The rollercoaster ride of Candice White and why you shouldn't give up

PC: Eurobasket

Today we speak with Candice White, former Shooting Guard of BC Pharmaserv Marburg.
Hello Candice,
how are you and how do you keep busy during this difficult time?

Hi! I'm doing well. During this difficult time I have been spending a lot of quality time with my immediate family. I try to go out and exercise as much as I can with my sisters and brother-in-law, but it is hard to stay active when our city is in quarantine.

You are originally from Modesto California and played four years Basketball at Fresno State University, which is basically one a half hour away from home. Was that important to you, when you picked your university?

Yes, staying close to home was important to me once I went on my visit to Fresno State. Initially, I wanted to attend college in another state on the West Coast like Washington or Oregon. However, at the time my older sister was away attending and playing college basketball in Idaho and I remember how my mom was only able to make it to a handful of games over her 4 years there. So once I visited Fresno State, I knew it would be important to me to have my family in the stands cheering me on and being able to talk with them after games.

In your freshman year you didn't see that much playing time, but starting your sophomore year you had an immediate impact on your team and your playing time went up. Over the following years you put up impressive stats. Your junior and senior year you were leading the conference in scoring with averaging 18.9 and 18.4ppg (along with 4.8rpg and 2.8apg your senior year). You also rank 3rd all-time on the Fresno State scoring list. Can you tell us more about your college experience and maybe you have some advice for other college players how to step up their game.
It feels like I was just in college yesterday (haha). But I would say the student athlete college experience overall was a rollercoaster ride. And I say that not so much in a bad way, but more so in a way that you go through so much adversity, great moments, tough moments, and everything in between. Not only as a student athlete are you facing challenges on the court, but there are your academics that are challenging, on top of having a social life. I would say the main thing I remember most about college basketball in the States, was that so much of your day was already planned out for you by your coaches, academic advisors, classes and your practice schedule, weight lifting schedule, recovery time, etc. If you were on top of your studies and your basketball, it seemed as if there wasn't even time to get distracted.
In regards to the basketball side of college, it can be somewhat overwhelming at first. Mainly because as an individual you expect so much of yourself from the start and you want everything to go perfect your first year in college once coming out of a successful high school career. But looking back, not all successful careers or great things happen overnight, in a year, in 4 years, or even 8 years. Growth takes time and it's hard to see that when you are in the present moment of your career, but in the end if you continue having faith in your own abilities and talents, and continue to grind and work hard, great things will come.

It didn't take me until near the end of my Freshmen season to realize that my freshmen year didn't have to be a dud year, or a year of not getting better. One thing I told my myself after the last game my Freshmen year was that I would work hard to develop in every area of my game so that my coach could not afford to not play me. Basketball is such a beautiful sport because you can be as dynamic of a player as you want to be, but it's not going to be easy of course. What I say to other college players is you need to be in the gym putting in extra work more often than not, you need to work on parts of your game that people say are your weaknesses so that those become your strengths, on top of continuing to work on your strengths that helped get you to college. And lastly, try not to be so hard on yourself when you make a mistake in games. I am still working on that myself. But try and realize sooner than later that the game of basketball is about runs of ups and downs. Nothing is ever going to go perfectly, so the faster you can learn from and then forget about the mistake you just made, the better off you'll be in the end.

That's great advice and probably helps you in areas outside of Basketball as well. This past season you signed your first professional contract with BC Pharmaserv Marburg in Germany. Has it always been a dream for you to play professionally overseas? What expectations did you have before coming to Germany?
 No, it hasn't always been a dream for me to play overseas. I heard more about playing overseas towards the end of my senior year in college, but I still wasn't sold on going. I considered it more once one of my college coaches put in my ear, 'hey maybe you should consider trying to play overseas, if you are still passionate about basketball. Plus you have the stats to make it over there.' To be honest, I didn't have too many expectations before going to Germany to play. I think I worried more about the new food I would be trying, and more so excited to meet the coaches, the players, and see the gym I would be playing at.

What were your experiences once you arrived? How was it to adapt to the life off the court?
 Once I arrived to Germany I remember it being very green and everything seemed so small. I eventually met my teammates and all of them were very welcoming. Off the court the hardest thing to adapt to was the language barrier. I remember the first time I went to the grocery store by myself, wow I must have been in there for an hour just to get maybe 10 items. The first couple of months I was able to get around pretty easily with the help of my teammate/roommate Marie, and that was so helpful! But everything else was pretty easy to get used to: the food, the transportation, etc.

After playing a big amount of minutes in college and being the go-to-player, you arrived now in a team that mainly had been established from the past season, as you were the only new player this season. Also, your playing time was limited to 18.5mpg. How was it for you to adapt to the German style of Basketball and how does Basketball in Germany differ from college Basketball?

I think the main difference between basketball in Germany compared to college Basketball was the off-ball physicality in the guard position. In Germany, the refs seemed to allow more physicality defensively and offensively off the ball when running around screens trying to get open compared to in the states.

You guys suffered a lot of injuries and the management was forced to sign a new player on the inside position. Unfortunately, they chose another import, which meant due to German rules one import player had to sit out and the coach chose you. This isn't the first time a team has done this, but maybe you can tell us how you were told and how you coped with a situation like this?
I was told by my coach, Patti. The way he told us was before practice. The team was in the hall stretching about 30 minutes before practice. He individually called in each of the imports that it would effect and told us the situation. When he called me in, I honestly had no clue why he called me in. But once he did, he explained to me the situation and how one of us imports would have to sit out each game until the end of the season. I do remember though, from that conversation, Patti was so sorry he had to break that news to me because it was a simple mistake made from the top that he felt should have never happened. And I also will remember that he said whatever my decision was, whether to leave Marburg or finish out the season, he completely understood and he would support my decision 100%. And he did.
I would say after Patti told me, it took a few days for it to register. But, when it finally did I wasn't extremely mad or upset about it. I was fortunate to have my older sister (who was also in Germany) to talk to about the situation. There were also ladies from the team I was able to talk to and my agent to talk to. After several weeks of working hard during practice and not being nominated to play, I decided it would be best to continue to a different team because I wanted to play. At that point, I worked as hard as I could and knew that the situation was out of my control so it would have made no sense for me to put all my energy into being upset. So instead I put my energy into my decision of whether to stay in Marburg or not.

You decided to leave the team and signed with an Australian team for the summer. Due to COVID-19 all leagues were cancelled, also the Australian league. This was probably devastating news for you. What other effects did COVID-19 have on you, personally, financially and economically as a professional athlete, also, looking at the long-run?

Once leagues were cancelled due to COVID-19, things were moving so fast that I didn't even have time to really think about what was going on. As soon as I found out that the league I was in was not going to continue with imports (before they decided the league would be cancelled completely), about two days later I was on a flight back to America. The main reason for the flight being scheduled so soon was because there was uncertainty of whether or not our country would close its borders in order to prevent international travel during COVID-19. It was definitely hard saying bye to my Host Family who were nothing shy of wonderful to me, and saying bye to my teammates in Australia.

So how long were you in Australia and how was your experience there? At least you didn't have to overcome the language barrier there.

Once I decided to leave Marburg, I went back home for about a week and a half, then I headed to Australia. I got to Australia, and I was there for 3 weeks. During the 3 weeks, I surprising got close to my teammates rather quickly. I was also able to coach my under 14 Team I was given, for two practices and one weekend tournament. I went to the beach a couple of times and it was a lot of fun. The host family I stayed with had several friends and family, so even though I was only there for 3 weeks, they took me to so many places around the city and I met so many people, it seems as if I had been there for longer than 3 weeks.

After having a difficult start in your professional career, what is next for you? 
Next, I plan to continue my playing career in Germany for another season.

Thank you very much for taking your time to talk to us about it. As you proved once before one bad year doesn't determine your outcome, the same is true for your professional Basketball career. Best of luck for another season in Germany!I really appreciate you taking the time to interview me. Thank you!