July 24, 2025 • 14 mins
Indiana Fever Head Coach Stephanie White joins Jake Query and starts her weekly visit by providing an update on Caitlin Clark’s health after chatting with a couple of doctors. Coach White shares how she would feel if she was in Caitlin Clark’s shoes, identifies what the team needs to improve on moving forward without Clark, and previews tonight’s game against the Las Vegas Aces.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
When we asked Fever head coach Stephanie White last week,
what artists you would like to hear again when we
bring her on, she said Adele. But she actually thought
about her for two and a half minutes. So I
think that means that we're now out of options. So
do we just go back to what are we doing
at any next week? Do we go back to Kitty
Chesney again? Is that what we do?
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm not sure? Do we play the theme to Shawshank?
We can't play Oasis? Right?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We know that we ruled that out. Okay, The Fever
in action tonight taking on Las Vegas. It is the
Stranger Things. Jersey return for the Fever tonight, joining us
now on the program. Head coach of the Fever, who
stand at twelve and twelve after dropping one to New
York in their last outing, Coach, I'm going to begin
with this before we get into basketball.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I was just saying I'd.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Like to know and I'm going to trust you now,
when you were a student and basketball player at Purdue,
your major was what.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Aviation for my first two years in college and then
communications my last two years.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, so aviation is perdue? Is I mean?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It goes without saying right. I mean, you've got two
of the most famous aviators in world history, both from Purdue.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
When you were in.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Aviation, did you have to take any sort of like
meteorology classes or science of the atmosphere type classes.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Absolutely did. Yes, we had to take meteorology. We had
to take all of that, had to had to learn
about engines too. In fact, I had to take apart
and put together a car engine so I could figure
out how the engines worked with all the pistons and
everything else. And so it was. It was quite comprehensive,
not just you know, touching goes when you're taking off
and landing in airplanes.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So do you know the reason I ask, do you
have any idea within any sort of ballpark of accuracy
how you translate celsius to fahrenheit temperatures?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Absolutely not, because you know, we learned it in the
UH We learned it in the American fahrenheit back in
the old days.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know, I go over, like I went to England
for that concert, and they're like, now dress appropriately, it's
going to be third won fahrenheit.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I'm like, wow, it's freezing. And I find out it's
you know, one hundred and ten.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I have no idea, So my point being right now
outside or you know, or they said thirty one celsius
and that's like, you know, I mean, I don't know
what that translates to. But it was hot, right so
I'm assuming right now it's very high and celsius because
it is very warm.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But let's get to engines and talking about that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
There is a big question mark in regards to one
of the most important pistons within the engine of the fever,
that of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Where do we stand?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
What is the ladies you can tell us on what
she has learned in seeking medical opinion about the injury
she's dealing with.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I see what you did there too? That was that
was really good.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That's the second part. That's that communication. So I know that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
See I got into the communication aspect of the degree
also there right you did?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
You did? It's it was pretty good, but no new
no new information outside of what we what we thought
with when she went to see the doctor. I mean,
everything is pretty much on far, which is aggravation of
that right growing And you know right now, there's there's
no timetable for a return. I think one of the
things that's so important is because there have been multiple
(03:09):
soft tissue injuries, is that we make sure number one,
that that she's she's fully healed, comfortable, confident when she
comes back, and number two that that we we take
our time. I know she wants to play, I know
we want her to play, but there have been multiple setbacks,
you know, to this point. So I want to just
make sure that that that we we give it it's
(03:30):
it's due, and give it it's it's it's time to
to heal as she continues to rehab, recovers, strength, train,
and build endurance again for when that return to play.
Timetable comes about.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
When you were seeking more opinion, coach, were you, in
other words, when you heard back that there was kind
of nothing new to report.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
In other words, is there a frustration of not knowing
exactly what it is or was there a relief in
knowing that it was not more complex than you might
have thought?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I mean I think always when you're an athlete or
just a human being, right, you want to have more
than than one or two opinions, particularly when your body
is your is your you know.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Vessel, it's your it's what you do for your profession.
And so you know, making sure that that she making
sure that she got multiple opinions from you know, some
of the best in the business. And and I think
it's a relief to know that there's nothing worse that
what you had had anticipated, at least I'm speaking from
from you know, my perspective. I would never speak for Caitlin,
but I also think there's there with self tissue injuries,
(04:37):
there's always a little bit of frustration because it's never
one thing or another. You know, when you when you
sprain an ankle or when you have another injury, that's
that's pretty cut and dry. You have a clear timetable,
you understand uh what you're dealing with and how you
attack that process. And with self tissue injuries, they're so complex,
they're so frustrating and and and challenging. And I really
(05:00):
do just continue to nag until you have that time
to shut it down.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
From your perspective, and again I'm not asking you to
speak for Caitlin Clark, but from your perspective, Stepanie White,
you know, as an athlete, how do you think she's
doing just in terms of the frustration, the timeline and
everything that goes into dealing with something that she did
not have to deal with a lot in college, and
that is this navigating through missing time.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, sure, it's frustration. You know, every competitor wants to
be out there on the floor doing what they love,
you know. Certainly, I know that you know and and
and to be able to do it, you know, at
a high level and feeling comfortable and confident in your
body and what you can do. So I'm sure that
there's frustration, you know. I'm also sure that there's frustration
dealing with multiple times, you know, and and adding to
(05:49):
that having All Star in Indianapolis and not being able
to participate. But you know, at the same time, being
an athlete, you know, you understand that there are times
where this is going to happen, and it's happened. Setbacks happen,
you know. Fortunately for Caitlyn, she hasn't experienced a lot
of injury and a lot of setback. Fortunately for her,
she also has a staff full of players who have
(06:11):
experienced a lot of injuries, between myself and Breon January
and Kareema Christmas Kelly, and so you know, we're our
ability to help her navigate through the highs and lows
of what it means to rehab, recover and the frustrations
of you know, being in and out of the lineup
and on the floor fever.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Back in action tonight taking on Las Vegas. Stephanie White,
their head coach, is our guest here on Quari and Company.
You come off of after getting to the five hundred mark,
dropping back to back to New York in terms of
that particular matchup, what things can you learn from that,
in terms of what the liberty were able to do
or areas where you fell short. That are areas that
you look at and say, okay, learning example here that
(06:54):
we need to take away from this is blank.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
That would be what I think first and foremost. You
know there you can't the margin prayer is so small.
You know, we had about a for for for thirty
four thirty five minutes of that ball game. They we
were really good, and against teams like New York, you know,
you can't afford to have those those four to five
minute stretches where you struggle because they're so dangerous. I mean,
(07:19):
they've got like six Olympians on that team. You know,
from various various countries around the world, and and their
depth and their ability to play inside and outside. You know,
with John Quell Jones returning, especially, so you can't afford
to have those lapses. You know, we the last two minutes,
two and a half minutes of the third quarter, they
went on a nine to ozer run and they were
able to carry that over into the first two and
(07:40):
a half three minutes of the of the fourth quarter.
And against those teams that that just puts you in
a bond, put you in a hole. And and you know,
that's again a growing area for our team. You know,
they've got world champions and Leftal champions on their teams,
so they understand those those moments and we've got to
continue to grow through those and shorten those. We know
teams are good. New York is one of the best.
So obviously they were WNBA Championship champions a year ago.
(08:04):
But we've got to be able to find ways to
navigate runs and to minimize runs.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You know, you've got a good roster obviously. I mean
it goes without saying.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And I think Aery McDonald, as you've talked about, has
been a really good pick up for you guys that
Leah Boston's played well. Kelsey Mitchell goes without saying, but
Caitlin Clark is so important coaching.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, from a coaching standpoint, how do you kind of
navigate through making sure that you have a group that
is aware of the fact that they have a job
to do even without one of those pistons, while at
the same time knowing that when that piston comes back,
you have to immediately and the time is running out
on the acclamation period. So how do you keep the
(08:45):
focus there within the group that is playing well.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I mean, we talk about control and the things that
we can control, and this is a group who won
the Commissioner's Cup, you know, while Kaitlyn was not able
to play. It's a group who found a little bit
of groove, you know during that timeframe onunderstanding what it takes,
you know, being able to continue to to play confident.
You know, I thought there was a stretch there in
that game against against New York where we passed up
(09:09):
open shots, we second guests a little bit in ways
that that we we shouldn't and and and couldn't, you know,
So making sure we stay confident in one another, stay
confident in our process, say, connected with one another, knowing,
knowing that we have pieces that it that it takes
to to be able to be successful and put ourselves
in position for success. And then when Caitlyn comes back,
you know, it's the reacclimation period. The thing about about
(09:32):
bringing Caitlyn Caitlin back and losing Caitlyn in the lineup
is that she's got the ball in her hands a lot.
Uh So the things that we run, the way that
the ball moves, the attack from defenses is different, and
and and our looks on the floor are different. Her
gravity is so great that that it changes the dynamics
of how teams play us and and what we what
(09:53):
we tend to get. And so that is the single
toughest thing with her in and out of the lineup.
But you know, we have the pieces that have found success,
and you know, just being able to stay confident throughout
the ebbs and flows of a game is important.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
As a competitor, Stephanie White, our guest head coach of
the Indiana Fever. As a competitor, Stephanie, when you look
back at your career, whether it be as a player
or a coach, I think one thing is that one
thing that makes all elite level athletes you know the same,
is just the competitive nature and focus. When you look
(10:27):
at yourself, would you say that you were more driven
by chasing the feeling of the top of competition or
by learning from and never letting go of your failure.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I think probably the never letting go of the failure,
because if you ask most most competitors, those are the
ones that they remember. You know, you don't remember a
lot of the wins. Heck, sometimes you don't even remember
the championships unless they're the big ones. Like if you
ask me about conference championships in college, I don't really remember,
(11:01):
but the but the national championship is the one I do.
But I remember the game where I had a double
double and one of them was turnovers and I didn't
make the game where I didn't make a field goal
at Notre Dame my junior year, you know, or the
game where I had eight turnovers my freshman year when
we were playing in Vegas tournament. You know, you remember
the negative stuff. You remember the failures, you remember the setbacks,
and that drives you to be better, at least for me. Uh,
(11:23):
you know, that's what it was. And and when you chase,
when you chase success, and you chase titles, and you
chase all of that, I mean, that's that's ultimately, you know,
it's it's the end game, it's what you dream of.
But ultimately, you're chasing the best version of yourself. You're
chasing that elusive perfection that you're never going to get.
You're chasing growth, You're chasing being better than you were
(11:45):
the last game, or being better than you were the
previous year. You know, the result of that oftentimes ends
up being championships or individual awards or whatever it may be.
But it's the drive to be the best that you
can be that you chase, and it's fueled by the
failures that you've had along the way.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Have you had games where your team won but you
felt like it was a failure because they didn't do
something that needed to be worked on.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, for sure. I think a prime example of that
is our last Dallas game, and we were big in
the first half, and we came out in the second
half and and just kind of played the game. You know,
I felt like that was an opportunity for us to
really learn what it meant to stay sharp, to not
play the score. They may have even outscored us by
a couple in the second half. You know, the last
I think four or five minutes of the ball game
(12:33):
wasn't as sharp and crisp as it needed to be,
you know. And that's that's the growth process of a
team that hasn't won championships, right. It's like you have
to approach the game, the possession the same way, no
matter what in ways that you see the New York,
the Minnesota, you know, doing, the Vegas is doing. And
I think that's again a growth process for our team.
(12:54):
And you know, I always always say this, and I
know it sounds cliche, but it's true. It's there's no
substitute for experience, and when you haven't experienced that at
this level, you have to grow through it. You have
to learn it. It's not something that's just in a
in most players.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You know, the Stephanie White is our coach of course,
or our guests, I should say, the coach for the
indianaf or our coach as well for the Indiana Fever. Tonight,
back in action, taking on Las Vegas and getting back
into things. So you would like to see what tonight
obviously a win, but coming off of a now twelve
and twelve, the big thing that you want to see
that is going to show you that things are indeed
(13:32):
coming off the right direction, coming off the two losses
to New York would be.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
What I want to see us with our defensive execution.
I want our defensive execution to be lead, our point
of attack, our disruption. I want them to feel us,
you know, nothing easy. I want to make sure that
we make them work for everything that they get, that
they take the shots that we're willing to live with.
And I want to see us take care of the ball,
gives ourselves opportunities for high quality shops, and make sure
(13:56):
that we're that we value every possession.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
White Head coach Indiana Fever. All right.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Lastly, and most importantly, next time that we have a
conversation with you, we've done Kenny Chesney, We've done a deell.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
What's next?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I think we got to go Jimmy Buffett.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
All right, No way, we can't go.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Here's the thing though, we can't go Cheeseburger in Paradise
or Margaritaville because that's too obvious.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Right, you have it come Monday, let's go come Monday.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
All right, fair enough, we can do that one. We
can do.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Jimmy Buffett is one of those you mentioned it we
talked about earlier. I mean, it is a It was,
I should say, a fabulous concert. And didn't everybody in
college at some point go through a phase where somebody
just had, like the Jimmy Buffett's greatest hits, and everybody
thought it was new and he didn't realize you were
listening stuff from fifteen years ago, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
No doubt, exactly, no question.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Back in the days when you were taking apart engines
and putting them back together.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And now, of course trying to get that engine fine
tuned for the Indiana Fever tonight against Las Vegas. Coach appreciated,
all right, all right, thanks shake all right. Stephanie White
joining us on the program.
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
When we asked Fever head coach Stephanie White last week,
what artists you would like to hear again when we
bring her on, she said Adele. But she actually thought
about her for two and a half minutes. So I
think that means that we're now out of options. So
do we just go back to what are we doing
at any next week? Do we go back to Kitty
Chesney again? Is that what we do?
Speaker 1 (00:17):
I'm not sure? Do we play the theme to Shawshank?
We can't play Oasis? Right?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We know that we ruled that out. Okay, The Fever
in action tonight taking on Las Vegas. It is the
Stranger Things. Jersey return for the Fever tonight, joining us
now on the program. Head coach of the Fever, who
stand at twelve and twelve after dropping one to New
York in their last outing, Coach, I'm going to begin
with this before we get into basketball.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I was just saying I'd.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Like to know and I'm going to trust you now,
when you were a student and basketball player at Purdue,
your major was what.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Aviation for my first two years in college and then
communications my last two years.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Okay, so aviation is perdue? Is I mean?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
It goes without saying right. I mean, you've got two
of the most famous aviators in world history, both from Purdue.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
When you were in.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Aviation, did you have to take any sort of like
meteorology classes or science of the atmosphere type classes.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Absolutely did. Yes, we had to take meteorology. We had
to take all of that, had to had to learn
about engines too. In fact, I had to take apart
and put together a car engine so I could figure
out how the engines worked with all the pistons and
everything else. And so it was. It was quite comprehensive,
not just you know, touching goes when you're taking off
and landing in airplanes.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So do you know the reason I ask, do you
have any idea within any sort of ballpark of accuracy
how you translate celsius to fahrenheit temperatures?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Absolutely not, because you know, we learned it in the
UH We learned it in the American fahrenheit back in
the old days.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know, I go over, like I went to England
for that concert, and they're like, now dress appropriately, it's
going to be third won fahrenheit.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I'm like, wow, it's freezing. And I find out it's
you know, one hundred and ten.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I have no idea, So my point being right now
outside or you know, or they said thirty one celsius
and that's like, you know, I mean, I don't know
what that translates to. But it was hot, right so
I'm assuming right now it's very high and celsius because
it is very warm.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
But let's get to engines and talking about that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
There is a big question mark in regards to one
of the most important pistons within the engine of the fever,
that of Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Where do we stand?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
What is the ladies you can tell us on what
she has learned in seeking medical opinion about the injury
she's dealing with.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I see what you did there too? That was that
was really good.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
That's the second part. That's that communication. So I know that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
See I got into the communication aspect of the degree
also there right you did?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
You did? It's it was pretty good, but no new
no new information outside of what we what we thought
with when she went to see the doctor. I mean,
everything is pretty much on far, which is aggravation of
that right growing And you know right now, there's there's
no timetable for a return. I think one of the
things that's so important is because there have been multiple
(03:09):
soft tissue injuries, is that we make sure number one,
that that she's she's fully healed, comfortable, confident when she
comes back, and number two that that we we take
our time. I know she wants to play, I know
we want her to play, but there have been multiple setbacks,
you know, to this point. So I want to just
make sure that that that we we give it it's
(03:30):
it's due, and give it it's it's it's time to
to heal as she continues to rehab, recovers, strength, train,
and build endurance again for when that return to play.
Timetable comes about.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
When you were seeking more opinion, coach, were you, in
other words, when you heard back that there was kind
of nothing new to report.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
In other words, is there a frustration of not knowing
exactly what it is or was there a relief in
knowing that it was not more complex than you might
have thought?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
I mean I think always when you're an athlete or
just a human being, right, you want to have more
than than one or two opinions, particularly when your body
is your is your you know.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Vessel, it's your it's what you do for your profession.
And so you know, making sure that that she making
sure that she got multiple opinions from you know, some
of the best in the business. And and I think
it's a relief to know that there's nothing worse that
what you had had anticipated, at least I'm speaking from
from you know, my perspective. I would never speak for Caitlin,
but I also think there's there with self tissue injuries,
(04:37):
there's always a little bit of frustration because it's never
one thing or another. You know, when you when you
sprain an ankle or when you have another injury, that's
that's pretty cut and dry. You have a clear timetable,
you understand uh what you're dealing with and how you
attack that process. And with self tissue injuries, they're so complex,
they're so frustrating and and and challenging. And I really
(05:00):
do just continue to nag until you have that time
to shut it down.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
From your perspective, and again I'm not asking you to
speak for Caitlin Clark, but from your perspective, Stepanie White,
you know, as an athlete, how do you think she's
doing just in terms of the frustration, the timeline and
everything that goes into dealing with something that she did
not have to deal with a lot in college, and
that is this navigating through missing time.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, sure, it's frustration. You know, every competitor wants to
be out there on the floor doing what they love,
you know. Certainly, I know that you know and and
and to be able to do it, you know, at
a high level and feeling comfortable and confident in your
body and what you can do. So I'm sure that
there's frustration, you know. I'm also sure that there's frustration
dealing with multiple times, you know, and and adding to
(05:49):
that having All Star in Indianapolis and not being able
to participate. But you know, at the same time, being
an athlete, you know, you understand that there are times
where this is going to happen, and it's happened. Setbacks happen,
you know. Fortunately for Caitlyn, she hasn't experienced a lot
of injury and a lot of setback. Fortunately for her,
she also has a staff full of players who have
(06:11):
experienced a lot of injuries, between myself and Breon January
and Kareema Christmas Kelly, and so you know, we're our
ability to help her navigate through the highs and lows
of what it means to rehab, recover and the frustrations
of you know, being in and out of the lineup
and on the floor fever.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Back in action tonight taking on Las Vegas. Stephanie White,
their head coach, is our guest here on Quari and Company.
You come off of after getting to the five hundred mark,
dropping back to back to New York in terms of
that particular matchup, what things can you learn from that,
in terms of what the liberty were able to do
or areas where you fell short. That are areas that
you look at and say, okay, learning example here that
(06:54):
we need to take away from this is blank.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
That would be what I think first and foremost. You
know there you can't the margin prayer is so small.
You know, we had about a for for for thirty
four thirty five minutes of that ball game. They we
were really good, and against teams like New York, you know,
you can't afford to have those those four to five
minute stretches where you struggle because they're so dangerous. I mean,
(07:19):
they've got like six Olympians on that team. You know,
from various various countries around the world, and and their
depth and their ability to play inside and outside. You know,
with John Quell Jones returning, especially, so you can't afford
to have those lapses. You know, we the last two minutes,
two and a half minutes of the third quarter, they
went on a nine to ozer run and they were
able to carry that over into the first two and
(07:40):
a half three minutes of the of the fourth quarter.
And against those teams that that just puts you in
a bond, put you in a hole. And and you know,
that's again a growing area for our team. You know,
they've got world champions and Leftal champions on their teams,
so they understand those those moments and we've got to
continue to grow through those and shorten those. We know
teams are good. New York is one of the best.
So obviously they were WNBA Championship champions a year ago.
(08:04):
But we've got to be able to find ways to
navigate runs and to minimize runs.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You know, you've got a good roster obviously. I mean
it goes without saying.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
And I think Aery McDonald, as you've talked about, has
been a really good pick up for you guys that
Leah Boston's played well. Kelsey Mitchell goes without saying, but
Caitlin Clark is so important coaching.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
We know that.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Okay, from a coaching standpoint, how do you kind of
navigate through making sure that you have a group that
is aware of the fact that they have a job
to do even without one of those pistons, while at
the same time knowing that when that piston comes back,
you have to immediately and the time is running out
on the acclamation period. So how do you keep the
(08:45):
focus there within the group that is playing well.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I mean, we talk about control and the things that
we can control, and this is a group who won
the Commissioner's Cup, you know, while Kaitlyn was not able
to play. It's a group who found a little bit
of groove, you know during that timeframe onunderstanding what it takes,
you know, being able to continue to to play confident.
You know, I thought there was a stretch there in
that game against against New York where we passed up
(09:09):
open shots, we second guests a little bit in ways
that that we we shouldn't and and and couldn't, you know,
So making sure we stay confident in one another, stay
confident in our process, say, connected with one another, knowing,
knowing that we have pieces that it that it takes
to to be able to be successful and put ourselves
in position for success. And then when Caitlyn comes back,
you know, it's the reacclimation period. The thing about about
(09:32):
bringing Caitlyn Caitlin back and losing Caitlyn in the lineup
is that she's got the ball in her hands a lot.
Uh So the things that we run, the way that
the ball moves, the attack from defenses is different, and
and and our looks on the floor are different. Her
gravity is so great that that it changes the dynamics
of how teams play us and and what we what
(09:53):
we tend to get. And so that is the single
toughest thing with her in and out of the lineup.
But you know, we have the pieces that have found success,
and you know, just being able to stay confident throughout
the ebbs and flows of a game is important.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
As a competitor, Stephanie White, our guest head coach of
the Indiana Fever. As a competitor, Stephanie, when you look
back at your career, whether it be as a player
or a coach, I think one thing is that one
thing that makes all elite level athletes you know the same,
is just the competitive nature and focus. When you look
(10:27):
at yourself, would you say that you were more driven
by chasing the feeling of the top of competition or
by learning from and never letting go of your failure.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I think probably the never letting go of the failure,
because if you ask most most competitors, those are the
ones that they remember. You know, you don't remember a
lot of the wins. Heck, sometimes you don't even remember
the championships unless they're the big ones. Like if you
ask me about conference championships in college, I don't really remember,
(11:01):
but the but the national championship is the one I do.
But I remember the game where I had a double
double and one of them was turnovers and I didn't
make the game where I didn't make a field goal
at Notre Dame my junior year, you know, or the
game where I had eight turnovers my freshman year when
we were playing in Vegas tournament. You know, you remember
the negative stuff. You remember the failures, you remember the setbacks,
and that drives you to be better, at least for me. Uh,
(11:23):
you know, that's what it was. And and when you chase,
when you chase success, and you chase titles, and you
chase all of that, I mean, that's that's ultimately, you know,
it's it's the end game, it's what you dream of.
But ultimately, you're chasing the best version of yourself. You're
chasing that elusive perfection that you're never going to get.
You're chasing growth, You're chasing being better than you were
(11:45):
the last game, or being better than you were the
previous year. You know, the result of that oftentimes ends
up being championships or individual awards or whatever it may be.
But it's the drive to be the best that you
can be that you chase, and it's fueled by the
failures that you've had along the way.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Have you had games where your team won but you
felt like it was a failure because they didn't do
something that needed to be worked on.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Yeah, for sure. I think a prime example of that
is our last Dallas game, and we were big in
the first half, and we came out in the second
half and and just kind of played the game. You know,
I felt like that was an opportunity for us to
really learn what it meant to stay sharp, to not
play the score. They may have even outscored us by
a couple in the second half. You know, the last
I think four or five minutes of the ball game
(12:33):
wasn't as sharp and crisp as it needed to be,
you know. And that's that's the growth process of a
team that hasn't won championships, right. It's like you have
to approach the game, the possession the same way, no
matter what in ways that you see the New York,
the Minnesota, you know, doing, the Vegas is doing. And
I think that's again a growth process for our team.
(12:54):
And you know, I always always say this, and I
know it sounds cliche, but it's true. It's there's no
substitute for experience, and when you haven't experienced that at
this level, you have to grow through it. You have
to learn it. It's not something that's just in a
in most players.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You know, the Stephanie White is our coach of course,
or our guests, I should say, the coach for the
indianaf or our coach as well for the Indiana Fever. Tonight,
back in action, taking on Las Vegas and getting back
into things. So you would like to see what tonight
obviously a win, but coming off of a now twelve
and twelve, the big thing that you want to see
that is going to show you that things are indeed
(13:32):
coming off the right direction, coming off the two losses
to New York would be.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
What I want to see us with our defensive execution.
I want our defensive execution to be lead, our point
of attack, our disruption. I want them to feel us,
you know, nothing easy. I want to make sure that
we make them work for everything that they get, that
they take the shots that we're willing to live with.
And I want to see us take care of the ball,
gives ourselves opportunities for high quality shops, and make sure
(13:56):
that we're that we value every possession.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
White Head coach Indiana Fever. All right.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Lastly, and most importantly, next time that we have a
conversation with you, we've done Kenny Chesney, We've done a deell.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
What's next?
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I think we got to go Jimmy Buffett.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
All right, No way, we can't go.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Here's the thing though, we can't go Cheeseburger in Paradise
or Margaritaville because that's too obvious.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Right, you have it come Monday, let's go come Monday.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
All right, fair enough, we can do that one. We
can do.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Jimmy Buffett is one of those you mentioned it we
talked about earlier. I mean, it is a It was,
I should say, a fabulous concert. And didn't everybody in
college at some point go through a phase where somebody
just had, like the Jimmy Buffett's greatest hits, and everybody
thought it was new and he didn't realize you were
listening stuff from fifteen years ago, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
No doubt, exactly, no question.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Back in the days when you were taking apart engines
and putting them back together.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
And now, of course trying to get that engine fine
tuned for the Indiana Fever tonight against Las Vegas. Coach appreciated,
all right, all right, thanks shake all right. Stephanie White
joining us on the program.
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