Leaving home is tough for most college students, even if you’re just leaving your hometown in Wyoming and studying in-state, the transition into a new city can be a difficult one, but can you imagine leaving your home country to play a sport on the other side of the ocean?
For Cowgirls basketball players Marta Gomez and Tijana Raca, this is not a hypothetical question, rather their realities.
Junior Marta Gomez was born in Valle, Spain, a small town of around 200 people near Valencia, Spain. Gomez has played basketball for most of her life and initially accepted a scholarship to play basketball in Barcelona, Spain. From there Cowgirls’ assistant coach Bojan Jankovic recruited her to come to the University of Wyoming.
“Well I had a scholarship to play division one in Barcelona,” Gomez said. “That was how I met some of the coaches (Jankovic). Bojan (Jankovic) is from Serbia and he is basically who recruited me.”
Gomez is just one of several international players on the Cowgirls this season. Another player from overseas is Tijana Raca from Pylea Thessaloniki, Greece.
Raca began her college career at Aristoteleio College in her hometown of Thessaloniki. She was also recruited by Bojan Jankovic, who brought her here from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was an assistant coach and international recruiter before coming to UW.
“It was never my dream [to come to America],” Raca said. “I was thinking about it and I got an offer from Oral Roberts and decided to take it. Coach Bojan was there as an assistant coach and I really liked him, so I was like I guess this is my dream now. Then when he left he showed my film to coach Joe (Legerski) and he liked me so I chose to come here.”
Both Raca and Gomez have made their place on the team and started to get comfortable. But that didn’t come right away.
Anyone who has traveled to a European country, or knows someone who has, knows that European culture is very different from our own and adapting to new cultures can be very difficult, especially when you are also focused on playing division one basketball.
“The food here is so much different than back home,” Raca said. “Here is more fast food and I was so used to my mom’s cooking. Also, the weather here in Laramie was hard to get used to, it’s so cold compared to Greece.”
Gomez also had a lot of adjusting to do once she arrived here in Laramie.
“The time change was really tough, since we are eight hours behind Spain,” Gomez said. “Then the food is really different, too. Like here it is more unhealthy than it is in Spain. Just the overall diet in Spain is healthier. Also the weather in Laramie, it’s so cold!”
Along with the hardships of adapting to a new culture and way of life, international players have to deal with leaving everything and everyone they’ve known. This has shown to be more difficult than adapting to a new place.
“I definitely miss my family the most. I miss being able to go there for holidays, since we have to stay in Laramie over Christmas,” Gomez said. “They are still really big supporters of me, but after games if we win or lose I can’t go talk to them.”
Raca also deals with the struggles of having her loved ones on the other side of the world. “I really miss my family and friends, but I miss the weather and the food the most,” Raca said.
But these girls will both admit that they are very happy with their decision to come to UW and have no regrets about coming here.
“The first time I played here in front of 3,000 people was incredible because I had never done that before,” Gomez said. “That first game was pretty cool. Just running down the tunnel and hearing everyone cheering has stuck with me.”
The Cowgirls will take on Fresno State this Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Arena Auditorium here in Laramie.
