Use a string outside of if and else statement to set string value

I just have a simple enough question on an issue im having, im trying to set a string value to "0" if a webelement isnt present else the string is the the webelement value (using getText) however i can seem to use these values ouside of the if and else statement, how do i do this? Here is my code

String players_in_game = null;

public void join_game_user_increases_register() throws Exception {

    WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(Drivers.getDriver(), 10);
    wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOf(countdownLabel));

    if(!num_of_players_in_game.isDisplayed()){
        String players_in_game = "0";
    } else {String players_in_game = num_of_players_in_game.getText();}

    System.out.println(players_in_game);
    int first_num = Integer.parseInt(players_in_game);