Freshman guard Elina Koskimies came to the United States looking for the opportunity to play collegiate basketball, and she has already made contributions to the Eagles this season in her first four games. Before AU, Koskimies attended a sports high school where she traveled across Europe for tournaments, and she said she has enjoyed learning a new style of basketball. The Eagle caught up with Koskimies before her first game to discuss culture, campus life her and championship goals.
What brought you to AU?
Actually, I started looking for college because of basketball. My mom’s old teammate’s husband is a Canadian, and he has been playing in college too, and he has a lot of contacts. He helped me a lot to get some contacts at universities. He recommended this university, so I contacted the coaches and talked with them, and then they offered me a scholarship.
Have you been playing all over the world or mostly in Finland?
No, mostly in Finland. I have also played in European championships. It’s fun, it’s very nice to get to play against other countries’ teams and to see a little of what kind of basketball they play, and there are a lot of differences between countries. Like, other places it’s very fast basketball, and other ones don’t run that much and yeah, it’s very fun.
What is the style like here compared to at home?
It’s more like the coaches want us to score much faster than in Finland. In Finland, it was more about running the plays and yeah, just like running the plays and trying to find a good way to score. Here, they also want us to run the plays and find good scoring options, but it’s more like you have to shoot when you’re open.
What’s the best part about AU?
I think the team is very good, and the teammates, all of them are very nice.
Will you stay in the United States after graduation?
If I have to answer now, I think I’m going back, but you never know. I’m going to try and play overseas, maybe in some other European countries.
What are your team goals?
A team goal is to win the championship, the Patriot League championship. They did last year too, so that’s one of the goals.
Would you encourage other students to look at AU?
I have a couple of friends who are planning to come to the U.S. and play college basketball when they graduate high school and yeah, I could really say that this was a very good place, or is a very good place to come.
sscovel@theeagleonline.com
