Winnipeg’s Niyah Becker is one of a handful of Manitobans who are making a career out of professional women’s basketball overseas.
After signing her first pro contract, Becker is playing her first season in Slovenia in the Women’s Adriatic Basketball Association that features teams from seven different countries.
“I didn’t know what to expect being kinda my first year as a pro,” Becker said.
The former Vincent Massey Trojans star played five years of collegiate hoops at Wake Forest and the University of Utah before her agent landed her a deal with the Cinkarna Celje this past summer, becoming the first Canadian to play for the team.
“I just had no idea what to expect,” said Becker. “I just knew it’d be competitive basketball. I had to do a lot of research cause it’s kinda like a whole new world. I don’t know a lot about different countries and such, so I had to kinda get my googling on.”
Cinkarna Celje play in both the WABA as well as a local Slovenian league. And three months into her first season the 23-year-old calls it a perfect fit with her club sporting an unbeaten 10-0 record in the WABA and Becker is second in the league in total points, averaging almost 17 points per game.
“I’ve really enjoyed it,” Becker said. “I feel like I’ve done well so far and I’m just kinda trying to keep building one game at a time, and keep getting better.”
Celje is a small city of just 38,000 in Slovenia and outside of the basketball court adjusting to life in a foreign country all by herself where she doesn’t know the language has been a little tricky.
“New language, not really knowing much about the country,” said Becker. “So, that was hard, but everyone on my team speaks English so that was a really big plus and super grateful. And they’re really like helpful and kind in kinda getting me settled. But definitely yeah, just kinda being like plopped in another part of the world where I’ve just never knew anything about, don’t know the language at all, has been the hardest part.”
Becker helped Canada’s under-23 team win a silver medal at the 2023 Globl Jam in July and dreams of one day playing for her country at the Olympics.
“That’s always been the goal,” she said. “Being on the Canadian Olympic team has always been a dream of mine, so that’s definitely the end goal.”