One international player who fans should watch for on the Lady Saints women’s basketball team this season is 6-foot-6-inch Marta Oledzka. Oledzka is from Lapy, Poland, and is a sophomore who has played basketball for seven years. Oledzka has been in the United States since last year; she transferred from the New Mexico Junior College. Although this is her second year, she is undecided on a major. The 21-year old woman loves basketball because, according to her, she sees the sport as a personal challenge to become better. Furthermore, she likes that basketball is a team sport, yet every single person has an important role on the team. Players are not only responsible for themselves but also for the whole team. Oledzka found her way to basketball by accident. A friend was playing basketball and persuaded her to use her beneficial tallness and also to start playing, with successful results. Her strength is that she is a very friendly and open person with a positive and ambitious attitude, but like everybody she also has weaknesses. Oledzka stated that she could improve her body language and became more aggressive on the court. Her personal goals for this season are to get to the national championships, and also become better as an individual player. Oledzka is enjoying her residence in the United States. According to Oldezka, the Lady Saints team is like a family for her, the women support and help each other. In addition, she and her fellow teammates are ambitious and looking forward to this season. There are some more things that she likes about the United States, which is far away from her home country. In her opinion, the people in America are very open and friendly, also they are direct and say what they are thinking. She enjoys being part of the athletics program at the Seward County Community College/Area Technical School. Although there are things that she does like in the U.S., Oledzka stated that she doesn’t like the fast food and that she always needs a car to get somewhere, at least in Liberal. Like most international students do at some point in their studies, she sometimes misses her home country, especially her two nephews and the homemade food. But she still has contact with all her friends and family members through Skype and Facebook, because of the time difference she talks with her family mostly on weekends. She uses her limited amount of free time to get some rest and to hang out with friends. She enjoys reading books, magazines and listening to some music. Oledzka wants to graduate from SCCC/ATS and transfer to a university in the United States. After that she has no plans on what she will do, but she knows that she wants to play basketball as long as she can and continually become better. One of her teammates and also a very close friend, Ricquia Jones, said, “Marta brings a good atmosphere to the team.” The two laugh a lot together and support each other. Jones added that Marta is a very good friend and helps her often to get up when she is down. Fans next chance to watch Oledzka and the other Lady Saints basketball players on the home basketball court is at 6 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Green House against Northeastern College.