Ukrainian duo finds stride with University of Lethbridge Pronghorns – Lethbridge | 24CA News
The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns’ ladies’s basketball workforce has had a profitable season to date, sitting in fourth spot within the Canada West standings.
The workforce has begun to click on prior to now ten video games, going 9-1 however there are two gamers who’ve come into their very own, each on and off the courtroom.
Vlada Hozalova and Viktoriia Kovalevska are two college students from Ukraine and have discovered their stride in Canada.
“It was the idea of my friend Vlada,” defined Kovalevska. “I knew it was her dream so, she just said once, ‘We should go get our visas’ and I was like ‘OK.’”
“I never think of to move to somewhere, like European place,” mentioned Hozalova. “But in my mind, it was always kind of like ‘Oh, Canada, like it sounds like so much fun.’”
And when requested if Canada has measured as much as the hype, Hozalova laughed: “For sure, more than.”
Both are learning business for his or her second levels on the University of Lethbridge. But the pair have at all times had basketball to bind them.
“We used to played two years on the same team in Bryansk on the east side of Ukraine, and a few years we used to play on the national team U20,” mentioned Hozalova. “So, we have known each other a lot, probably like around 7 years.”
In Ukraine, they each performed skilled basketball with golf equipment from their area.
“It was my job. I was getting paid for that,” mentioned Kovalevska. “But here, if you want to play basketball you need to be a student at university, so it was quite a surprise for us.”
By watching them apply, one can inform that the duo know and play the sport effectively.
“Vika is the ultimate playmaker. She does all the little things that don’t show up on score sheets. Excellent on-ball defender,” defined Pronghorns head coach Dave Waknuk. “Whereas Vlada is a scorer, and she has been comfortable in that and found that. She’s made big shots for us — she plays fearless all the time.”
Hozalova presently sits within the high 10 within the nation for three-point subject objectives in ladies’s college basketball at slightly below 49 per cent. When requested how she feels about that, Hozalova claimed that she needs to be first.
Waknuk abilities in sports activities typically transition into actual life and recollects what it was like when the ladies first turned part of the workforce.
“At first I’d say that English was very limited, especially Vlada, you know, a lot of smiles and nodding but not a lot of communication. But since that, to see them both be great students and for Vikka to be an academic all Canadian and to be a standout academically, in a language that is not their main language,” he mentioned.
The comradery — a language understood by all — is on show as Pronghorns teammates rally round and high-five one another after a subject purpose is made throughout apply.
“I love being around basketball players, my teammates, coaching staff and everyone who is related to the team, fans. Like, yeah, it’s awesome,” Hozalova mentioned.
With yet one more season for certain to go for the duo, Waknuk is optimistic that they’ll proceed to develop and uncover extra issues that they like and are concerned about right here in Canada, a house away from residence.
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