"So sexy, Grazie!" - When Caitlin Clark fully embraced making pizzas on Iowa's Italy trip

Caitlin Clark has ventured into a variety of activities this offseason, including golf, leadership seminars, and more. But exploring interests outside of basketball is nothing new for the Indiana Fever star.

Back in 2023, while still playing for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark and her teammates traveled to Italy, where they had the chance to make pizzas. Even in the kitchen, their competitive nature was on display.

As soon as Clark’s pizza came out of the oven, she wasted no time praising her own work.

“That is so sexy,” Clark said. "Grazie (thanks)! Fire. Insane. The best pizzas here.”

The Iowa team's pizza-making adventure in Italy led to some amusing moments. One memorable part of their trip involved rating each other’s pizzas. Kate Martin, now a guard for the Las Vegas Aces, gave Clark’s pizza an A-minus.

Clark, not happy with the grade, immediately shouted back:

“A-plus! A-plus-plus!”

She didn’t hold back when critiquing Martin’s pizza either, loudly declaring:

“Big fat F! F! F!”

Clark has had her share of pizza-related moments. In a video with Jake from State Farm, she was asked whether pineapple belonged on pizza, and her response was:

"No, absolutely not."

Caitlin Clark’s father believes she inherited her competitive nature from him

Caitlin Clark’s fierce competitive spirit has been evident since her youth and continued to shine through during her time at Iowa and now in the WNBA. Her father, Brent Clark, also a basketball coach, believes he passed that fire on to her.

“I was a pretty emotional player,” Brent said in an interview with Simpson College. “I even recall fights in a couple of games. I wasn’t the instigator, but the competitive juices just flow.”

“Caitlin and I see a lot of me in her in that way, but I think she does a much better job of controlling her emotion. She’s got fire, but she has the presence of mind not to react when someone says something or does something to her.”

In her rookie season, Caitlin Clark accumulated six technical fouls during the regular season. Her competitive drive helped the Indiana Fever break a long playoff drought, although they were eliminated by the Connecticut Sun in the first round.

Caitlin Clark had an impressive Rookie of the Year season, averaging 19.2 points, 8.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds. She set rookie records for points, assists and 3-pointers, recorded the first triple-double in Fever history, and became the first rookie to post two triple-doubles.