INSIDE EMMA KARAMOVIC
Emma at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center
Emma Karamovic, a Swedish freshman forward for the University of Tampa Women’s Basketball team in Florida, is one of those special people brave enough to cross the ocean to live the American adventure. Born in May 24, 1996, and majoring in psychology, Emma is called to be the future of Tampa’s program and I had the pleasure to get to know her and share her impressions and experiences with you:
Inside the rim: When did you start to play basketball and why?
Emma: When I as 7, I wanted to be a part of a sport I loved watching. I started to catch interest for it after always going to my dad’s games he was refereeing.
ITR: How is basketball different between Europe and the U.S.?
E: European ball is quicker, the rules are a lot different specially the travel step. Also, you get to play with pros earlier, and you have a bigger chance of getting into the national team than in the U.S. The games that are played and the schedule of the season are longer back home specially if you play a lot of tournaments outside the league cup. For example: I had one game every week and when we played tournaments where we played 4-7 games in a week sometimes.
U.S. basketball has longer times on offense, so it is much easier to score to score if team is not organized. Players can call for time-outs in the middle of a dead ball game, which I am not used to at all (she laughs). U.S. basketball feels more like one on one while back home you must play together. Also the rules are very different. I believe if the rules were the same the game would be a bit more similar.
ITR: Why did you decide to come to the U.S., and especially to the University of Tampa?
E: I wanted to come to Florida, a warm state. Coach Jessee has a good record and he found me. The school sounded awesome so why not. It is better than staying home.
ITR: What is the most difficult part of being an international student-athlete at the United States? And what is the best part?
E: The most difficult things are the language and the lifestyle. The best part is that I do what I love, playing basketball and getting a degree from college, which is not as simple to get back at home. Back home, I would have been forced to choose between getting a degree or playing basketball.
ITR: Do you think there is discrimination between men and women when it comes to attendance at the games, media coverage, and treatment of the players?
E: I do not really know this answer, besides people say that our game is not as interesting because we cannot dunk and stuff like that. The difference is that back home I played with professionals. It was a lot more different because everyone had their part that they needed to do. Also, there are differences depending on the economy of the club. The men’s team back home did get a lot more gear and more money.
ITR: Why do you think there is lack of attendance at the University of Tampa women’s basketball games?
E: Probably because the promotion is not enough in social media and also people do not know about us. I believe we should have more advertisements about us and people would probably come to our games if they knew us.
* Interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Here is a video of her 2014/15 highlights at her Club Mark Basket in Sweden (via @youtube):
Hope you all enjoyed this post, don't lose sight of this girl she will do big things!! :)
