International star Frida Formann brings pro experience to Buffs
BOULDER, Colo. (BVM) — Most people aren’t considered professionals at what they do until at least their 20s. Sometimes even in their 30s.
Colorado Buffaloes guard Frida Formann turned pro at 15 years old.
That’s when Formann, originally from Bagsværd, Denmark, joined the Danish Women’s League as a member of the Værløse Blue Hawks. Over her five years with the club, she blossomed from a role player into a star, using her size to score, rebound, make plays for her teammates and wreak havoc on the defensive end.
Formann averaged 17.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.3 steals in her final year with the Blue Hawks before making the journey across the pond to play in the United States, but one of the biggest things she picked up while playing overseas won’t show up in the stat sheet.
“I’ve played with grownups since pretty early on,” Formann said. “When I entered the women’s league I was 15. A lot of the players in the women’s league are people who returned from college, went [to the U.S.] for four years, maybe played pro out of Europe and then went back to Denmark, so they have a lot of experience. You learn pretty early on some of the things that maybe take longer for people here to learn because you only play people your age.”
Playing overseas certainly helped Formann mature beyond her years, but her basketball experience didn’t start with the Blue Hawks. Coming from a basketball family, she has been around the game her whole life.
“I started [playing] when I was 2 years old,” Formann said. “My mom coached me until I was 13, so it was kind of our thing.”
Like Formann, her mom played for the Danish national team, and her father is a former coach for the Danish women. Her three siblings, all older than her, also all played basketball, and spending all that time around family helped Formann fall in love with the game.
That love for the game wasn’t necessarily shared overseas, which caused Formann to come play at CU with others who shared her same lofty goals on the court.
“It’s what I wanted,” Formann said. “I wanted to go somewhere where there was more talent, more competition… At home, I couldn’t expect teammates and coaches to put as much time into it as I did because we didn’t get paid, it’s just something we do for fun. But here, what you do is basically a job… It’s not just about coming in and getting some exercise.”
Formann points to preparation as the biggest difference from basketball overseas to basketball in the U.S., and that all ties back to the seriousness of the players. Higher goals for players and teams certainly mean a heightened level of preparation for games and opponents, and Formann does not take that lightly.
“There’s a different preparation level that I’ve gotten used to over here,” Formann said. “You play against teams who are basically professional and do their scouting. They base their workouts around beating you.”
Formann’s past experience combined with increased attention to detail allowed her to really settle in during her freshman year in Boulder. While playing in a more balanced talent field may have taken her numbers down a little bit, she became comfortable in her role as one of the elite shooters in the Pac-12 and the NCAA as a whole.
