The WNBA Seattle Storm selected 23-year-old Croatian basketball player Nika Mühl, who played for the University of Connecticut, as the 14th overall pick in the draft
Interviewed: Jelena Badovinac Dimitrijević; Photo: UConn Athletics, University, Connecticut, USA Caroline Scheu Seattle Storm
During the season, Mühl was one of her team’s best players, while breaking several Connecticut assist records and becoming one of the best defensive players in the college league. A lot of hard work, sacrifice, discipline and talent are behind the magnificent success she achieved by entering the professional league world a few weeks ago. The main players in this story – Nika and her parents Roberta and Darko Mühl – told Matica how she went from being a little girl on a concrete court in Zagreb’s Travno neighbourhood to the most prestigious women’s basketball league. But the successes do not end there. These days, Hana Mühl, Nika’s younger sister, has signed a contract with Manhattan University basketball team and has a great basketball future ahead of her. Two daughters and proud parents, they are a true ‘dream team’ and their sporting achievements are the result of, as they say, a great deal of mutual support and energy that drives them all together to success.
– To stream games and events related to American professional women’s basketball in Croatia, you need to purchase a special programme package. Darko managed to get a seven-day subscription to ESPN, which was broadcasting the WNBA 2024 on that day, 12 April, at 1.00 local time. My husband and I watched the WNBA 2024 in our apartment in Travno, Zagreb, with our loved ones, family and friends. We sat in front of the TV and waited. They called one, two and three girls. It was the longest hour of our lives. The moment the announcer said Nika Mühl, my apartment shook before my eyes. I think the whole building heard us, we were crying and screaming at the same time with happiness, excitement, anticipation, stress, everything that we had been feeling before that. It was a day we had all lived for together, – said Roberta Mühl, mother of Nika Mühl who just a few weeks ago became a member of one of the most respected and trophy-winning professional women’s basketball teams, the Seattle Storm.
The Draft is the most important event of the basketball season, with hundreds of players registering for the event, but only 36 are selected to be part of the team that year. Nika finished 14th overall, making her one of only four Croatians to do so in the history of the NBA Women’s Basketball League.
She Broke University Records
At the same time, as the Mühl family waited for the results in their apartment in Zagreb, Nika and her sister Hana held hands, sitting next to each other in the auditorium and restrooms of the magnificent Brooklyn Academy of Music auditorium in New York.
– I knew she would be chosen. We all knew, she was fearful the most, but I knew. Nika is an incredible player. When they said her name, I just hugged her and said ‘I love you’. She had to go on stage, she didn’t have time to say anything, she just hugged me tight and started crying – Hana told us about the moment that is a dream for every basketball player.
Before the Draft, Nika held the UConn record for most assists, showing great skill and contribution to the team. Her excellent defensive play also attracted attention and became a key factor in her selection. The playmaker from Travno totalled 686 assists at the NCAA Final Four, becoming the player with the most assists in the history of the Connecticut team, edging out Mori Jefferson. She had previously set the single-game (15) and single-season (284) records for assists in the category, surpassing the legendary Sue Bird, who is now one of the Seattle Storm’s co-owners, who selected her in the draft.
– Everything clicked. I am very happy to have been selected. I was very scared if I would pass. That’s my nature, I never dare to dream big. I live in the moment, which is real, here and now. Anything else is surreal for me and I don’t dream like that – said Nika, adding that the news that she had been selected for the auditions took her completely unaware.
– I was in my apartment at the university when my phone rang. I don’t usually answer unknown numbers, but I saw a call sign from New York and thought – maybe it’s related to the Draft. Luckily, none of my three roommates, with whom I lived for four years of my studies, were in the apartment, because after I hung up the phone, I literally squealed with happiness – continued Nika, who is only one exam away from graduating with a degree in psychology from UConn University.
Basketball not Their First Choice
Nika Mühl has shown incredible talent and dedication to basketball throughout her career. She started basketball training relatively late, at the age of 14. Until then, she and her sister had been swimming, in which they won medals, then triathlon, and finally, quite by chance, basketball. Like Hana, Nika trained for FBC Zagreb and later for FBC Croatia 2006, where as a cadet she participated in winning the Croatian championship, clearly showing her talent and potential. She proved herself more in Trešnjevka, and in 2018 she played for the Croatian national team at the U18 European Championships, where she averaged 10.9 points, 5.7 assists and 5 rebounds per game.
After the U18 European Championships, American colleges started to take an interest in Nika.
– By the way, agents are forbidden to contact players until they are 16. After Nika played for the Croatian U16 national team at the European Championships in 2nd grade of high school, the recruitment frenzy started as she was then noticed at world level. The amount of phone calls that started ringing in the dead of the night was unbelievable. Most of the calls were from American universities, offering to let Nika come and play for them. Only then did we realise the possibilities that awaited her. She decided to choose five teams to talk to. It really was like a movie. For four days in a row, the head coaches of the national basketball teams came to our apartment in Travno. My husband is an excellent cook and he prepared Croatian specialities for them. On the last day, the head coach of the UConn Huskies, the famous Geno Auriemma, came. There was a click between Nika and him. After all, we knew that UConn is one of the best women’s basketball teams in the university league and Nika ended up choosing them,” Roberta Mühl recalls the offer nobody could refuse.
Led by the famous Luigi “Geno” Auriemma, the teams have won 11 NCAA Division 1 championships – the most in the history of American women’s college basketball. And it was Auriemma who once said of Nika:
– When she enters the game, it’s a 180-degree change for us. Nika brings incredible energy, tremendous defensive intensity to every game. She always wants to move the ball into the opponent’s half at a faster pace.
Family as the Most Important Support
I was incredibly lucky to train with him for four years. Apart from the phenomenal team of teammates I was with, the head coach is of course the most important. Throughout my studies he was everything to me – a father, a brother, a shoulder to cry on, a friend. There was laughter, sweat, tears, successes and failures, fantastic and bad games. It happened that I didn’t speak to him for a month. Both temperamental, sometimes it doesn’t go the way we both want it to. When I left Connecticut for Seattle a few days ago, we said goodbye in his office. Tears were streaming down my face. It was one of the most emotional moments of my life, – says Nika, underlining how challenging all the successes she has achieved are, often on the verge of a complete breakdown.
– There are days when nothing goes well, you play bad games, you can’t escape. You wonder what you are doing there, thousands of kilometres away from everyone you love. And then it will only take one call – a talk with Mum and Dad, in our flat in Travno, they are used to us calling at three in the morning because it’s hard, because I’m crying, not just me, my sister too, because I, she, needs support. Then somehow everything is easier. My sister Hana, who is on the other side of America, is my biggest star. Every free moment we’re on the phone, we’re texting, we’re calling, we’re hanging out. The love between us is incredible, she is my best friend. I am very proud of her success and I think she has a great career ahead of her. She has come a long way since she arrived and when we all meet for a family phone call, each from our own part of the world, we realise that we are much closer than the thousands of kilometres that separate us – emphasised Nika, who has Hanna’s nickname tattooed on her arm – “Baby Muhl”. Both have the initials of the other tattooed behind their ears.
40 People Looking After Her Career
Sports scholarships in America are bigger, more numerous and more generous than anywhere else in the world, and tens of thousands of people attend every college basketball game.
– It’s nice to see a full house when we go on the court. Here, the university league has almost the same attendance as the professional league. Social networks have also contributed a lot to this, as many female athletes have quickly become popular in the online world and it is easy to attract people to come and cheer. I remember a game where we played against each other, Nika and me. It was a spectacle for us, but then also for the audience. It is not very common for two sisters to play against each other, said Hana, who was also called by American universities for offers after the age of 16.
Both Mühl sisters have what is known as a full scholarship. The full cost of their studies, which amounts to about $60,000 a year, is paid for, as well as accommodation and food, clothing and pocket money. In America, the sisters agree, it is important to give your best and not be late, and despite the sports scholarships, school comes first. And while Nika is about to graduate with a degree in psychology, Hana is in her second year of business marketing at Manhattan University.
At the College, everything is dedicated to studying and achieving academic and sporting results. They don’t make you take exams because you have a match the day after and cut you some slack that way. The system is set up in such a way that if you are not a good student, you cannot play. A match is not an excuse for not coming to class. An average student day looks something like this – breakfast in the morning, then classes until 12. Then lunch, then
individual training, then gym, then training with the team. Then it’s relaxation time – massage, sauna, pool, yoga. We arrive at the apartment around 19.00. Dinner and then often studying. At the college, every minute is matters. It’s the same at Hana’s, it’s just the standard. Around me, 40 people were actively involved in the programme every day. Their job is to look after the athletes, we are their main product. There are also people in the team who take care of the courses, instructors, consultants for various things we need – explains Nika. It was Hana who revealed to us that universities even grant food-related wishes if they come from a certain country, so they prepared a turkey with “mlinci” for Nika to make her feel at home in Connecticut.
Love towards Zagreb and Croatia
Nika’s parents, Darko and Roberta, also played basketball when they were young. Roberta played for FBC Zagreb, Darko for BC Novi Zagreb and he won silver at the World Street Streetball Championships. Both Nika and Hana have humble beginnings in basketball as both started on the concrete courts in Travno, but their great successes are still very much marked by their love for Zagreb and Croatia.
– Croatian fans come to the games with Croatian slogans or checkerboard drawn on their faces. Many of my friends have or will visit Croatia because of me, because I told them how beautiful our country is. For the draft I had a dental ornament made, the so-called grillz, with the ‘ZG’ mark on it. On such an important day, I wanted to have a part of Zagreb, a part of my homeland, my family, everything that I am, with me. My jewellery was made by Gabby Elan, the designer who did the grillz for Rihanna a week before the recruitment. I wanted to pay tribute to my hometown and my parents. When you’re this far from your homeland, you love it even more – said Nika, who is now facing an important season and a whole new world.
– It is not disputable that everyone is responsible for their own success, but at the end of the day, we are still playing and fighting. But none of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for the great sacrifice of our parents. They drove us to practice every day, they waited for us during the game, they brought us home at midnight. They bought us clothes, shoes, paid for everything we needed. We spent our weekends at the games, maybe they wanted to go somewhere, but they didn’t because of our sporting commitments. Without them and their support we would never have existed and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts – said Hana.
They will all be together in Zagreb soon. And then there will be a party in Travno.
