Balancing act

Every time Courtney White took the basketball court on a Friday night she struggled.

As an all-district performer for Eastern View this winter as a senior, White’s struggles rarely had anything to do with putting the ball in the hole or pulling down rebounds. No, her struggles were personal and now that she’s signed to play basketball at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala., it seems the worst of it is behind her.

“The biggest issue of playing high school basketball was that I wasn’t suppose to play on Friday or Saturdays,” White said. “But I made a decision to play.”

White belongs to the Seventh-Day Adventist church, which believes in observing the Sabbath from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. Unfortunately for White, Friday is the traditional night for high school sports and choosing to use her talents on the hardwood despite what it meant in her faith was a dilemma she wrestled with consistently.

“I really didn’t know anything about it until about halfway through her junior season,” Eastern View coach Mike McCombs said. “I guess she started feeling a little bit guilty for playing on Friday nights. She wasn’t sure that was what God wanted her to do. So we talked about it and last year she talked about not playing.”

White did play, leading the first-year Cyclones program to the Region I playoffs after averaging 15 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Her play was good enough to attract attention from colleges, but White decided she wanted to find a school affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventists so she wouldn’t have to worry about scheduling any more.

“God didn’t take it out on me in high school for playing by having me get hurt or anything like that, but at the same time I didn’t want to have to go through that anymore,” White said. “In college, I don’t have to worry about playing on Friday nights or Saturdays. It’s a huge, huge relief. If I had gone to another school I couldn’t have played basketball.”

McCombs knew White had the skills to play college basketball, but didn’t have many contacts among coaches at Adventists schools. But White was friends with Marcus Fitts, who had dated her cousin and was a standout on the Oakwood men’s team. Fitts passed her name along to Ambassadors’ coach Alton Conwell and he began recruiting White.

“I went down to the school in the beginning of July and Coach showed me around and I met some of the girls,” White said. “I went to the gym and saw the school. It’s a nice school and I really liked it.”

White will become the first Eastern View girls basketball player to play in college and she’s the first of McCombs’ players to sign with a college program.

“I’m just happy for her,” McCombs said. “It’s got nothing to do with me. It’s just good she’s able to go to a school that practices her religion.”

And White couldn’t be happier to finally have found a place where she can balance her two passions.

“Religion is my top priority,” she said. “God comes first in my life and for him to show me the school is a true blessing. I can serve him and do what I love at the same time.”

About Oakwood University
Location: Huntsville, Ala.
Nickname: Ambassadors
Enrollment: 1,800
Affiliation: United States Collegiate Athletic Association, Division I