Asking the simple question of “Where are you from?” around an Alabama State University athletics team and it’s likely the answer may surprise you and lead to an interesting conversation within minutes.
The ASU athletics program has continued its’ recent tradition of upholding a diversified student body that stretches worldwide and creates a global presence when it relates to roster makeup.
Among the most diverse of the 18 programs is the ASU women’s soccer team. The Lady Hornets’ 22-player roster has a unique distinctiveness to it, blending culture, ideas, language and backgrounds into one unit on the soccer field.
There is representation from 10 states, three countries outside of the U.S with a fourth player who was stationed with her family in Germany.
There’s Iita Pienimaki from Finland, Sabina Claesson from Sweden, and Shelbi Vienna-Hallam from Australia. Ally Murphy lived in Germany for a short time as well.
Six other players are from California, three players are from Georgia, two from Alaska and there’s one representative each from North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, Washington and Alabama.
So, it begs the question: What’s creating the interest to travel so far away from home to attend Alabama State?
The answer differs depending upon who you ask, but there seems to be an advantage within the structure of an American university if a student-athlete is attempting to juggle both academics and athletics.
Pienimaki said that if she stayed in her home country of Finland, then it would have been much more likely that she would have stopped playing soccer and would have focused on just pursuing a psychology degree.
“Taking on student loans is pretty uncommon,” said Pienimaki, who began learning Finish, Swedish and English by the time she was a third-grade student. “In Finland, I would have had to pick up a full-time job while in college. I’d have to pay rent so I’d have to cover that.”
Claesson, whose first language is Swedish, said the experience to play competitive soccer while gaining a top education and learning more about the English language were big factors in her decision.
Vienna-Hallam was also interested in America’s system of balancing work in the classroom with play on the soccer field.
“It’s almost like you had to pick between getting a degree and playing top competitive soccer [in Australia],” Vienna-Hallam said. “It’s been great here to learn about different cultures and hear about their experiences and how they grew up. You can get an understanding of the rest of the world.”
With over 400 student-athletes at ASU, the student-body population hails from 15 countries around the world.
“There are a lot of international players here,” said Lady Hornets’ eighth-year soccer coach Jodie Smith. “This has been a steady trend for a while, and not just in soccer here. It’s been pretty consistent since I’ve been here. I’ve had German players and another Australian player and a Canadian player in the past.”
Coach Smith added that the learning curve for international players on his teams has been smooth.
“The easiest thing is that you don’t really have to worry about them academically in the classroom,” Smith said. “Their maturity level tends to be higher. You do worry about them culturally and worry about them fitting in. But, our team does a nice job of doing things off the field together. They have team functions and team outings.”
The closeness of the team seems to be another difference between American and foreign universities.
“The team was the main reason why I stayed after the first year,” Pienimaki said. “There’s such close contact. We see each other for several hours every day so we develop some kind of relationship. You notice that school spirit is really important here too. Networking is another big thing [that can be helpful.]”
Even certain school functions and gatherings can be a cultural shock in some capacity to some.
“There are definitely differences in the culture, “Vienna-Hallam said. “We didn’t have things like coronations of Presidents and ‘Miss’ contests for every dorm. Everyone is so connected here. There’s a lots of involvement. We don’t have anything like sororities [in Australia]. When you come here and realize how many things are actually going on, you think ‘Wow.’”
As for differences from American culture, the international players from ASU would like to inform America of a few things.
For one, other countries use “post code” and don’t refer to “zip codes” in mailing addresses.
“Someone asked me for a zip code and I didn’t know what that was,” Vienna-Hallam said. “We call it a post code.”
While shagging balls might make sense for an American as a person who retrieves the ball on the sidelines, it doesn’t have that same meaning in other countries.
“We just call them ball boys or ball girls,” Pienimaki said.
Claesson shook her head in agreement.
“Yeah. We just call them ball boys,” Claesson said.
And, instead of saying that a soccer player is controlling the ball, a foreign player might say “kill the ball.”
“Kuoleta. It means to kill the ball,” Pienimaki said. “We say that we bring our foot down the ball and stop it.”
While it is a learning experience for everybody involved on the team, it’s comforting to know that when carrying a passport post-graduation, fellow ASU alum may be just around the corner.
“I think it’s cool that players are from pretty much all over the country,” Pienimaki said. “Players on other teams are from the Dominican, Serbia and Britain too. It’s not only our team. It’s the whole athletic program that is really diverse. When I go back home, I’ll have Facebook friends from all over. I’ll always have somewhere to go. If others ever come to Finland, they can call me up. I think it opens your eyes to different things. People also realize that their country’s way of doing something may or may not be the best way to do things.”
Learn terms in Finnish, Swedish and Australian
Penny or pre-game jersey:
“Bib” in Australian “Liivi” in Finnish. “Väst” in Swedish.
Game jersey:
“Strip” in Australia. “Pelipaita” in Finish. “Match-tröja” in Swedish.
Hornets:
“Ampiainen” in Finnish. “Getting” in Swedish.
