
Speaker 1: I used to to just order food all the time,
26:03
Speaker 1: but really like focusing on my hydration drip drop has
26:07
Speaker 1: really benefited me making sure I'm good during my workouts
26:12
Speaker 1: and afterwards. And then yeah, just honestly, if people could
26:17
Speaker 1: cut out eating out, and it's also so expensive in
26:20
Speaker 1: San Francisco, not to knock but boy, I have been
26:24
Speaker 1: saving some money.
26:26
Speaker 3: Wait, do you have a favorite San Francisco rac I mean,
26:28
Speaker 3: I don't want to. I want to ask you this
26:30
Speaker 3: is I want your rack, but I don't know if
26:32
Speaker 3: I want like the world to show up at your restaurant.
26:33
Speaker 2: But can you tell us what the what the spot is?
26:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm I'm obsessed with Bluestone Cafe just at Okay. Yeah,
26:42
Speaker 1: it's just a little cafe. I love the breakfast. I
26:45
Speaker 1: haven't even been since I've been back in San Francisco
26:47
Speaker 1: because I literally used to go every single day, and
26:50
Speaker 1: I swear it it did not help me in the
26:53
Speaker 1: fitness category.
26:55
Speaker 2: It ain't it.
26:56
Speaker 1: It ain't it.
26:56
Speaker 3: It's so good though, it's so good when you reflect
27:00
Speaker 3: on the last two years. We're talking about, you know,
27:02
Speaker 3: different wellness habits that help you feel your best. But
27:05
Speaker 3: what would you say the most difficult part has been
27:08
Speaker 3: for you in your last two years in the league.
27:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say like the time management and not
27:15
Speaker 1: like maybe like preparing meals beforehand or you know, just
27:20
Speaker 1: doing something that's convenient and so just like eat going
27:24
Speaker 1: and like picking up food. You know that might not
27:27
Speaker 1: always be like it's not always necessarily unhealthy, but still
27:31
Speaker 1: eating you know, clean foods at home is definitely more
27:34
Speaker 1: beneficial for me. So that has been something that I
27:38
Speaker 1: have definitely had to you know, hone in on. And
27:42
Speaker 1: then recovery is something that's just huge that the WNBA,
27:46
Speaker 1: like our teams, our team here with the Valkyries, really
27:50
Speaker 1: really emphasizes, and so just figuring out like what recovery
27:55
Speaker 1: methods like I really like I love the cold tub,
27:58
Speaker 1: you know, all sauna, But like, mobility has been huge
28:01
Speaker 1: for me, just trying to really work on my hit mobility.
28:05
Speaker 1: If I'm being honest, just like it's just kind of
28:08
Speaker 1: like the segue to like all of my like, if
28:11
Speaker 1: I'm having me pains, it's probably because my you know,
28:15
Speaker 1: quads are super duper tight. And so that has been
28:18
Speaker 1: really big for me because I used to just be
28:21
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna warm up, I'll just go out there,
28:23
Speaker 1: I'll be fine. But that is not how it works anymore.
28:26
Speaker 1: And so I would definitely say that's a big thing
28:29
Speaker 1: that I've had to focus on.
28:30
Speaker 2: I hear that.
28:31
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm in my thirties, and it's a lot
28:33
Speaker 3: different as you get older, for sure, just by being
28:36
Speaker 3: a professional athlete over here. I know that you yourself
28:40
Speaker 3: are also super familiar with injury. It's something that you
28:43
Speaker 3: really navigated pretty gnarly stuff in college.
28:46
Speaker 2: Talk to me about how.
28:48
Speaker 3: Those difficult moments having to take a backseat to doing
28:52
Speaker 3: what you love have helped you have more appreciation for
28:55
Speaker 3: what you get to do today.
28:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would definitely say it was like the best
29:00
Speaker 1: that's happened to me. Humbled me a lot. When you
29:04
Speaker 1: go through injury, you have to set out take a
29:08
Speaker 1: backseat to what you love. It first of all, teaches
29:12
Speaker 1: you empathy for your teammates who have ever gone through that.
29:16
Speaker 1: Teaches you, you know, how to support any of your
29:20
Speaker 1: teammates if they ever go through that, which you never
29:22
Speaker 1: ever would wish that upon anybody. But it really taught
29:25
Speaker 1: me how to be a good teammate first and to
29:28
Speaker 1: cheer for others. I think, you know, coming out of
29:32
Speaker 1: high school going into college, you kind of think you're,
29:34
Speaker 1: you know, the top dog, you were the best in
29:36
Speaker 1: high school, and then you go to college and it's
29:39
Speaker 1: like I went through that injury and I really got
29:42
Speaker 1: to watch the older players in front of me and
29:48
Speaker 1: see how they spoke to their teammates. And then like
29:50
Speaker 1: I've really just took that mindset of being super positive,
29:54
Speaker 1: cheering everybody else on being the number one cheerleader, and
29:56
Speaker 1: then it just kind of stuck with me because, Yeah,
30:00
Speaker 1: I just realized, Like when I was cheering for one
30:03
Speaker 1: of my teammates and I just kept telling her she
30:05
Speaker 1: was the best at this specific thing. And I remember
30:07
Speaker 1: she was a senior, I was a freshman. She came
30:09
Speaker 1: up to me one time and just told me like, hey,
30:11
Speaker 1: like I really appreciate that, Like it makes me feel
30:14
Speaker 1: really good, you know, and like she didn't have to
30:16
Speaker 1: say that, and I didn't even realize I was doing it.
30:18
Speaker 1: And then I just, you know, same thing for me,
30:21
Speaker 1: like when I'm feeling like confident, you know, I'm gonna
30:24
Speaker 1: give my best effort and I'm going to play probably
30:27
Speaker 1: my best and so really embracing that and continuing that.
30:31
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I've learned from going through injuries,
30:34
Speaker 1: how to be a cheerleader before anything else.
30:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, tearing your acl and lateralminiscus isn't an
30:42
Speaker 3: easy thing to go through. It is so refreshing and
30:46
Speaker 3: really beautiful to hear your takeaways from that because so
30:50
Speaker 3: many people could go through a moment like that and
30:53
Speaker 3: really fall into that victim mindset. Would you say that
30:57
Speaker 3: there were points where you experienced the vicar the mindset
31:00
Speaker 3: and if so, how are you able to pull yourself
31:03
Speaker 3: out of that?
31:04
Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, definitely. I mean I think going through injury,
31:07
Speaker 1: there's gonna be highs and lows. There's gonna be plateaus,
31:10
Speaker 1: like you're going to go through a range of emotions,
31:13
Speaker 1: and just like knowing that it's just one day at
31:16
Speaker 1: a time, you know, you have to really just focus
31:18
Speaker 1: on the journey and the process over the results right away,
31:21
Speaker 1: because it is just a journey. And like it took
31:24
Speaker 1: me probably a full two years to even feel mentally
31:27
Speaker 1: like healthy and to mentally come back from that getting
31:30
Speaker 1: knocked down a few times in a few games and
31:33
Speaker 1: realizing like, oh I got back up and my knee
31:35
Speaker 1: is fine. You know. So that's a side that people
31:37
Speaker 1: might not talk about as much, is the mental comeback
31:41
Speaker 1: from that. And yeah, so I would say if anybody's
31:45
Speaker 1: going through injury, like stick with it, you know, find
31:48
Speaker 1: the positives and every single day and if you have
31:50
Speaker 1: a bad day, that's okay too, because you're gonna have
31:52
Speaker 1: bad days. And if you plateau for a little bit.
31:55
Speaker 1: That's all right, because you're going to eventually, you know,
31:58
Speaker 1: start trending upwards if you he continued to do the
32:01
Speaker 1: right things and take care of your body. And you know,
32:04
Speaker 1: I've seen so many teammates unfortunately go through injury and
32:08
Speaker 1: it's it's not all sunshine and rainbows. You know, there's
32:11
Speaker 1: gonna be hard days, especially whenever you can't play the
32:15
Speaker 1: game that you love. Like that's hard in itself. So yeah,
32:18
Speaker 1: I would definitely say just got through it with a
32:20
Speaker 1: lot of support as well.
32:22
Speaker 3: This circles me back to this concept of playing more
32:25
Speaker 3: regularly in the WANBA because although not injury like you
32:29
Speaker 3: do then experience more loss. Right, how did you learn
32:32
Speaker 3: how to deal with losing more as a professional?
32:36
Speaker 2: Yeah?
32:37
Speaker 1: I remember in Vegas last year and we had lost
32:41
Speaker 1: a few games, and like people were so positive, and
32:45
Speaker 1: I was just like, man, I like talk to one
32:47
Speaker 1: of my teammates I can't remember who, and she's like,
32:49
Speaker 1: it's a long season. We play tomorrow and I was like,
32:52
Speaker 1: oh yeah, She's like, you got to move on. And
32:55
Speaker 1: I think, just like with that busy schedule, you cannot
32:58
Speaker 1: linger in the past. You know, you have to have
33:00
Speaker 1: that goldfish mentality, you know, short term, because you might
33:04
Speaker 1: play the next day or you're gonna have practice tomorrow,
33:07
Speaker 1: and so you cannot dwell on the past, and you
33:09
Speaker 1: really just got to keep pushing and looking forward.
33:12
Speaker 2: Looking forward.
33:14
Speaker 3: You've also, in addition to being the glue back in college,
33:17
Speaker 3: you've been called an underdog.
33:20
Speaker 2: What do you think about that, Kate?
33:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it like it is what it is,
33:25
Speaker 1: Like I.
33:26
Speaker 2: How you really feel?
33:27
Speaker 1: No, I like it doesn't. It does not bother me
33:30
Speaker 1: at all. I mean, I guess I would rather just like,
33:33
Speaker 1: if people are going to call me an underdog, then
33:35
Speaker 1: I'll just exceed people's expectations, you know, when I do
33:38
Speaker 1: something well. So I think I've won and done a
33:42
Speaker 1: lot of great things at every single level. You know,
33:45
Speaker 1: I am, you know, kind of an underdog. Like people
33:48
Speaker 1: have always looked past me, looked over me my whole life.
33:52
Speaker 1: And that's fine with me because people's opinions don't bother
33:55
Speaker 1: me and it's not going to change who I am,
33:57
Speaker 1: And so it is what it is.
34:00
Speaker 2: What do you want people to see when they look
34:02
Speaker 2: at you?
34:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a great question. Really, Like obviously
34:08
Speaker 1: I want people to see a good basketball player. Like
34:10
Speaker 1: that's like, I am a basketball player. That's my profession.
34:12
Speaker 1: That's what like I've like, you know, always love basketball,
34:17
Speaker 1: and like I will continue to love basketball. Like I
34:19
Speaker 1: want people to be like dang, like she can play,
34:21
Speaker 1: you know, but I also want people to see like
34:23
Speaker 1: a good person who cares about her teammates and who
34:25
Speaker 1: is a lot more than just a basketball player.
34:27
Speaker 2: Yeah.
34:28
Speaker 3: I mean I usually hold this specific question for the end,
34:31
Speaker 3: but I'm going to loop it in here. So many
34:33
Speaker 3: people do look at you on social something like over
34:37
Speaker 3: five hundred thousand followers keeping up with you, seeing this
34:40
Speaker 3: player for the Valkyries. But when you look in the mirror, key,
34:44
Speaker 3: what is it that you see looking back at you?
34:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, I see a sister, I see a daughter, I
34:51
Speaker 1: see a friend, a teammate, I see an aunt. You know,
34:54
Speaker 1: I have a lot of amazing things in my life,
35:00
Speaker 1: but I also see a basketball player. You know, Like
35:02
Speaker 1: basketball isn't my identity, but like it is a lot
35:06
Speaker 1: of who I am, and basketball has taught me so
35:08
Speaker 1: many amazing things. And so you know, I can't sit
35:11
Speaker 1: here and be like, oh, I'm so much more than
35:14
Speaker 1: a basketball player. I know I am, but like at
35:16
Speaker 1: the same time, like this is like all I've ever wanted.
35:20
Speaker 1: I care about how well I play, I care about
35:23
Speaker 1: being good, and like these things are important to me,
35:27
Speaker 1: and that's just how it is, and that's how it
35:29
Speaker 1: always will be for the rest of my life. Yeah,
35:31
Speaker 1: And I just want to be the best in every
35:34
Speaker 1: single category that I can be. I want to be
35:37
Speaker 1: a great sister, I want to be a great daughter,
35:39
Speaker 1: I want to be a great friend, teammate, I want
35:41
Speaker 1: to be a great basketball player. And so putting myself
35:44
Speaker 1: in the positions to help me grow and continue to
35:47
Speaker 1: be great in all of those areas is, you know,
35:50
Speaker 1: kind of my goals always, And that's what I see
35:55
Speaker 1: when I look in the mirror, and that's okay with me.
35:58
Speaker 1: You know.
36:00
Speaker 2: You say that you're hard on yourself Gate for sure.
36:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think I would be here if I wasn't.
36:06
Speaker 1: I don't think i'd be in this position if I wasn't.
36:08
Speaker 1: And I think there's definitely a balance that I'm still
36:10
Speaker 1: figuring out. But like a lot of professional athletes are
36:14
Speaker 1: hard on themselves. And if you're just like, oh, it's okay,
36:17
Speaker 1: I just went oh for nine, Like, I don't think
36:20
Speaker 1: you'd be a professional athlete, you know.
36:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean again, not a professional athlete in
36:25
Speaker 3: any sense of the word over here. But recently I
36:28
Speaker 3: ran a marathon and I didn't run it as fast
36:30
Speaker 3: as I want to, Thank you. I didn't run it
36:32
Speaker 3: as fast as I wanted to, despite like it being
36:35
Speaker 3: a major accomplishment, and it took me a few days.
36:38
Speaker 3: But then I was able to like zoom out and
36:39
Speaker 3: be like, Yo, this is pretty dope, right, And so
36:42
Speaker 3: for you, coming from someone who else can clearly be
36:46
Speaker 3: quite hard on herself, does anything come to mind when
36:48
Speaker 3: I ask you, like, when was the last time that
36:50
Speaker 3: maybe you realized after a little while that you were
36:53
Speaker 3: a little too hard on yourself?
36:56
Speaker 1: I mean this week? Yeah, yeah, like pretty much every day,
37:01
Speaker 1: every day, you know, I guess, like even like the
37:07
Speaker 1: national championship, Like we would have loved to have won
37:10
Speaker 1: one of the national championships, But then like when we
37:13
Speaker 1: zoom out and look at the big picture of all
37:15
Speaker 1: of the lives we've touched, all of the you know,
37:19
Speaker 1: cool things we got to experience with that, I think,
37:22
Speaker 1: you know, second place was a pretty great accomplishment for us,
37:25
Speaker 1: even though we would have loved to have been number one.
37:28
Speaker 1: But even for example, like this week, just like first
37:32
Speaker 1: week back working in San Francisco, and I've like, you know,
37:36
Speaker 1: been working really hard while I'm home, and I've just
37:38
Speaker 1: been shooting terribly and I'm just like, gosh, you know,
37:41
Speaker 1: being negative. And then I told my teammates who are here,
37:45
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, tomorrow today which is today. Now,
37:48
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm going to be super positive and I'm
37:51
Speaker 1: not going to say anything bad, you know, And I
37:54
Speaker 1: was a little bit better, so it's progress. And then
37:58
Speaker 1: I think about it at night and like, what, what
38:00
Speaker 1: is that really benefiting? It's not benefiting anything, So that's
38:04
Speaker 1: it's silly. And I wouldn't want my teammates to talk
38:06
Speaker 1: to themselves like that. So it's always it's always funny
38:09
Speaker 1: when you like zoom out and think like would I
38:12
Speaker 1: ever talk to my teammates the way I talk to myself?
38:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. So what's what's the point.
38:17
Speaker 3: So give me an example of like what the negative
38:20
Speaker 3: language could look like.
38:21
Speaker 2: You're like, oh, I'm so scared to put this on display.
38:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, I can't really probably say everything that I think.
38:30
Speaker 2: They're so swearing in here.
38:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, but just like, what are you doing like, you know,
38:35
Speaker 1: doubting like that I'm even good enough to be in
38:38
Speaker 1: the WNBA, things like that, Like that's so silly, all
38:40
Speaker 1: because I missed four shots in a row. Like that's
38:44
Speaker 1: just when you zoom out of it, you're like, oh wow,
38:46
Speaker 1: that is very dramatic. That's what I think of myself.
38:50
Speaker 3: Something I do when I am going through moments where
38:54
Speaker 3: I feel as though I'm missing all of the shots right,
38:57
Speaker 3: is that I'll sit down and all write out a
39:01
Speaker 3: ton of I AM statements that affirm me in like
39:05
Speaker 3: what I know to be true.
39:06
Speaker 2: So if we're.
39:07
Speaker 3: Talking about like being a podcaster, I am someone that
39:14
Speaker 3: has good conversations. I am someone who has a top
39:17
Speaker 3: one hundred health in well on this podcast. I am
39:19
Speaker 3: someone that has been a journalist for almost two decades. Like,
39:22
Speaker 3: there are things that I can say out loud that
39:24
Speaker 3: affirm me and remind me who the hell I am.
39:27
Speaker 3: So right now, if I was to ask you to
39:29
Speaker 3: tell me some I AM statements about who you are
39:32
Speaker 3: as a basketball player.
39:33
Speaker 2: What would you say?
39:34
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I just want you to know this
39:37
Speaker 1: is like my worst nightmare.
39:41
Speaker 2: Oh God, Like I've just talked about my feelings and like.
39:47
Speaker 1: Counseling. I'm in therapy. You Oh gosh, Okay, here we go.
39:54
Speaker 1: I'll say a couple I am a smart basketball player.
40:00
Speaker 1: I am good at making the right reads on the
40:05
Speaker 1: basketball court. I am a hard worker, and I am
40:09
Speaker 1: a person who really cares.
40:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm hyped out because it's true. And then maybe
40:17
Speaker 3: tomorrow when you go back into it and you were
40:20
Speaker 3: a little bit better today, you're going to be shooting
40:22
Speaker 3: tomorrow and you're like, I am someone that makes really
40:24
Speaker 3: good reads.
40:25
Speaker 1: Come on, let's go nothing about it for sure.
40:46
Speaker 2: Talk to me a little bit about Unrivaled.
40:48
Speaker 3: It's kind of like what we were talking about, how
40:49
Speaker 3: you went through such an interesting time period in college
40:52
Speaker 3: pre COVID, post COVID, COVID, pre nil, post nil. Now
40:56
Speaker 3: with Unrivaled and not just having the WNBA women's basketball
41:00
Speaker 3: and women's sports as a whole is getting so much
41:02
Speaker 3: more attention and eyes.
41:04
Speaker 2: How has Unrivaled been good for you? And what are
41:06
Speaker 2: you looking forward to in the next year.
41:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I always say in my family jokes too, like
41:12
Speaker 1: I'm like the luckiest personal live I just was born
41:14
Speaker 1: at the perfect time. Like I just cannot believe it
41:18
Speaker 1: because I am a home body, and so being able
41:21
Speaker 1: to stay in the States and continue to play and
41:23
Speaker 1: get better is something that is just amazing and I'm
41:26
Speaker 1: so grateful for because it's just another cool place for
41:29
Speaker 1: my family to be able to come visit, which they love.
41:32
Speaker 1: And I'm grateful that I have a family who wants
41:35
Speaker 1: to come visit me and see me and all these
41:37
Speaker 1: cool things that I get to do, and so that
41:40
Speaker 1: right there, being able to stay in the States is huge.
41:43
Speaker 1: But then just like working on a different aspect of
41:45
Speaker 1: my game, like the three on three styles, a lot
41:47
Speaker 1: of one on one defense and there's not a lot
41:50
Speaker 1: of help side. You can't really hide your errors in
41:54
Speaker 1: three on three, and also a lot of offensively, like
41:59
Speaker 1: a lot of ball screen reads, and working on my
42:02
Speaker 1: ball handling is something that I've just really always wanted
42:05
Speaker 1: to need it to get better at and continuing to
42:07
Speaker 1: get better at, and so three on three is a
42:10
Speaker 1: lot of that, and so and it's a lot of
42:12
Speaker 1: ballscreen defense on the other end, and that's like something
42:15
Speaker 1: I can always and everyone, well, there's a lot of
42:18
Speaker 1: great defenders, but I can always get better at and
42:21
Speaker 1: so just it's really benefit of my game, and I'm
42:25
Speaker 1: excited for another year of that. And it's also nice
42:28
Speaker 1: to kind of get out of the five on five
42:30
Speaker 1: format and just like play something different. You know, sometimes
42:33
Speaker 1: if you're playing for twelve months of the year, like
42:37
Speaker 1: you can get burnt out a little bit, and so
42:38
Speaker 1: it's fun to have a little different variation of basketball
42:41
Speaker 1: while continuing to get better a.
42:43
Speaker 2: Little different variation.
42:45
Speaker 3: I love the way that you talk about like working
42:48
Speaker 3: on your skills as an opportunity. I love the way
42:50
Speaker 3: you talk about your family, and I also know that
42:52
Speaker 3: you're very passionate about the opportunity to give back, which
42:55
Speaker 3: goes hand in hand with you being a part of
42:59
Speaker 3: athletics Power of She collective.
43:01
Speaker 2: Where were you when you.
43:03
Speaker 3: Got the call that this was something that could happen
43:06
Speaker 3: for you And how did it make you feel?
43:08
Speaker 1: It made me feel amazing. First of all, I just
43:13
Speaker 1: align with their brand and what they stand for so much,
43:17
Speaker 1: and I feel grateful that I've gotten the opportunity to
43:20
Speaker 1: work with them, because you know, not a lot of
43:22
Speaker 1: people get that opportunity. And then for a brand to
43:26
Speaker 1: really just like uplift women and have the power of She,
43:30
Speaker 1: you know, and be represented by so many great women.
43:33
Speaker 1: Simone Biles Lexihole, Katie Ledecki, you know, and the list
43:37
Speaker 1: goes on and on, and so I think that's just
43:40
Speaker 1: something super cool where I, you know, get a lot
43:43
Speaker 1: of benefits working with Athleta, but also it's like I
43:47
Speaker 1: am not just saying yes to something just because I
43:50
Speaker 1: think it's cool, but it's like, oh, I really align
43:52
Speaker 1: with everything that they believe in, and like it really
43:56
Speaker 1: reflects like how I feel as well. And so that's
43:59
Speaker 1: that's something super cool. And I remember when, you know,
44:02
Speaker 1: my agent said this and I was like, oh my god,
44:05
Speaker 1: like this is really cool. Like I had to act
44:08
Speaker 1: like like I wasn't too excited, you know, keep them
44:10
Speaker 1: on their toes a little. But it's just been a
44:13
Speaker 1: really great partnership and the fact that they're based here
44:16
Speaker 1: in San Francisco too. Literally the Athletic store is a
44:20
Speaker 1: couple of blocks away from me, and so I hop
44:22
Speaker 1: in there and talk to them quite often or get
44:25
Speaker 1: me clothes and yeah, so it's really special.
44:28
Speaker 3: It's really cool because I think there's no two ways
44:32
Speaker 3: about it, Like you're obviously a girls girl, and so
44:35
Speaker 3: to be someone that's so supportive of other people, it
44:39
Speaker 3: like it it makes so much sense, which I don't
44:42
Speaker 3: feel like you get to say very often when we
44:44
Speaker 3: think about you know, like different partnerships and different opportunities.
44:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And I love that. It's like a you know,
44:51
Speaker 1: like Athleta isn't a huge, huge brand, like we're we're
44:56
Speaker 1: going that way, you know. But it's also like it
44:58
Speaker 1: makes it feel so like special and you know, and
45:01
Speaker 1: it's not just something like I'm just saying yes to
45:04
Speaker 1: this because i think it's just gonna be cool and
45:08
Speaker 1: I'll get like free stuff or whatever. It's like no,
45:10
Speaker 1: like they really like talk the talk and walk the walk,
45:14
Speaker 1: like they really invest in women and they give back
45:18
Speaker 1: to the community, and that's something that is really really special.
45:22
Speaker 2: What are you looking forward to you now, Kate?
45:25
Speaker 1: What am I looking forward to now? In life? In basketball?
45:28
Speaker 2: Whatever you want, my girl, the world is your oyster.
45:31
Speaker 1: The world is my oyster. That's what I'm looking forward to.
45:35
Speaker 1: I think I'm really looking forward to this upcoming unrivaled season,
45:39
Speaker 1: you know, being able to just continue working on the
45:43
Speaker 1: skills that I've been working on this off season. Really
45:46
Speaker 1: looking forward to next year's WNBA season, interested to see
45:49
Speaker 1: what's going to happen. It's going to be a really
45:52
Speaker 1: interesting off season in the WNBA, and I'm looking forward
45:55
Speaker 1: to spending the holidays with my family, and I love
46:00
Speaker 1: any time with my nephews, And you know, those are
46:02
Speaker 1: moments that I really cherish during my off season because
46:05
Speaker 1: when I'm in the WNBA season, I don't get to
46:07
Speaker 1: come home and unrivaled. I won't be able to either.
46:10
Speaker 1: So looking forward just to quality time with the people
46:13
Speaker 1: I love and care about and looking forward to playing basketball.
46:18
Speaker 1: That's you know, I actually couldn't have scripted this up
46:21
Speaker 1: any better myself, you know, any better myself. This is
46:24
Speaker 1: just you know, I really am living out my dream.
46:27
Speaker 3: It's so awesome for someone that hears this from you,
46:30
Speaker 3: that has a dream that they're aspiring to. Obviously, hard
46:33
Speaker 3: work is a big piece to the puzzle. But when
46:35
Speaker 3: you think about offering advice to someone that wants to
46:39
Speaker 3: chase one of theirs, whether it is athletically related or not,
46:43
Speaker 3: what comes to mind for you?
46:44
Speaker 2: Kate?
46:45
Speaker 1: Don't doubt yourself? Why not? You? You know it? Really,
46:49
Speaker 1: if you put your mind to anything like you can,
46:51
Speaker 1: you can go get it. Find people around you that
46:54
Speaker 1: have the same vision as you. Don't be hanging around
46:57
Speaker 1: a crowd that doesn't you know, align with you morally
47:01
Speaker 1: or have the same goals and vision that you do,
47:05
Speaker 1: because you know, you really are who you surround yourself with.
47:08
Speaker 1: And so I think surrounding yourself with people who are
47:12
Speaker 1: like minded, who are driven, who have goals, I think
47:16
Speaker 1: that's super important and something I've always done my whole life,
47:19
Speaker 1: and it makes a difference. And so if you're around
47:23
Speaker 1: the wrong crowd, they'll only bring you down. And so
47:26
Speaker 1: I think that's something that is really huge whenever you're
47:30
Speaker 1: trying to reach goals.
47:31
Speaker 3: When you got immersed into the WNBA, you obviously had
47:35
Speaker 3: the opportunity to play alongside some of the best to
47:39
Speaker 3: ever do it. Was there any bit of starstruckness with
47:43
Speaker 3: that playing with the people that you looked up to
47:45
Speaker 3: since you were young in the game yourself?
47:48
Speaker 1: For sure, it's like impossible not to like let that
47:52
Speaker 1: hit you. It's like a pinch me moment.
47:54
Speaker 2: I mean, like going on Supbirds podcast.
47:57
Speaker 1: I know it, it really is. It really is crazy.
48:01
Speaker 1: I've yeah, Like I said, my family always jokes that
48:05
Speaker 1: I was just born at the perfect time. I've just
48:07
Speaker 1: gotten to meet some really cool people and have gotten
48:11
Speaker 1: to do some really really cool things. And I am
48:14
Speaker 1: forever grateful for basketball for taking me to the most
48:18
Speaker 1: amazing places and meeting some amazing people. But yeah, like
48:21
Speaker 1: I've gotten to play with some of the best in
48:25
Speaker 1: the world, and I've gotten you know, coached by some
48:29
Speaker 1: of the best in the world, and I feel very
48:34
Speaker 1: grateful for that. I've learned a lot, and I you know,
48:38
Speaker 1: I just want to, you know, hopefully one day, you know,
48:41
Speaker 1: when I'm old and retiring, somebody's like, man, I got
48:45
Speaker 1: to play with Kate Martin. You know, that would be
48:46
Speaker 1: cool to me, you know, so I kind of hope
48:51
Speaker 1: that's what you know, will happen in like twenty years.
48:56
Speaker 3: We just got to keep working on flipping that negative
48:58
Speaker 3: self top. Yeah, you're gonna be in it for the
49:00
Speaker 3: long game.
49:01
Speaker 1: Let's go.
49:02
Speaker 3: Well, I'm so happy that we were able to sit
49:04
Speaker 3: down today before I let you go. Right now, Kate,
49:06
Speaker 3: you have an opportunity to offer yourself a piece of advice.
49:09
Speaker 3: Let's go back to that Hurtle moment when you were
49:11
Speaker 3: working through all of the mental difficulties that went hand
49:15
Speaker 3: in hand with those rough injuries back in college.
49:18
Speaker 2: Right now, knowing what you know now.
49:21
Speaker 3: What advice would you give to your younger self during
49:24
Speaker 3: that hurdle moment.
49:25
Speaker 1: Man, Honestly, I don't think I would change anything. I would.
49:29
Speaker 1: My only advice is just saying positive, you know, leaning
49:35
Speaker 1: on the people that you know are around you and
49:38
Speaker 1: care about you. And I'm just going to keep it
49:40
Speaker 1: at that because really, like, I would not change a
49:43
Speaker 1: single thing of how I handled any of that, because
49:46
Speaker 1: it's just kind of made me into who I am today.
49:48
Speaker 1: So stay positive, stay the course, and lean on the
49:51
Speaker 1: people around you.
49:53
Speaker 3: Lean on the people around you, keep Martin so happy
49:56
Speaker 3: we were able to do this. For those that aren't
49:57
Speaker 3: following along with you just yet, give me the info.
50:00
Speaker 3: Where can they find you online? How they keep up
50:02
Speaker 3: with you?
50:03
Speaker 2: What's up?
50:04
Speaker 1: Oh god, social media?
50:07
Speaker 2: I guess you're like, I have to send them to
50:10
Speaker 2: my Instagram.
50:11
Speaker 1: Instagram, TikTok, yeah, all the goodness.
50:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, So there, I guess I'm over at Emily Body
50:21
Speaker 3: at Hurdle Podcast, Another hurdle conquered.
50:24
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time,