Ex-Raider, Lumberjack Wahl ready for pro debut in Sweden

After the NAU women's basketball team came up just shy of a second consecutive Big Sky Conference tournament championship in March, senior Alyssa Wahl had one thought as she walked off the court: "Wow, it 's over."

But after playing basketball for nearly as long as she can remember, and after becoming the Lumberjacks all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Wahl did not want her playing career to be over. So when an agent contacted NAU coach Laurie Kelly about Wahl playing overseas the 23-year-old jumped at it.

Wahl has signed with the Visby Ladies of the Damligan league in Sweden.

"I knew I wanted to keep playing after our last game," Wahl said of the Lumberjacks' six-point loss to Idaho State on March 10. "I just didn 't want to be done playing yet."

Wahl, who also had offers to play in Australia and Russia, will play with the Visby Ladies in two tournaments next month before returning to the U.S. for tax reasons. She will then head back to Sweden on Oct. 12, with the league's regular season beginning the next night.

"My parents really thought I was done. They were surprised," Wahl, the fourth former Lumberjack to move on to the pro level, said. "It's an opportunity I couldn 't pass up or I 'd regret it later."

Wahl will receive a humble salary (she declined to give a specific number) while her living accommodations and one meal per day will be taken care of by the team.

She is not going to get rich by playing overseas but the opportunity was still worth it to put off graduate classes in the occupational therapy program at Midwestern University in Phoenix.

Visby is located on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, about 120 miles south of the country 's capital city of Stockholm. The island is known as a tourist destination, and is a three- to four-hour ferry ride or half-hour to the mainland. The weather is very similar to that in Minnesota, where Wahl lived until she was 12 before moving to Yuma and becoming a star at Cibola High School.

Wahl, who averaged 14.7 points and 6.7 rebounds for her NAU career, said she chose Sweden over Australia and Russia because it is more scenic and the travel opportunities are more abundant. She has not ruled out playing in Russia next season.

"It 's not only a chance to play ball, but too see the world and expand my horizons," said Wahl, whose only previous international travel has been to Mexico.

The Visby Ladies finished sixth in the 12-team league last year with a record of 10-12, fourth in 2006 and won the Damligan title in 2005. Per league rules, only two American players are allowed on each team; seventeen Americans were spread out among the 12

teams a year ago.

"I don't know much about the team or the coaching style. I think the league is pretty strong. I expect it to be competitive," said Wahl, who has been told by her agent, Vernon Johnson, that the Visby team is expecting her to be its top scorer and rebounder.

As for the language barrier, much of Sweden speaks English, though "not the same English," Wahl said. She also will be given the opportunity to take free Swedish classes at the local college and she intends to take advantage.

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Chris Gabel can be reached at

cgabel@azdailysun.com or 556-2251.