Swedish trio latest in pipeline to Georgia Tech

The biggest college rivalry in Georgia, by definition, offers little room for neutrality.

But how about a neutral country -- such as Sweden?

Three young Swedish female basketball players will help Georgia Tech take on Georgia at 2 p.m. Sunday at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Danielle "Dani" Hamilton-Carter, Frida Fogdemark and Sandra Ngoie-Hasahya say this game is a real rivalitet -- Swedish for a big game with a rival.

Hostility aside, friendship and networking -- with a streak of fierce independence -- explains how they became the latest arrivals from the Nordic pipeline to North Avenue.

Beginning with Nina Barlin a decade ago, the Tech program now counts a half-dozen past or present Swedes. The three current players, in an interview after a recent practice, insisted they are not followers. They wouldn’t be Swedish if they sought allies.

“I didn’t want to go some place because they had Swedish players,” Fogdemark said, who visited TCU and other campuses. But she did talk to other older Swedish players who told her, “It would be so nice, you will appreciate it.”

“I still didn’t know if I wanted that,” said Fogdemark, a 6-2 guard/forward. “But then I met Coach Jo.”

MaChelle Joseph, Tech’s dynamic head coach since 2003, overcame Fogdemark’s reluctance to knot the obvious ties to her homeland.

“It’s all been by word of mouth,” she said of her Swedish recruits, who started with Chioma Nnamaka and also included Jasmina Pacariz.

Hamilton-Carter, a 6-4 sophomore forward whose suspension for playing on a team with professional players ends Sunday, “is going to be a tremendous impact player for us,” Joseph predicted.

“I didn’t come here because of the other great Swedish players here,” said Hamilton-Carter, pointing out that she was the lone Swede at Tech last season.

“I had played internationally and was comfortable on my own. Even though I wanted to explore other options, I couldn’t say no here. The team made me feel comfortable.”

Ngoie-Hasahya, 6-2 shooting guard/forward, doubted her chances of a scholarship offer from Tech because such a good Swedish player had preceded her: Nnamaka, the Yellow Jackets star who like Ngoie-Hasahya has family roots in Africa.

Nnamaka is now a Tech graduate student who serves as the team’s manager.

“When Chioma came here, I started dreaming of it, too,” said Ngoie-Hasahya, whose parents are from Congo and Uganda.

“I figured the dream wasn’t going to happen anyway. Then I saw [high school teammate] Dani come here and thought it might be possible. Still I wasn’t sure. Then my opportunity came.”

Sense a pattern of critical thought? That’s these Swedes’ way.

As one-fifth of the current Jackets roster, the three chide each other to speak English on the team. But some conversation has slipped out, and now their native language has become almost a secret code among the Jackets. Freshman guard Ty Marshall, from Maryland, recently replied to a question in Swedish.

The trio is far from neutral on the subject of the huge department store just off campus.

“I go to Ikea, and it’s like being in my apartment back home,” Hamilton-Carter said. “The meatballs. The Swedish chocolate. ...”

She and Fogdemark started making a shopping list of familiar holiday treats: Maribou chocolate, hushalds ost (cheese), julmust (a Christmas soda), lussebullar (baked goods) and jul skinka (Christmas ham).