One of a growing number of international players in women's collegiate basketball, 6'1" forward Susan Moran, of Tullamore, Ireland, didn't just bring the luck of the Irish when she joined the St. Joseph's University Lady Hawks in 1998. She brought skill. Atlantic-10 and Big 5 Rookie of the Year her freshman season, Moran led the Hawks in both scoring and rebounding and set a new Atlantic-10 record for Rookie of the Week nominations with eight.

Her sophomore year has been just as productive, helping lead her team to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. A leading scorer for the Hawks and a powerful inside presence, Moran capped her sophomore season by becoming the Atlantic-10 regular season scoring champion, averaging 16.4 points per game, as well as being named to the Atlantic-10 All-Championship Team, the Atlantic-10 Academic Team, and the All-Big Five First Team.

In this interview, Moran shares her thoughts on women's sports in America, playing and studying 3,000 miles from home, and her recent appointment as co-captain of the Irish National Senior Women's Basketball team.

Gball: What brought you to St. Joseph's? Why did you decide to go so far for college?
Moran: Basically the basketball. I really wouldn't have come to the States if it hadn't been for basketball. I would have studied at home. I was recruited by St. Joe's. The head coaches had visited Ireland during a European tour in 1998, so they had gotten to know my national team coach. They got talking and he told them that he had a player for them. So, they came over to see me play, and then I just got letters and they recruited me.

What was it like being recruited from overseas?
It was really nice. Basketball [and college sports] is not a big deal in Ireland, so recruiting was something that I had never been around. I think kids in America are more used to that kind of thing happening. But for me it was such a novelty having coaches from America calling up my house. My parents didn't know what to think at all and they wondered what was going on. My parents definitely thought I was nuts.

Was St. Joe's the only school that recruited you, or did you have calls from others?
I had calls from a couple. I went over on a recruiting visit to Fordham, as well. And I looked at a Division II school up in Boston, Stonehill College. I also got some letters from some other schools, like Central Connecticut and Duquesne. Duquesne and Fordham are in the Atlantic-10 too, so I think maybe one school in the Atlantic-10 heard about me and then word got around.

What has it been like for you playing in the States? Has it been dramatically different?
Yeah. My freshman year was a big change for me. It was a lot more intensive, because with my school team at home I used to practice twice a week for an hour. So I went from twice a week for an hour to getting up at 6 o'clock at St. Joseph's, running around a track, and trying to balance that with doing my schoolwork. It was a real struggle at the start. I was exhausted all the time. Everyone calls me Snoozy because I used to sleep all the time.

This is my sophomore year, and I find myself so much more organized now. When I look back on last year, it's all a blur. Everything went so fast. Whereas with this year, I knew I'd be getting up and I knew the kind of training that was going to be required. Knowing what to expect made it so much easier this year.

Was it hard convincing your parents to let you come to the United States for four years?
I think my parents had their reservations at the start because I had applied to University College Dublin and I had gotten my place there. So, they wondered if I loved basketball enough to give up all that, my friends at home, and my family. But I think in the end, they realized that it was my dream and that playing in Ireland was fine in [primary and high school], but to play basketball on a more competitive level wasn't going to work out if I stayed. I wasn't going to be able to take it where I wanted to go. They knew it was something that I wanted to do and I was going to be committed to it, so ultimately they figured it was a good move, too.

Had you been following stateside basketball, much?
Not really. We don't get much basketball on TV at home. We get one NBA game a week, and it's usually a game from two weeks ago. So there's not a lot of coverage. And as far as college games, we don't get any of those. That's why last year everyone used to laugh at me--because when we got to the NCAAs and we were going to Duke, I was like, "Where's Duke?" So everyone use to get a great kick out of the fact that I had no idea who we were playing, if they were good, or if they weren't.

So what drew you to the game?
I was originally a tennis player--that was my big thing. I've played tennis since I was four and I played for my country representing Ireland under-age. [She also competes on the SJU women's tennis team]. When I got to school, I started playing basketball and I think I just really liked the team aspect of it more. I went from a really individual sport to playing on this team where we traveled together and had so much fun. I liked the competitiveness, but it was the whole team element of it that drew me more towards basketball.

Have you found that there's a difference in opportunities for women to play sports between here and Ireland?
Definitely--even in just the level of fan support that women's athletics gets. And I think that's growing all the time in the U.S. At St. Joe's, it's nice to see the amount of young kids and young girls who will turn up to watch us, because at home if my school played, we'd only get the janitor of the gym watching the game. I mean my parents would never have come to my games in Ireland. Most of the games they've seen me play have been since I've been here. So I think that kind of support is huge over here.

Coach Stephanie Gaitley is an up-and-coming coach. What is it like playing for her?
She was one of the main reasons I chose St. Joseph's. I wanted someone I could respect as a coach. And for my parents, they really wanted someone who would look after me, because for them the basketball wasn't the big issue. It was me being away from home and who would mind me. At St. Joe's they do a great job of creating a family atmosphere and I think Coach has a lot to do with that. Her family and those kind of things are important to her, and I think she sometimes puts that ahead of the basketball aspect, which is what I like and respect about her. She is definitely someone who is unbelievably fair and she just knows the game so well, too. I have learned so much in just two years here.

Her husband, Frank Gaitley, is her assistant coach. What is it like to play for a married couple?
That, again, is another reason why I chose to come here. Just for the whole family atmosphere. I think they do a great job coaching together and they work well as a team. It's two different personalities on the team. Frank would be more the yeller, and coach would be more the laid back, technical, set up plays kind of person. They combine well and work well together in that way.

Although St. Joe's is in the Atlantic-10, you guys played a lot of top teams this year, like Stanford, Tennessee, Virginia, Penn State, and Rutgers. Which team, do you think, was best?
I would say Tennessee, because they are just so physically strong. They're really athletic, and I think that's where we found trouble. Their athleticism intimidated us. It's fine when you're looking at them from a distance, but to actually be on the court with them, I think, is kind of intimidating.

St. Joe's was co-host for this years Final Four. Did the team get involved at all?
We took part in the NCAA YES clinics. They do them for kids as a big part of the Final Four, so our team went to a nearby school and ran a clinic with a lot of the top college coaches. It was really nice for us to get involved that way with the kids and to see the excitement built around it.

What has been the best part of being a study-abroad student?
I think they whole experience of meeting people from a different culture. I supposed a lot of people would think, "The Irish and the Americans. We all speak English. We're all the same." But for me, I definitely find it's a completely different culture here--the variety of people, the variety of stuff in general. It's great to experience. Americans have a different way of thinking, I think, and I just enjoy the fact that I have two sides of it now. I feel more rounded now that I've been able to experience an Irish way of life and an American way of life.

And there is so much opportunity out here. I really feel like it's one of those places that if you want to do something bad enough it's always a possibility. I think maybe in Ireland it's not that same way. Maybe it's that the Irish are more reserved. I don't know. I just think Americans have a nice opportunist outlook on things.

Is there anything you've missed by being away from home?
Mainly my friends and family. That's what made it such a hard decision to come out here. I had such a tight knit group of friends at home, and I still miss them everyday. But they are beginning to come out here for their summer holidays and I think, having been away, I enjoy my time more with them when I go home.

Tell me about playing for your national team.
That's been great. It was a huge deal for me to get on our national team. It's the Senior Women's team and, actually, they were here last week. They came over because Reggie Grennan, who is one of our assistant coaches [at St. Joe's and for the Irish National team], just got her Irish citizenship. So now she's going to be able to play with us. It's ended up that me and Reg are going to be teammates, which is kind of cool. They were at St. Joe's for a week's training camp and it was so weird because I had double sessions. This was the last time of the year I expected to be going to double sessions. And the coach actually asked me if I would be captain of the national team. So that was a huge honor for me. I was so excited about that. So myself and one of the older girls are co-captains.

So will you be going to the Olympics in Sydney this year?
We're not really good enough, yet, to qualify for the Olympics. Every two summers there's qualifications. Next summer is the European Qualifiers. For us to make the Olympics we'd have to qualify in three different tournaments, or something. So right now we're basically at a building stage, and next summer is when we play our challenge round.

So this summer the only commitment I have with the national team is to go to Scotland to play the Four Nation's Championship between England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Do you enjoy being on the National Team?
It's nice, because you play with your college team day in and day out for months. So, to have a change of atmosphere, be around different people for a while, and still be doing what you love is refreshing.

After graduation, do you think you'll head home to Ireland or remain stateside?
I think that I'll stay here after I graduate just because I know at some stage I want to go home. But when I go home, I'm not sure if I'll come back. So I want to see what opportunities the U.S. has for me before I go home for good.

Interview conducted in May by Gball Assistant Editor Shelly Wilson.