By: Émilie Leger
GoRhody.com staff
On any team there are designated positions, in sport everyone is assigned a role, regardless, everyone finds their place and ends up exactly where they're meant to be.
The unspoken roles are what builds team culture. One of the most important, to be an energy-giver.
The designated positions aren't necessarily an issue when an athlete is familiar with the sport that they've been playing their entire life… right?
But what about leaving a culture that has a different style of play in the sport they've played since a young age?
Adapting to the style of play is one thing. Adapting to an entirely new culture is another.
Hawa Komara came from Toulouse, France to Rhode Island three years ago, it was her first-time stepping foot in the United States.
"I finished my last year [of school], and I didn't know what to do, I had the option of staying in France, but I like adventure and being outside your comfort zone, so I thought why not the United States? Rhode Island was because Coach
Adeniyi Amadou recruited me and so I said let's go, I've got nothing to lose and I'm here to gain experience. Plus, since he was French, it was a little easier for my parents and for me."
Associate Head Coach
Adeniyi Amadou met Komara and her family and built a strong relationship with them.
"It was many years learning [the Komara family] values, their sense of respect and the generosity with Hawa, it all stems from the environment in which she grew up and which we've come to know over the years," said Amadou.
"In France, the United States is like the country of basketball, so [my parents] were really happy, and what they really liked was that Coach A was a French coach, and so I wasn't going without a reference point, Coach was my reference point, and they were excited to see me go."
In every sport, there are many talented athletes… So, what separated Hawa from the rest?
"She is extremely generous in her efforts, in everything she's taken on in fact, generous in her relationships with people, she's one of the most appreciated members of the team because she gives so much of herself and her time," said Amadou.
Hawa's first year in the U.S. was the 2021-2022 season. If you check her stats, she played in zero games… so why was Amadou so confident to bring her here when he did? Why did she not play? Was the game too hard to adapt to? What happened?
Leaving one's native country is a feat within itself. Leaving right after finishing and graduating from high school, leaving family, friends, food, daily routine, and home behind poses many challenges.
"It took me six to eight months to adapt and understand a bit of the culture and the mentality, even in basketball it's different, the mental game of how you play, how you think, how you act on and off the court."
This adaption period took place during a redshirt year, her first season in Rhode Island, 2021-2022.
"At first, when I was thinking about the redshirt, I said to myself 'no, it's going to feel weird not playing, just sitting on the bench', but in the end it was a year where I had time to learn and to adapt, because you have to adapt, not only to basketball but also to school."
Now that the 2023-2024 season is ending, she is finishing up her sophomore season, but third year at Rhode Island.
"It was very hard in terms of the level of play, the intensity, the physicality, and the expectations, even though it was very hard, I'd do it again because it helped me. Frankly, today I'm still using the tricks I learned the first year, so yes, I'd do it again without hesitation."
It wasn't a decision made lightly, and it wasn't one that was made solely by Komara either.
"The aim wasn't really for her to find her place in the team directly, but rather to find her place in a new environment, university, and country, because it was a new social, cultural, and academic environment. There were so many new environments that she had to find her place just about everywhere, so that was what was important for us. We knew she'd find her place in basketball, because she's very talented, but it was above all in all the other environments that we wanted her to take the time to find her place," said Amadou.
New sport, league, division, and team aside, what was the hardest thing to adapt to in every-day life?
"I say it all the time, but food is very very different in everything. Even when I go to a stop and shop, for example, I'm always looking for my bread but it's not there. Even the cereals I had in France, they're not there either, I was shocked because I thought Kellogg's was normally a brand from the States, but it's not. Even at the dining hall, I just want my little cordon bleu but there isn't any."
Hawa's favorite French dish is cordon bleu, a meat dish wrapped in cheese which is breaded and fried.
"I've been wanting to eat cordon bleu for at least 6 months now."
Back home for her is Toulouse, the south of France, where she lives with her brother, sister, and parents.
Most of the other French players on the women's team live around Paris, Komara and
Sophie Sene are the souls of the south. Komara says Paris is a bit like New York City where everyone is always in a rush or stressed, they live a fast life. She often voices that Toulouse is better, it's calm, very sunny, no one is in a rush, and there are no delays or strikes, whereas they are often a part of inner city living.
Being far from home isn't easy, but having a support system provides strength. Having someone or something to take inspiration from deeps motivation and desire to succeed.
"My parents and my brother and sister [inspire me the most] because they've made a lot of sacrifices to get me here today, so in everything I do they inspire and motivate me. I'm a big sister, I'm the biggest in my family, and the fact that I have a little brother and sister next door inspires me too."
Leaving your family behind to pursue your dreams is difficult, even if they serve as inspiration, but it becomes easier when you form another family where you plant your roots.
"[We're a little family,] I think of them all as my sisters. Frankly, it's cool and you don't feel out of place, especially when I remember we have this break during the summer and you're in France, you come back and you think 'ah', but not at all, they are here. [We're] always laughing, we have the same delusions, we've had the same experiences, we're living the same thing."
Before coming to Rhode Island, she had played with three of the other French players, so there was a sense of familiarity. Komara played with
Mayé Touré for three years in France in a training program. Komara also played alongside
Ines Debroise and Sene through the French Women's National Basketball Team.
"I had my bearings here, so I wasn't leaving [France] and coming in blind."
She stays close to her French roots by speaking with her family daily about what they are doing and what they are eating, watching French news, and staying up to date on elections, etc. Though there is a six-hour time difference and phone calls can be difficult, she finds the time to connect with family.
French culture for her places an emphasis respect and respecting others.
"In everything I do, I try to give the best of myself and put forward what my parents tried to teach me… [some] advice that I follow comes from my father: 'You must respect everyone and everything around you, respect is one of the most important values.'"
How is American culture viewed by those who come from other cultures?
"Before I came here, I had this stereotype that Americans eat very badly, only fast food, but that's not true at all, and in France we have this stereotype that it's a bit of a country where anything goes, that everything's not well organized because there's freedom of expression and freedom to do what you want; we think that states are a mess, but that's not true either."
Taking the time to adapt to a new culture is important. There are hidden values beneath surfaces of what a culture outwardly shows.
"The culture here, everything's bigger, there's a very big culture of assertiveness. I noticed when I was a freshman that you have to give, and you have to assert yourself at the same time. It's a culture of freedom, of being yourself, of being free of doing what you want when you want, I think that's really what the U.S. is all about, freedom and I like it."
Komara is dual-major within Marketing and Sociology. Sociology is 'the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior.' Studying sociology in American culture while identifying with a mix of French and Guinean cultures helped her adaption. Komara said it allowed her to see how society worked as well as learning various societal standards and values in the U.S.
Hawa enjoys art and reading, her favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh, and she enjoys fiction pieces by Jules Verne.
Ironically, basketball was not the first or only sport that she participated in at a young age. She started off swimming and running, but quickly found out she didn't love individual sports, she would wander off from the pool to watch people play basketball while waiting for her parents.
"One day my father came in and asked me if I wanted to play basketball, and I said yes, so the story of me and basketball is a bit haphazard, but I discovered this passion for being part of a team, because everything I'd done had been individual sports, so being part of a team, having to give everything to my team-mate, was a passion."
Her energy is felt on and off the court, her smile and laugh contagious, and her hard work does not go unnoticed.
"She is someone who brings a great deal of intensity to what she does, and an enormous amount of discipline," shared Amadou.
Hawa has played in almost 60 games in two years, but the growth she has done in three is incredible.
The relationships she creates with others has been one of the biggest growths Amadou has seen. He shared that Komara came in shy and reserved, but she has opened herself to everyone and become an energy-giver. She is someone who is welcoming, always smiling, and cracking jokes. Amadou says it's inspiring how she lives; she aims to touch others with kindness and joy.
"I think people count on me in terms of energy, all the time, I want to give to my team every day and even if I can't give in scoring, everything is energy."
Read all of Leger's features on Rhode Island women's basketball's French Flavor by clicking here.
