My Lumberjack Life: Stephanie Visscher
7/16/2021 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
This summer was unforgettable. Ever since I was a kid, I've always dreamed about getting to play for the Swedish senior national team. I grew up watching their games and had many of the players as my role models. Getting to compete, practice and most importantly learn from the best players in Sweden have helped me grow as a player. Representing my home country was an amazing experience.
Last year's success with my team at SFA definitely helped me prepare for this summer. Coming off such a good season helped me feel more confident and ready to fight for a spot on the final 12-man roster. We started the summer off with 17 players at training camps in Sweden and then slowly they let more and more people go home as we got closer to the European Championship.
My junior year was one of the best seasons in my career so far. I got to win both the regular season and the conference tournament championship with a special group of girls and coaches, followed by going to the NCAA Tournament. And then to top it off, I got to represent my home country during the summer. But when I think of basketball from this past year, playing in a bubble comes to mind.
At SFA, we were in a bubble for the conference tournament in Katy and the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio. This summer, I had to be in a bubble for about a month and a half with the national team, too. This was hard mentally at times, but during those moments, the support from the people around me helped tremendously. Seeing the SFA community's support for me on social media despite me being on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean shows how special and dedicated the SFA family is. The support my teammates showed also meant so much to me. Having Brii and Tee FaceTime me regularly would always put me in a good mood, even during the tough moments during the summer. This shows how the people at SFA treat you as family and always want the best for you, which I am beyond grateful for.
I am super excited to come back to SFA to fight and get better with my teammates to make this upcoming season equally as incredible as the past season was. I'm enjoying some family time right now, but I miss my team and the people at SFA. I will definitely be ready to come back in August to start going after it right away so we can achieve all our goals next season.
See you very soon, Lumberjack Nation!
#13 Stephanie Visscher
