JUDA — Cultures across the world have traded with each other and traveled the globe for centuries, with many cities founded millennia ago, but in modern times, a globalized world has helped create a culturally diverse basketball team in a relatively unknown Wisconsin village.

From Europe to Asia to indigenous South America, civilization has thrived for thousands of years. Settlements became villages, some of which are now major metropolitan hubs. Traveling between the locales has gone from months-long journeys to a couple of hours by airplane.

In today’s globalized world, it’s easily possible for six teenagers from around the planet to end up in the same classroom. Such is the case in Juda, enrollment 101, where five of six foreign exchange students are also choosing to play basketball for the Panthers.

“I was so happy that we have cows,” Emma Lokkos, 17, of Budapest said. “I wished that I could live on a farm. It was my dream my entire life.”

Budapest, Hungary, was first settled 2,000 years ago. It now has over 3.3 million people living across its metropolitan landscape. 

The other four foreign exchange students playing basketball also come from large metropolitan cities.

Ostrava is home to 291,000 on the eastern edge of the Czech Republic, miles from the Polish border and was founded in the 13th century. Izmir, Turkey, has 3 million inhabitants on the eastern edge of the ancient Aegean Sea, having been settled more than 8,000 years ago with over 3,000 years of recorded history.

Weihai, China, in the Shandong province houses 2.8 million people and is less than 150 miles away from the Korean Peninsula. Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the most populated city in the entire Western Hemisphere, with just over 12.1 million people. 

Juda, population 357, is housing six foreign exchange students this year, up from the usual one to two pupils, Athletic Director Curt Brown said. Of the five hoops players, only Dogukan Yetgin, from Turkey, had ever played basketball before this season.

“High school rules are different,” said Yetgin, 16, who has four years’ experience and is being hosted by Juda school guidance counsellor Sinem Bertling. “Not big differences, but a couple of little differences. Maybe Turkey is a little bit more defense and here it’s a little bit more offense. I like my teammates and my coach (Aaron Duecker). There are more games than in Turkey, actually. So that’s good for me.”

Yetgin is fourth on the boys team in scoring, averaging 7.8 points per game through nine outings.

Kristyna Kovalikova, Czech Republic, stands well over 6 feet tall. But her sporting experiences only extended to volleyball before the hoops season began. Coach Willie Nelson said Kovalikova’s height helps despite the lack of experience.

“She just stands there and we preach to here — because she’s 6-3, pushing 6-4 — to just, ‘stand there and put your hands up,’” Nelson said. “She’s our leading blocker on the year by far, and she plays three minutes each game on average.”

Kovalikova said she likes the game and is getting more comfortable with it.

“I wanted to try it and because I’m so tall everyone is saying ‘Have you ever played basketball?’ No, but now I can say yes,” Kovalikova said. “I’m not nervous. In the beginning I didn’t know what should I do, but now it is better.”

Kovalikova, 17, is staying with Shay and Dennis Anderson for the school year along with Yilian Liu, 16, of China. Liu plays in the pep band and has experience playing soccer in her home country, but decided to give basketball a try this season. 

Liu’s reason for playing was simple. 

“More exercise, because there is no exercise in daily life,” he said.

Rubia Beloto, 16, has two years of boxing experience in Brazil and wanted to give basketball a shot. She’s staying with the Steinmann family.

“I wanted to try something new,” Beloto said. “Maybe in Brazil I will try to keep playing.” 

Lokkos likes yoga, dancing and running. She has two sisters in Hungary and is currently staying with Chris and Amy Kammholz.

“I really want to speak very well English and then discover this beautiful country, make adventures, meet new friends,” Lokkos said.

Learning to speak better English was a top priority for many of the students. Kovalikova said it was the different culture that attracted her to America.

“Like every other, I want to meet America: the new culture, the new people, try school here,” she said. “Because it’s different in Europe.”

Coming from the largest metropolitan of the six exchange students, Beloto said she is adjusting well to the rural school.

“I really like it because it is small and we get to know more people,” Beloto said. “We get to know the people better around here, so that’s good. It’s been a really good experience for me. A really good opportunity for me to be here and that I’m learning new things and new culture.”

In his first year as girls’ basketball coach, Nelson knew experience would be an issue. In nine games his team has just one win against Wayland Academy, which boasts players from across six countries.

“It’s been a rough go-round so far. We’ve lost some close ones, games that we honestly should have won,” Nelson said. “Some of the foreign exchange students have been regular playing minutes. It’s not that they are riding the end of the bench. … It’s hard because they have to learn a whole new system, everybody has to learn a whole new system, a whole new defense, new coach and what I expect of them and what they expect out of me. We’re starting to click and understand each other.”

Nelson said that communicating with his four exchange students is difficult, as English is the second or third language for each player.

“The beginning of it was tough, you know, with the obvious language barrier,” Nelson said. “But honestly, they’ve really started to understand. I don’t have to explain everything when we run through a drill, or we run through plays. … At times they don’t understand basketball terminology, but I don’t fault them for that.”

Nelson said the local players have been a tremendous help with the four foreign exchange players, especially since he is one person tasked with overseeing 15. The more experienced Juda students show their foreign exchange peers how to properly execute the technique of moves like a layup, he noted.

Lokkos agreed with her coach. She said she’s happy for the extra bonding time with her teammates.

“The coaches are really helpful, and everybody on the team,” Lokkos said. “That’s good that we have a traveling season that we get to have together. This year; I’m going to remember it my entire life.”

Lokkos said she has truly enjoyed her experience at Juda so far.

“It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to my friends, but it’s just how it is,” she said before adding, “I’m sure I’m going to come back.”

Kovalikova understands playing together as one team is a unique opportunity, especially because four foreign exchange students are sharing their experience in a new sport.

“That’s even more better for me because we’re doing it together,” she said. “It’s different for us, so we can share our feelings about it.”

And count Kovalikova as one of the players enjoying her stay in Wisconsin.

“I think I could live here,” she said, adding she thinks she “would tell everybody it was a good experience” when she returns home to Ostrava.