Former Uni Rebels star Ambah Kowcun is ready for North Dakota State College of Science’s first game against Lake Region State College, loving her time in the US
FORMER Uni Rebels star Ambah Kowcun is loving training with her new teammates at North Dakota State College of Science before the side’s first game against Lake Region State College next Saturday (NT time).
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FORMER Uni Rebels star Ambah Kowcun is loving training with her new teammates at North Dakota State College of Science before the side’s first game against Lake Region State College next Saturday (NT time).
Freshman guard Kowcun has been in Wahpeton – a small town of almost 8000 – for almost four months, and has already become accustomed to life in US and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kowcun said she Facetimes with family when she can.
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“My teammates have been very welcoming and so have the coaches,” Kowcun, 19 and studying a Liberal Arts degree, told the Wahpeton Daily News.
“They’ve made the transition so much easier than what it could have been.”
Kowcun began playing basketball at nine and actually hated it at first.
She played on her cousin’s club team at first because their team needed players.
At first when her parents signed her up for basketball, Kowcun would cry every time she went.
“My sister was fine. She went out for training, while I had to get dragged out for training, so I hated it,” Kowcun said.
She didn’t like basketball at first because she didn’t know the basic skills when she started playing, and it took her a while for her to get used to the game before she began to love it.
When she started to get adjusted and get comfortable handling the ball on the court, things changed for her.
“I didn’t want to learn new things – I was comfortable where I was at,” she said.
“So my mum making me play a new sport, I was like ‘no way, I don’t want to do that’.”
Kowcun said that the play style in the States was a little more physical than in Australia.
“You just have to be stronger all together. In Australia it’s a bit more fast paced, and I feel like it’s the same in the US,” she said.
Kowcun said the toughest part about arriving late was getting familiar with her teammates straight away.
She arrived after most of the American players. Swedish teammate Hanna Appelgren arrived two weeks after she did.
Kowcun said it was hard to make friends at first because all of the Americans on the team had friends set already, and it was tough meeting new people when she got in the US for the first time.
Now that she’s been with the team for a few months, she has become a lot closer with the team.
“We’ll just continue to build on our chemistry so that we can take it on the court as well,” she said.
One big challenge in moving to the US for Kowcun was eating the different kinds of food in the country.
She said that she missed her mum’s home-cooked meals
“I love the mac-n-cheese in the cafeteria, that’s one of my favourites,” Kowcun said.
“I remember I was in quarantine and I was getting food when I first got here and I was like ‘what is this stuff?’ and Snapchatting my teammates asking ‘What’s Miracle Whip?’”
She said her Australian friends send her packages every once in a while with her favourite Australian foods and snacks.
If she could have one thing right now it would be chocolate Tim Tam biscuits.
The coaching staff did their part in making Kowcun comfortable when she stepped into the US for the first time.
She is looking forward to developing her skills and strengths on the court.
Kowcun said the weight room and facilities available were the ultimate difference maker in her decision to commit to playing basketball at NDSCS.
The unselfish Kowcun is looking forward to creating a good team culture and a good environment for everyone else.
She has built an incredible amount of resilience and discipline for someone so young – she made her Darwin Basketball top league debut for Uni Rebels at just 12.
Kowcun then went on to represent Northern Territory, South Australia, the victorious Australian team at the Four Nations Cup in New Zealand in March in 2019, play for Forestville Eagles in the NBL1 Central competition in Adelaide and help Darwin Rebels to the inaugural Australian Indigenous Basketball Tournament in Cairns in December, 2019.
She was named MVP of the senior women’s division, averaging 16 points across eight games.
This has equipped her mentally to succeed in a basketball-mad nation.
“For me personally, I just want to motivate my teammates to work hard on and off the court to support and encourage each other,” Kowcun said.
“And hopefully that will carry us and lead us to the finals.
“For me, I just want to improve on my confidence and improve my skills.”
Kowcun is looking forward to playing in her new team’s first game of the season against Lake Region State College next Saturday.
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