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!

Kobe Bryant's Legacy

Jan 26th, 2020 the world was hit with devastating news - Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter crash. Not only him, but also his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, along with two of her teammates and five other people.

This news hit me hard also - why? Let's be real, I was never a Kobe Bryant fan - NEVER! I respected his individual game, but as a team player I just didn't enjoy watching him. I was one of the people shouting "pass the ball" even though he often shut me down since he most often made his shots even against three defenders. So what is it all about?

First of all, I think his death hits so hard because he was such a successful, accomplished man. He basically had everything you wish for, but it shows you once again nobody is safe, destiny hits everyone!

Second, what is really sad in my eyes is the death of his 13-year-old daughter and their teammates. Gianna was really good for her age. Kobe's older daughter isn't so much into sports, only Volleyball. The two young daughters Brianna and Capri are too young to teach, so he gave all his knowledge to Gianna and her team. His legacy could have lived on through her, but we won't be able to witness this.

Due to his death I have been watching a lot of videos and interviews online. I am in the process of getting to know him more as a person and what principles were important to him. Even how he teaches Basketball reminds me a lot about my own principles and methods as he i.e. taught his players to use their left hand in daily activities and I have been doing this with my players as well.

The world definitely lost a good human, one that inspired people, but I am also positive that just like me more people even became aware of what he did and even after his death he is still inspiring people.
Thank you, Kobe!

The LeBron Dilemma

The Heat lost in the finals, and suddenly everybody talks about LeBron leaving. I thought that was just the talk they always do. It’s like certain people just can’t do the right thing, so I didn’t pay it any attention, because I was sure, he wouldn’t leave. But then, he opted out of his contract.

Mmmmmhhhh is he really thinking about leaving? I still doubted it. I never had a problem with him leaving Cleveland. I know a lot of fans were upset, but that are common situations and common reactions. It is nothing wrong with going somewhere, where you can get more money and be more successful. However, leaving now to team up somewhere else, I consider as wrong. The heat is on the right way, they have been in the finals several years in a row, and they are just missing something to win it all. The Spurs showed how to do it. Last year the Spurs lost in the finals, and came back strong and determined and won it this year. That shows how it goes, not giving up, taking an easy way, where you think success will come easier, but stick it out, fight through the rough times and then earn it all.

However, him opting out shows that he wants something, be it either more money or other teammates that will help him win the championship. Now it was all over the news that he wants more money ($26 Mill) and better teammates, where my mind rings an alarm bell and say ***CONTRADICTION*** lol First of, what is the big difference between $24 and $26 Mill? If you have so many millions, I don’t think two will make a difference. Next thing is, if you want more money, your team will have even less for your teammates because of the salary cap, so that kind of makes both impossible, unless they get a really great deal on someone. Dirk Nowitzki in example, stated that he would be willing to less money, if that makes it possible to get better players to have another shot at a championship, which seems very reasonable to me. Sometimes you have to make personal sacrifices to gain team success.

Besides that, there could be another reason, why he might opt out, well actually two. One simple one, he gets paid by the media, and does all that to bring movement and rumors in the market, but never intended to leave. Another one, which could be a huge factor, is the way his teammates played in the finals. I only saw the last of the final games, and only LeBron showed up. The performance of his teammates was really bad. It was like something was missing, be it the will, the drive, the heart, the fire, whatever you want to call it. If it is the case that one player felt let down by his teammates, this team might not have a future. If this was the case, I doubt we will ever find out, but I can’t wait to see what is going to happen in the NBA :)

The Sterling Case

In April it was all over the news, the Clippers owner Donald Sterling made racists comments (the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/04/26/clippers-owner-donald-sterling-tells-girlfriend-not-to-bring-black-people-to-games-disses-magic-johnson/?tid=pm_pop). My first thoughts about this case were: Why is this so big on the news? Racism in the USA is still a topic today, and unfortunately there are often racist incidents or racist comments made. Also, I was wondering: why is this even in the news? It was a private conversation between two people, how did this become public? All this already seemed bizarre. Then I read an article about an interview of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar (http://toprightnews.com/?p=2777), which hit it right on the spot. Exactly my thoughts: People are furious about the fact that someone like the owner of a NBA team with players of all races makes racist remarks. Interesting is the fact that there have been incidents before, where Sterling denied housing to African-Americans, and this didn’t bring up any consequences for Sterling. Furthermore, currently are a lot of discussions about the privacy of people. There was the incident that the NSA audio monitored the phone from German chancellor Angela Merkel, or that facebook bought whatsapp and is now also entering the privacy of the customers. All that are facts that alarm us, but the fact that a private conversation between two people is published and costs a man a lot isn’t. That’s all very suspicious, if you ask me.

 As a result to the incident, there were some crazy reactions. Some of them just as bad as the whole incident itself: Larry Johnson tweeted that African-Americans should make their own team and own league (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2044113-knicks-great-larry-johnson-calls-for-all-black-league). Of course, it is your right to do or start a league like this, if you want to, but how is that any better than the racist comments by Sterling? How will this solve the issue of racism in the US or in the world? Often I think people are just really upset that they don’t think, and just try to pay like with like, but even the Bible says that you shouldn’t.
Furthermore, the NBA had to react and they did. Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, banned Sterling for lifetime from all NBA activities, and decreed a 2.5 million fee and the sale of the Clippers (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/nba/20140429/adam-silver-press-conference.sportsillustrated/). That is the next thing that seems very suspicious to me. I understand that Sterling should face a punishment, but how do you ban him from his own team that he owns? And how do you tell him to sell something that is his? Plus it is really not a punishment, if he still makes money off of it.

As a normal reaction to all this, of course Sterling wouldn’t give in, and decided to fire back. Sources say he sued the NBA for 1 billion dollar (http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/report-donald-sterling-to-sue-nba-for-1-billion-053014), and as this all wasn’t enough, the story continues. Sterling’s wife wants to sell the Clippers, but Sterling doesn’t. Now his wife tries to prove mental illness on his side, so she could decide on her own (http://nypost.com/2014/06/24/judge-donald-sterling-has-little-chance-of-blocking-clippers-sale/). All this is just another suspect matter, and calls one more time for a huge setup. I wouldn’t even be surprised, if his wife and his girlfriend made a deal to set him up and sell the team. Right now it has been really calm about this story, but within the next month there should be some decisions since the deal for the Clippers is only valid until Sept 15^th.

American vs. European Sports

When I think of American Sports, I have to immediately think of Football or Baseball, just because they aren’t common over here in Europe. The same goes for Softball. Honestly, I didn’t even know how any of those sports were played before I lived in the US. I remember the first time I went to a Football game with my Belgian teammate. She was shocked how many players they had, and then noticed that they all were wearing the same jerseys until someone told us that this is the same team, just the defense and the offense team, and the opponent was standing on the other side of the field ;-) When you speak about Football in Europe everyone means Soccer. Soccer is the most popular sport over here. Another common sport in Europe that isn’t popular in the USA is Handball. It is a mixture out of Basketball and Soccer. You play with a smaller ball, you are allowed to dribble and catch, but you shoot at a goal with your hands that’s why it is called Handball. Besides different sports, there is another big difference between American and European Sports.

In Europe, everyone plays Sports in a club. That means, when your kid wants to start a sport, you have to choose a club, become a member of that club, which includes usually a monthly or yearly fee. You pay a small amount of money, but therefore your kid can play the sport, gets coached and is insured in case something happens. A club, depending how big it is, can offer many sports or also just one. Usually the name of the club gives you some information: Osnabrücker Sportclub is the name of a club that offers many sports in the city Osnabrück; Basketballclub Wildcats Wolfenbüttel is the name of a club that offers just Basketball in the city of Wolfenbüttel and the Wildcat is their mascot.

Usually clubs have youth teams and adult teams. In youth teams, the kids are put together after age. Of course kids that are better in their sport can also play in the higher age group. Depending on the sport those youth teams can go until different ages, but not older than 22.

In adult leagues, everything goes after performance. That means to move up to a higher league, you have to become the best in your league. In certain sports there are even up to 10 leagues, which is usually hard to understand for Americans. Sometimes there are also professional players in D4 or D5. Of course moving up has also something to do with the amount of money a club has, because the more money, the better players they can get or pay the fees in the higher league. However, just with money you can’t move up, you have to perform. The same goes the other way around, if you are after a season at the bottom of your league, you will have to move down to the lower league.

Since sports are played in clubs in Europe, all sports start off as hobby, and even as you get older, and the kids graduate from school and go to university or work a job, nobody cares that you play sports. You have to do that in your free time, and you won’t get off from school or get any support. You also don’t get anything paid for with sports; in general most times you pay to be able to travel, to get a jersey and all those things. This is a huge advantage in the US, where the school and the sports basically work hand in hand. You have to get good grades to be able to play, and you have to play well to be able to get a scholarship. In Europe, the parents have to control all that and decide, if their kid can practice or has to stay home and study. Therefore, practices are usually in the late afternoon and evening because everyone has their own schedule during the day. Also, practices are only once a day, and not even every day depending on the level of the team. An exception to that are sports schools, who offer morning practices, but also those work hand in hand with the club, and kids don’t play for their school. There is some kind of university championship, but usually the players of a club that study at the same university come together and play in those games. However, there is no league or even practices. Just in regular time, there are championships and a University can register their team.

But back to the clubs: Another thing to mention would be the age differences in the leagues. Since the league your team plays in depends on the performance, it happens often that teams out of different age groups play against each other. It is possible that an Under18 team also competes in D4, and plays against a team that has an average age of 35. Also, in one team can play players out of different ages, i.e. 17 and 36. It just means those players are all able to compete at that level.

Depending on the amount of teams, and the perspective, parents should choose the club for their child wisely. It should be a club that offers their child a good team in their age group, but also higher league teams that it has the chance to move up to a better team. For youth players it is even possible to play in two different adult leagues as well as their youth team. I.e. when I was a teenager, I played with 17 in the U18 youth team (my age group), a D3 team, where I got quiet some playing time and also a D2 or once even a D1 team, where I was happy when I got to play two minutes, and was able to learn from the professionals . This is also an important thing for the development of your kid as a player, because the kid learns to take on different roles, such as the go-to-player and the bench player that is glad to just come in, and doesn’t complain about not playing. In some cases it is even possible to play in two different clubs, if the one club offers only youth teams and the other club offers adult teams, your child can become a member of both clubs, and play for the youth team in one club and an adult team in the other club. However, it is not allowed to play in teams of both clubs that compete in the same league.

I hope I could help you understand the European Sports a little better, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

The Youth of Today

How often I heard this saying when I was younger „die Jugend von heute“ (“the youth of today”), most followed by the person shaking their head. Back then I always thought ‘we aren’t that bad, what are they talking about?!’ Now since I am older, I have to say I have the same thoughts: ‘What is wrong with the youth of today?’ I don’t even want to talk that much about general life situations, but you can even see it in Basketball.

I remember when I was a youngster and was allowed to play with the first team, I was excited, I was anxious, and almost peed my pants, but hoped coach would pick me to play even when it was just for the last two minutes of the game. Never in my life would I said no to such an opportunity, and nowadays younger players that get the chance to come into the game with 6minutes left, just say ‘no, now I don’t need to play anymore either’!!!! Or on road trips or when the jerseys were handed out, of course did the elderly get to choose their uniforms or seats on the bus first; you took what was left over. Nowadays, the younger players are the first one to scream what number or seat they want without even thinking about.

Next thing is the work attitude. I am sorry, but younger players’ work attitudes suck! They complain that you as a professional don’t have to work – Uhm, excuse me, but actually I do, I lift weights, go shoot and have practice, while you are sitting in school! – But they are the ones, who never run the lines and cheat on every possibility they get. The same attitude you can observe in games, in offense they sprint, in defense they jog! How come?
I say we can’t blame the youth, I know it is a shame, but it’s how we raise our kids! I was taught the saying, “Who makes a mistake in offense, is the first one in defense” and by this saying I play until today. I was raised and coached this way. Young players aren’t coached this way anymore, and don’t get punished for cheating in practice, therefore they will continue to do so. Same thing goes for the parents. I had a kid coming only once to practice a week because she had school and other sports on the other days. I told her that is fine with me, she still can come practice and play, but she will have to understand that other players, even the ones that are worse than her, get to play before her because they are up to 5 times in practice a week. Next day her mom comes to me and tells me that her daughter won’t play anymore for the team since she is a starting five player and doesn’t need to sit on the bench … whooooaaaaa!!! And we wonder, when our youth has a big head and isn’t willing to work for anything anymore?