“I want to make my mom proud by proving my best.”
메이저놀이터Katie Timmerman (24-172.9 cm), the first foreign-born player to be drafted, donned the jersey of Incheon Shinhan Bank with the second pick in the second round of the 2023-2024 Korean Women’s Basketball League (WKBL) Draft on Thursday at Cheongju Gymnasium in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do.
Born in 1999, Timmerman is the daughter of an American father and a Korean-born mother who now holds U.S. citizenship.
Timmerman played in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II for Concordia University in the United States from the 2018-2019 season through last season, averaging 9.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 122 career games with 33 minutes and seven seconds on the court.
Timmerman took the stage shortly after his selection and said “hello” in Korean.
He said, “I’m grateful to be able to play professionally in my mother’s country. I can’t wait to get started.” “I’m going to prove myself by playing the best I can. I want to make my mom proud,” he said.
Katie Timmerman
[Photographs by Ha-Eun Seol]
“My game is at a high level,” Timmerman told reporters after her first game. Especially, I am most confident in my turnaround jumper shot, so I was confident of being selected to the professional stage.”
“During the tryout, I realized that Korean women’s basketball is high-pressure and fast-paced,” said Timmerman, who was advised by Shinhan Bank coach Gunadan to “show all your skills.” “I had a similar experience in the NCAA, which will help me in Korea,” he said.
“I declared for the draft as a guard, but I’ve played every position from the 1 to the 4, so I think I’ll be able to coordinate my roles well in the team,” he said.
“I played a lot of different sports growing up, but I fell in love with basketball,” said Timmerman, who is a big fan of Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury) in the WNBA.
“My parents wished me luck and said happy birthday,” said Timmerman, who celebrated his birthday that day.
Timmerman, who measured 5-foot-9 at the combine, explained that he was listed as 5-foot-9 on the draft roster, saying, “When they measured me in the States, I was 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, and I put 5-foot-9 on my draft application.”