Life in Germany was "tough" for Dennis Schroder when he was growing up.
Schroder recently opened up about his upbringing in the country to Marc J. Spears, while he's representing the national team in the Paris Olympics.
“Growing up in Germany was tough, man. It’s wrong, but I just went with it. In kindergarten people asked, ‘Why is your skin Black? ‘Why are you dirty?’ and all those little tough moments," Schroder said.
"But then when I started playing basketball at 12, I went to a basketball school and people started respecting and accept me as a Black person because I did something for Germany and for my hometown."
Persevering through his struggles, Schroder simply took off from there. He became a basketball star in front of his nation's eyes, entering the NBA in 2014 as a first-round draft pick, and secured Germany their first-ever FIBA World Cup in 2023.
With the 76-63 victory over Greece in the quarterfinals, Germany made the semifinals for the first time in its history. Schroder, providing 13 points and eight assists off the bench, played a huge part in that feat as he helps the team fight for a place in the gold medal game.
“It’s insane. We wrote history already,” Schröder said after the win over Greece. “We’re in the semis. With this team, it’s great to compete. We are like brothers. We’re like family. I’m not just saying it. It’s the real deal. I love all those guys.”
When asked about what he would say to a young black German kid who's dealing with racism like he did in the past, Schroder's response emanated the feeling of resilience.
"I would probably tell him that it don’t matter what anybody says, it don’t matter if it’s the teacher, it don’t matter if it’s your coach, you got to see the vision. You got to, of course, stay humble, listen to your family. But at the end of the day, you just got to focus on what you want to accomplish because you can accomplish whatever you want," Schroder said.
"So, of course you got to have a little bit of luck and have the right connects and the right people that can connect you. It opens up everything you want to do."
Germany is set to face France on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET.
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