Traveling the world through basketball

FRESNO, Calif. – Born in Sweden, Lydia Friberg grew up playing basketball at the age of 10 despite not always enjoying it, quitting twice while also turning to riding horses and playing soccer. She always came back though to the sport that has given her so much during the past decade.

Friberg developed an interest in the game from a neighbor who played for the Sweden Olympic basketball and worked with his son and her brother's team. It was at that point that she began to go to their practices.

As she got older, she gained attention in the sport from the national program, making her first youth national team at 14. As she progressed, she had the opportunity to move away from home and attend a boarding school with other members of Sweden's national teams. It was there that Friberg would spend her high school years going to school and playing basketball.

Although not required to live at the school, she used it as opportunity for growth. It was similar to college as she was living on her own, juggling the responsibilities of life, studies and playing at an elite level. That came with sacrifices that most teenagers do not have to deal with.

"You never had a summer," Friberg said. "I had about two weeks off each summer. We also had winter tournaments and European Championships in the summer so I didn't have a break about six years."

Friberg has played at each level of Sweden's youth national teams through the under-20 squad. Along the way, she has played in three youth European Championships in Division A. That opportunity brought more exposure and opened up doors for new adventures. Putting together her own highlight tape and seeking out college coaches in the United States, she went through the recruiting process from afar. She would even tell coaches to call her on their time so she would wind up fielding recruiting calls at three or four in the morning.

An explorer at heart, it was her chance to continue to see other cultures and countries. She soon learned that coaching personalities were different across the United States as she spent her first season in the U.S. at Weatherford College in Texas before making the move to Palm Beach State College in Florida last year where she was a team captain. She then made the move to Fresno State last month.

"I like to travel and see different cultures and meet new people," she said. "The coaches from Texas were completely different than the coaches from Florida, and they were completely different from the coaches in California. Sometimes we had different coaches for the national team and players would say that they're so hard and I would tell them they weren't because I've seen all different types."

Learning how to adapt to life in the States has been one thing, but basketball has been another.

"It's definitely a step up," she said about making her latest move to Fresno State. "It's intense. In Europe, you practice maybe one or two hours but three hours was so hard in the beginning. My only goal was to get through practice."

She has also had to adjust to being one of the tallest players on her teams in the U.S., something she wasn't accustomed to in Sweden.

"Everyone in America has tried to make me a post but in Sweden I was never the tallest one," Friberg joked.

Those moves have had its advantages for the 6-foot-2 forward as they have made her a much more versatile player. She can now play multiple positions because some coaches have played her on the wing while more recently, others have put her in the post.

After a month of getting acclimated with her teammates in Fresno, Friberg will now bring both of her worlds together during Fresno State's foreign tour in Europe. Rather than the person seeing things for the first time, like she has been doing for the last month, she will have already experienced much of what her new teammates will be seeing for the first time.

"Everyone is saying that it's a once in a lifetime experience but I've been there before," she said. "It's more like home to me."

Her family will even join the Bulldogs' on the final leg of their tour in Paris. That includes her younger brother who she says is her biggest fan. Whenever her parents have traveled to see her play, he has been there. Even when her parents haven't been there, he would still find a way. He has traveled on his own, saving up his own money to travel throughout Europe and even to the U.S. to support his older sister. She even sees him as her good luck charm as she plays her best when he is in the crowd.

Quick take on her teammates experiencing European competition for the first time…
"It's going to be fun to see how they react."

"In America it's more about being physical and scoring but in Europe you're taught to think. Defense comes through offense. On defense you have like three plays. In Europe they think more and we're going to play against wise players."

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Traveling the world through basketball

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