After her first real practice with the Seattle Storm, newcomer Ewelina Kobryn was given a map to find her way around the city. Both on and off the floor, Kobryn is in unfamiliar territory. For the newest member of the Storm, Thursday’s practice at Seattle Pacific University was an opportunity to catch her breath and begin getting comfortable in the team’s system.

Kobryn joined the Storm last Thursday, at the start of a three-game East Coast road trip. A day later, the Polish post made her WNBA debut by playing 30 seconds against the Connecticut Sun. Kobryn also saw three minutes of action Tuesday in Indiana, but had yet to go through a full practice with the team because the Storm was busy traveling last week.

“I’m so happy, but it was hard for me because I came before the road trip,” Kobryn told media after practice. “Now that I am here finally in Seattle, I hope I can help the team. I will give what I can give.”

It was a whirlwind journey for Kobryn, who was representing her host country in EuroBasket competition less than two weeks ago. When Poland was eliminated in the second round, she became available to the Storm, looking to add post depth with Lauren Jackson sidelined following hip surgery. Kobryn, who had previously been in training camp with the New York Liberty this season and the Washington Mystics the year before, leapt at the opportunity to fulfill what she calls a dream of playing in the WNBA.

“Everybody said, ‘You have to go. This is the champions of the WNBA and this is a chance for you to get a ring,’” she recalled. “I’m so happy that I can be here and can be where there are a lot of fantastic players. What can I say more? I’m so happy.”

The Storm is as pleased to have Kobryn, an experienced veteran of Euroleague and international play who is skilled for a player capable of seeing action at either power forward or center.

“She’s a very delightful person,” said Storm Head Coach Brian Agler. “You probably found that out – smiles on her face. This was really her first practice today and she did pretty well.”

Agler was impressed with how Kobryn handled seeing game action almost immediately after joining the team.

“We had her in, let her play and get her feet wet, then pulled her out and talked to her about it and put her back in,” he explained. “She did pretty well.”

With more experience playing for Agler and with her new teammates, Kobryn should feel more at home on the court. Already, her teammates – many of them familiar as long-time opponents in European competition – are helping her make the adjustment.

“This is my new team and of course everybody has helped me and I feel like part of the team,” she said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2011 at 4:34 pm and is filed under kobryn, practice notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.