This season Jessika Schiffer will play her senior season at Rider Broncs. The 22 years old guard from Germany played at the University at Buffalo during her first two seasons is the United States, and used to be a youth international. Her talent and amazing passion for basketball is what Rider Broncs really needs!”

Practicing a lot, also after practice

Klaipeda in Lithuania is where Jessika was born, but Iserlohn is the place where so discovered basketball. “I started playing basketball when I was eight years old, in my hometown Iserlohn,” Jessika tells. “For two years I started in a team with boys, and later on I played with girls at TSV Hagen. I went to different boarding before I went to the United States. My older half-brother also played basketball, and that’s how I started playing myself. There are also a couple of players that have always inspired me for a long time now. I really like to see Steph Curry playing a hitting a lot of threes. He is an amazing shooter! The way he shoots his threepointers is like a machine!”

If you want to improve, you must train harder than the average players. That is was Jessika knows pretty well, and she will work as hard as necessary to be better. “I was always the person that stays in the gym after practice, shooting around a lot of times. Especially my dad stayed in the gym when I was shooting. I continued that kind of practice everywhere I went. You know what they say: hard work pays off!”

Playing basketball for the first time

How was playing basketball in Iserlohn? Jessika couldn’t remember everything, but she does know the most important things. “The thing I can remember is that I have always loved playing basketball, also with the boys. I kept visiting practice and working on my abilities, just to be better and better every time. At young age, the boy teams where really strong, and there weren’t that much girls playing basketball in Iserlohn. Playing with the boys was a great competition. Hagen was amazing! Before I went over there, I didn’t even know that there was a basketball team with only girls. It was a great experience to know what it is to play basketball with girls.”

From Iserlohn to Hagen

It was time for the next step. Jessika kept getting better and better, and she still does. “I stayed in Hagen for quite some time. They have always played on the highest league in the region. At under 17, when I was 14 years old, I played in the WNBL, which is the German Bundesliga under 17. I was super young when I started, and even though that you only can play in that competition, it was an exception that I could join the league. The amount of minutes wasn’t that much, but it was really worth it! I am a really competitor, and you see so many other players who can teach you a lot during the competition.”

The next challenge: playing basketball in the United States

It was always a dream of Jessika, playing basketball in the United States. Guess what, her dream has come true. “Once I started playing in the Bundesliga, I always wanted to go to The States. The place and the opportunities are so fantastic! I was focused on finishing my school in Germany and to experience to style of playing basketball in the United States. I knew that would be different. There were many kinds of things I should improve, things that were not the main focus in Europe. It is faster, like the fast pace of playing offense and switching in defense. Those kinds of aspects were so different in the beginning the I was used to be. Nevertheless, I was overwhelmed!”

Rider Broncs is her team, a team with a lot of players who are so talented and amazing! “The team is so nice! We get along so well; it feels like family. Last year we had a pretty hard season, but for this year we have a really great team with a lot of opportunities!”

Being a youth international

If you are that talented, then you deserve a beautiful experience. Jessika joined the national youth teams of Germany, and learned a lot. “I was so nervous! Then again, it is such an honor to play for the national team! The teams I join were always amazing, and we had a great team chemistry. Every single year I loved it! We reached the silver medal at the under 16 team in the A-division. We faced Spain during the finals, a team we won against in overtime during the group phases. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it during the finals. Next year with under 18 we reached the golden medal, which was really amazing. Those times are once in a life time opportunities, but I really would like to start it all over!”

Jessika is a player you would be proud of, every single second when she enters the center court! She could face so many new challenges, so who knows what she will accomplish!