Candace Parker is just all about making history wherever she goes.
The Los Angeles Sparks legend officially retired from the game of basketball last April 28, but it did not take her long to enter record books again after landing a major job at a shoe brand company.
Parker, 38, is now the new president of Adidas Women's Basketball.
This role sees her as the main head of the Adidas line. She will lead the product line evaluation, help name the athletes for the women's roster, and assist in driving growth strategies.
She will lead the daily operations and work with the brand at its Los Angeles headquarters.
"Parker will collaborate with the brand to create a powerful platform aimed at influencing and elevating the future of women's sports," the brand said in a statement.
"Parker's role will also involve overseeing the adidas Women's Basketball product line, and spearheading further development of the brand's storied women's roster."
Parker and Adidas go way back, as the latter was among the first to get the endorsement of the NCAA standout in 2008.
The deal made her the first woman athlete to receive Adidas player-edition footwear and the ninth WNBA player to have her own signature shoe.
Parker did not want to become a mascot
Players usually become brand ambassadors after their retirement. Others take a more laid-back project.
Parker, for her part, does not want any of that. She thought she was ready for a role with a more significant impact.
This is why she fought for a major role with Adidas.
"I said to [Adidas], 'I don't want to be a mascot," she said in an interview with Fast Company during the launch of her new undertaking.
"I really want to be in the meetings, and I want to be a part of making decisions.'"
She is ready to make a change.
In the same article, longtime sneaker industry analyst Matt Powell said that only 5 percent of basketball shoes are designed with women's specific needs in mind.
Adidas's global basketball business head, Eric Wise, sees Parker as instrumental in changing the women's sports shoe industry landscape.
"We can go into the anatomy of the foot and things like injury prevention," he said.
"We can get very scientific, but is that really what's needed? We have all that data, and now we need to really just build our strategy with Candace."
Candace Parker, the history-maker
Excellence is the best word to define Parker's life, whether in basketball or her personal life.
Last year, she made history by becoming the first WNBA player to win a championship for three teams.
She is also the first to win Rookie of the Year and MVP award in the same season.
She became just the second female player to dunk in a game in her rookie year.
Her high school is also just as sensational, becoming just the second junior and the only woman to receive the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year when she won it back to back in 2003 and 2004.
Related article: Fever Rookie Caitlin Clark Reacts to WNBA's Huge Travel Change
© 2023 Sportsworldnews.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
