Marta García: From Severe Depression in the US to Spar Girona’s New Star

That on-court production earned García a dual reward this past summer: a debut with the senior Spanish national selection and a high-profile transfer to Spar Girona. Yet the journey to Fontajau was anything but a straight line. Ten years earlier, a 14-year-old García left her hometown of Marchena to join Segle XXI, the female basketball training and high performance program in Barcelona. «I remember telling my mom: “Mama, the train only passes once,”» García recalls of her early ambition.

From Marchena to the United States and Back

Basketball entered García’s life almost by chance when she was nine years old, joining the sport after her brother, three years older, brought home a sign-up sheet in Marchena, where she initially played with girls three or four years her senior due to a lack of age-matched teams. Stints in Utrera and Barcelona’s Segle XXI program led to international youth honors, including a U16 European bronze medal—where she earned a spot on the all-tournament team—and a U18 3×3 World gold medal accompanied by tournament MVP honors.

Those accolades opened the door to American collegiate basketball. García signed with Arizona, a powerhouse program that reached the NCAA final that season. However, the experience quickly soured. A language barrier severely dented her confidence, transforming an outgoing personality into someone who felt isolated. «The language barrier affected me a lot. I could hold a conversation, but I couldn’t be myself in English. I couldn’t be funny because I didn’t have enough vocabulary,» she explains.

Compounded by a foot injury, distance from home, cultural displacement, and lingering COVID-19 restrictions, García felt herself shrinking. After finishing the season, she returned to Spain with diminished ambition for the sport and sought psychological help for the first time. A subsequent transfer to Florida Atlantic failed to halt her slide. Faced with deteriorating physical and mental health—including dropping out of eating routines without realizing it—she ultimately packed her bags and returned home to Seville.

Overcoming Severe Depression

This past August, while training with the senior national team, García chose to speak publicly about that dark chapter in a Spanish Federation video. She detailed a severe, practically incapacitating depression that left her bedridden for months. «I remember not getting out of bed. I didn’t care about eating, I didn’t care about showering, I didn’t care about anything,» she states.

With quick intervention from her family in Seville, García began a slow, grueling recovery process that kept her away from basketball for over a year. Guided by psychological and psychiatric care, she started with microscopic steps recommended by professionals: walking outside, feeling sunlight, and listening to birds to reactivate her senses. An unexpected turning point arrived in the form of a German Shepherd assigned to her care, a pet that forced her out of the house two or three times a day. Gradually, the fog lifted, and basketball returned to her life.

Embracing the Spar Girona Challenge

Now wearing the Spar Girona jersey, García steps up to a club aiming for EuroLeague competition and domestic titles. Rather than expressing fear about the jump in competition level, she leans into ambition. «I wouldn’t call it fear; I’d call it ambition. I’m really looking forward to showing who we are and the work we’ve been putting in,» she notes.

She acknowledges that the transition requires patience and intensive adaptation compared to some teammates who have been playing there for many years, but she trusts her work ethic to bridge the gap.