Colorado is coming together as one big, international family

Colorado’s roster dots the globe like pieces on a Risk game board. The team contains players from England, Estonia, Israel, Nigeria, Sweden, Denmark, and two from Australia. And, of course, there are players from the United States, making it nine countries in all that are represented on Head Coach JR Payne’s roster.  

Here is the complete list of players with foreign citizenship on Colorado’s roster:

1. Frida Formann, 5-11 Grad. student (Dagsvaerd, Denmark)
2. JoJo Nworie, 6-5 So. transfer from Texas Tech (Lagos, Nigeria)
3. Erin Powell, 6-0 Freshman (Hampshire, U.K.)
4. Sara-Rose Smith, 5th Year Sr. (Victoria, Australia)
5. Lova Lagerlid, 6-0 Freshman  (Stockholm, Sweden)
6. Namer Diew, 6-2 Grad. transfer from Iowa State (citizen of South Sudan)
7. Lior Garzon, 6-1 Grad. transfer from Ok. State (Ra’anana, Israel)
8. Tabitha Betson, 6-2 Freshman (Melbourne, Australia)
9. Johanna Teder, 6-8 Grad. transfer from Wash. State (Tartu, Estonia)

Asked to reflect on the international flavor of her team, Payne admitted to reporters on the first official day of practice that it’s a lot. “I mean they’re playing great basketball overseas,” Payne said, “and we were pretty intentional about filling voids that we had or things that we felt that we needed. We need a shooter, we need an athlete, we need a post player and you know it just so happened that a couple of them we recruited before, they went to other schools and now they’re back, so that was cool, to have another chance at some of those players.”

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The diversity of nationalities on the roster had led to some interesting cultural exchanges between the players and coaches and also what can only be described as a heart-warming melding of differences.

“You can’t even tell we’re from different countries unless we talk because the accents are quite different,” says JoJo Nworie, a forward from Nigeria who transferred to Boulder this spring from Texas Tech. “But once we play, you can really tell, it’s like wow, [we] can really flow together, which is amazing.”  

Nworie, who speaks four languages, punctuates the point with a unifying message: “We actually are together as one as a family.”

The cultural exchanges involve food, customs, holiday celebrations, and something everyone seems to like: candy. Lior Garzon, who is the first varsity athlete from Israel in the history of CU sports, told The Next that on media day, “Everyone brought a candy from their home country.”  

Nworie says her mom is sending candy from Nigeria. She’s also exposing her roommate, Johanna Teder, a citizen of Estonia, to Nigerian cooking. “I’ve been cooking some Nigerian food and she’s eating it and loving it,” Nworie told The Next, adding, “It’s spicy!”

In some cases, CU’s international roster has produced some friendly rivalries. For example, grad student Frida Formann, a five-year player at CU from Denmark, told The Next that her Scandinavian teammate, Lova Lagerlid, a freshman from Sweden, is someone she played against throughout her youth at various tournaments in northern Europe.  

“I beat [teams from] Sweden the most times,” quipped Formann. Overhearing this, Lagerlid quickly replied, “I have never lost to Denmark, to be honest.”

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Some players from overseas carry the weight of their countrymen on their shoulders as they matriculate through the higher education system in the United States.  

For Garzon, the daily news of the war from back home in Israel weighs heavily on her mind. “It’s on my mind every single day, every day that I step on the court,” Garzon told The Next. “I remind myself why I started this journey; how proud I am to represent my country.”

Garzon, incidentally, led Colorado in scoring with 18 points in its preseason scrimmage win on Sunday against the Colorado School of Mines. Earlier this week, she was named to the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Preseason Watch List.  

For other players, like Nyamer Diew, who was born in the U.S. but whose parents are from war-torn South Sudan, the ability to play in the United States provides a safe space to hone her craft.  

“My mom literally came to a foreign country not knowing anyone, not knowing anything,” Diew told The Next. “She gave all that up for us to be successful. To be whatever we want to be. Everything I do is because of it, whether it’s because of my mom and what she believes, or because what I believe from what I was growing up with, culture wise, but also it’s the only place where I’ve been truly accepted no matter who I am.  It didn’t matter if I was a person of color, it didn’t matter if I was a female. It didn’t matter any of that. And so It’s just easier to be here and be present and do something that I love. I’ve never been treated differently because of it.”

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Garzon and Diew, two students with backgrounds in countries riven by war, are roommates on campus and the best of friends.  

“Lior knows that I’m going to ride with her all of her life,” said Diew. “She’s amazing. It’s been weird competing against her and then being on the same team. But I love it. She’s one of my favorite people to play with on this team. It’s just knowing that she’s supported through anything she needs.”

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Supporting each other is a common theme the foreign players talk about. And a lot of that support comes from afar.For example, Johanna Teder, a grad student transfer from Washington State, has received tremendous support from her community of friends and followers in Estonia.  

“Every time I go home I get a lot of support. I haven’t played for my national team a lot over the years, but they printed out this cardboard thing of me. And it was in all of the schools and local sports facilities, which I found really annoying. But just a feeling that they would do that and show the little ones what’s out there. And even the support from former coaches and other teammates — it’s so special. Because I was out for a year and I got so many messages [telling me] it’s so good  to see you back on the court; so many people genuinely happy to see me.”

For Erin Powell, a freshman from England, it helps to know that she’s not the only one on the team living far from home.

“For me, having international teammates makes it easier for me to be away from home, especially with seniors who are international and who understand what it’s like and have done it for such a long period of time — it makes it much easier for me.”

With the season about to tip-off, there’s a feeling in Boulder that this team, despite its newness, and maybe because of its diversity, is coming together to form something special.  

“For the system that we run, it’s kind of a stroke of luck that we ended up with so many international players,” Payne told reporters on media day. “Maybe it’s not so much international as experience.”

Nworie, the Texas Tech transfer from Nigeria, sums it up this way: “I’m here for a reason now and I’m gonna love playing for JR because I love her and this team so much.”