-Coach, I want to ask you a few things about life in Turkey. How did the adaptation process go? Moreover, a new adaptation process may be required after the pandemic. What do you think about work in Turkey?
“Working in Turkey is great. It was tough in the beginning especially getting used to foreign player rules. Omer helped me a lot during this time. He is a great coach. I always ask questions to him and his opinion about different things. He helped me a lot so it was not very difficult to get accustomed to the Turkish League. I now know the league, referees, and our opponents. I can’t wait to start again. It’s going to be much easier for me next season because I know everything. Most importantly, I know the club well. The main question regarding pandemic is if we are going to play games with our fans or not. I really hope that our fans start coming into our games soon because we love playing in front of them. Their support to us is unbelievable.”
-You have established a very good connection with the fans in a short time, which I think the basketball you play has an effect. Obviously, you have a big share in people’s interest in women’s basketball team. This interest has decreased slightly in recent seasons. What would you like to say to the fans when the new season is likely to start without fans?
“We will start our training camp soon. I am going back to Turkey on July 29th. We are currently in contact with them on Twitter and Instagram. I love being in touch with them because I know what Fenerbahce means to our fans. It’s like a religion. It was incredible to hear them chant my name in our arena. I haven’t experienced anything like that in my life before. Maybe the closest was in Salamanca. The fans gave me a standing ovation when I visited the city with other teams. But it was not even close to Fenerbahce fans. Chanting my name, stopping me for pictures, telling me how much they love the team and the club… Unbelievable. Don’t worry, I am coming back this month. I am sure they will enjoy the games we will play this season. We will do our best for them.”
-I got some questions on Twitter for the interview. The most curious topic is whether you want to add a new Turkish player to the squad or not?
“No. We have three domestic players and Kiah Stokes who has a Turkish Passport. We will have to top our squad with some of our development team players. There are a lot of players who show a lot of growth in their games recently. Maybe we don’t have a lot of players who play for their national teams but I don’t think we need that at this point. We have a lot of youth players working hard to play for Fenerbahce and our job is to help them accomplish this. We will have decent number of Turkish players during the season because I trust them.”