Albanian-born basketball player Lorela Cubaj moved to the United States in 2017 to pursue her dream.
Born and raised in Italy, by two Albanian parents, she started playing basketball as a child, motivated by other family members who had a great passion for this sport.
For five years in a row, she was part of the basketball team at the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Georgia Institute of Technology.
“I was born and raised in Terni, Italy, from Albanian dad and Kosovo mom. I moved to the United States when I was 18, back in 2017, to pursue my college education and my basketball dream. I played for 5 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology, while obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. My basketball career at GT was really interesting and eventful. I had few challenges to overcome, and these helped me build character and mature. I loved being a Yellow Jacket and I am so thankful and blessed that I had the opportunity to play and study there.”
Her 5-year career as a basketball player in one of the college leagues, brought her numerous awards and accolades.
But, what is the most important award for Cubaj?
“I have won few awards, the one that means more to me is definitely being the defensive player of the year for two times in a row in my conference. I take pride on being a tough and defensive player and I dreamed about getting that award for a quite few. Also, I won two times the first team all ACC (my conference) and I have been named Georgia Women’s Basketball player of the year twice. I was also named an All-American Honorable Mention for two years in a row. These recognition made me realize that the work I put in was rewarded. It made me feel good an more eager to work and reach new personal goals.”
Just the day before, her career as a basketball player took on a new direction.
The New York Liberty have selected Georgia Tech forward, Albanian basketball player Lorela Cubaj, with No.18 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
After this move, the Albanian basketball player will now get a chance to apply her craft at the professional level.
The WNBA Draft is an annual event where WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women’s basketball players.
The Albanian basketball player is also the voice of women in issues of gender equality, as according to her such differences are still present in the sport of basketball.
“Being a women’s basketball player is really challenging. Multiple people talk down on it because we are not as athletic as the male counterpart, but at the same time we put in so much work, that doesn’t get noticed as much. Lately, in the United States, women started to speak up on these issues and we are seeing some improvement in the way we are treated and represented, but at the same time there is a lot of work to do in order to reach the equality. Equality in pay, equality in respect, and equality in visibility.”
Otherwise Lorela Cubaj, is proud of her Albanian origin, adding that despite the fact that it has grown far from Albania, at the end of the day she feels completely Albanian.
“ I love how Albanians love their culture. It’s a really old culture that keeps being alive in the community and goes from generation to generation”, said Lorela for Atlantiku.
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