TERRE HAUTE — As she had hoped, Melanie Boeglin is going from Sweden to southern Europe to continue her professional basketball career.
The recently turned 23-year-old former ISU standout was hoping to play in France, where younger sister Mary Beth, an international marketing/French major at Butler, will be spending the fall semester studying abroad. But Melanie will be in western Spain.
Boeglin’s next team is located in Zamora, Spain, which is about a two-hour drive from Madrid. With Europe’s public transportation system, she could be on the beach in Montpellier, France, in no time.
“It’s going to be a little better climate for me, I might venture out of my apartment a little more,” Boeglin said.
Zamora is the capital city of the province of Zamora; the city has a population of about 67,000. Sounds like Terre Haute, right?
While Boeglin is happy to get away from the freezing temperatures in Sweden, the winter weather in western Spain isn’t exactly like being on the beach in Barcelona. According to Wikipedia.org, Zamora is a continental Mediterranean climate, but fog is frequent in winter.
David and Joyce Boeglin have already made travel plans for late October. They’ll meet Mary Beth in Paris and then go on to Madrid, but a schedule for Melanie’s team has not been posted yet.
Joyce Boeglin said she actually went to Sweden three times, once when Melanie moved and twice with her husband. She said they may take another European vacation in the spring. (No worries; the Griswolds are not coming along).
Regardless of the location, Melanie is excited about the move for basketball reasons.
She’ll be playing in Spain’s second level of professional basketball. Many players in the Women’s National Basketball Association play in Spain’s top level, so the pride of Terre Haute South and Indiana State hopes to make a name for herself in this league as she did in Sweden.
“It’s definitely going to be a step up as far as the level of competition,” Boeglin said.
The best second-division team in Spain can actually move up to the top division by winning a playoff of the top two teams, giving Boeglin some added motivation.
“The goal is to get to the top level in Spain,” Boeglin said.
Boeglin doesn’t know yet who her teammates will be, but she knows one player that has played in this division in Spain. Former IU standout and Bloomington native Cyndi Valentin played in Israel last season but joined a team in Spain for the playoffs. Valentin, a former AAU teammate of Boeglin’s, told her she had a good experience.
Boeglin will have to be in Zamora on Sept. 1. Her season will be eight months long instead of the six-month season in Sweden.
Between working out, finding pick-up games and vacationing in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Boeglin has kept plenty busy since returning home from a fantastic season in Sweden.
ISU’s all-time leader in assists, steals and games played is also providing private lessons to a handful of future standouts in Vigo County.
E-mail her at melboeglincamp@aol.com or call (812) 234-8271. Boeglin will also have a camp from July 9-12, featuring current ISU players as counselors.
Craig Pearson can be reached by e-mail at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone after 4 p.m. at (812) 231-4356. Read his blog at blogs.tribstar.com/craigpearson.
Given to Fly
June 16, 2007
Given to Fly: Melanie Boeglin taking pro basketball career to Spain
- Given to Fly
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GIVEN TO FLY: Come to expect new standards of excellence
Records are definitely meant to be broken; athletes today are faster and stronger than those in the past in many endeavors in athletics.
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GIVEN TO FLY: ISU women have solid recruiting class
The caliber of athletes that the Indiana State women’s basketball coaching staff is bringing in is on an upswing.
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GIVEN TO FLY: Major leaguers John, Dorsett meet up at tonight’s game
Terre Haute’s only two big leaguers of the last 50 years — Tommy John and Brian Dorsett — will catch up with one another today.
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FOOT NOTES: Valley natives perform well on national stage
Several Wabash Valley natives continue to shine on the national track and field scene.
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'Til It's Over: Sycamores ‘in a good place,’ but searching for more in MVC
Can Teri Moren lift Indiana State, last year’s seventh-place team in the Missouri Valley Conference, to one of the league’s contenders in her first year on campus?
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'Til It's Over: Two sets of identical twins should keep North Central baseball a contender
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'Til It's Over: Jarvis, Anderson confident Olney, hard work leads to Division I dream
Olney, Ill., population 8,000-plus and known for its population of white squirrels, might not be the dream destination for high school basketball players in Indiana.
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'Til It's Over: Robinson 7-footer more focused in postseason; 6-foot Jones keeps producing
Robinson 7-footer Meyers Leonard is not going to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA some day, but his odds of reaching the league are pretty solid if his game continues to evolve as it has during high school.
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- Given to Fly: A classic in every sense of the word What tournament director and co-founder Gary Fears had in mind when creating the tournament came to fruition Tuesday. Marshall, with an enrollment of 438 students, became the smallest school to win the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic in the ninth season of the tourney.
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Given to Fly: ISU women should build confidence off strong outing
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- Given to Fly: ISU women's hoops team slides onto commercial radio Coach Jim Wiedie expects the Indiana State women’s basketball team to have a bit of a retro feel this season, meaning the Sycamores have the potential to get back to creating havoc with their full-court press.
- Given to Fly: ISU vets hope to prove pundits wrong Indiana State’s only two seniors were surprised to see they were picked ahead of just three Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball teams Tuesday morning.
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Footnotes: In first marathon, former Sycamore comes out a winner
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Prince’s goal was a time under 2 hours and 50 minutes, and she ran a 2:48.56. -
Given To Fly: ISU volleyball turning things around
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