Ichabods Go Abroad

As senior starters on Washburn’s women’s basketball team, Yiibari Nwidadah, Gabi Giovannetti and Payton Sterk know the game like the back of their hands. But in a 10-day offseason trip to Europe, the trio experienced the sport in a way that had previously been Greek to them. 

“There were two big differences,” Nwidadah said of four games the group played this June in Athens. “The take foul – if they knew they were beat, they’d just intentionally foul you – and the travel. The way they explained it was weird.” 

“It was like a ‘gather step,’” Giovannetti said. “It looked like three steps, so we were so confused.”

It wasn’t the only time Giovannetti questioned the number of steps taken in Greece. In her first trip outside the United States, the Shawnee, Kansas, native relied on her Washburn teammates to show her the ropes – with mixed results. 

“Gabi hates walking, and I was not about to pay money to get Ubers everywhere,” said Sterk, a frequent world traveler from Colorado Springs. “So, I would lie to Gabi about how long it was. If we were walking somewhere and it was two miles, I’d tell her it was about a half mile. I got her like four or five times on that.” 

Nwidadah, an Olathe native, and Giovannetti are now in their fourth year playing at Washburn, and Sterk transferred in as a junior. The three players grew close while leading the Ichabods to an 18-13 record last season, their best mark since 2020. 

But the trip to Greece added a new level of camaraderie. 

“They’d been overseas, so I had to trust them a ton,” Giovannetti said of her teammates. “I didn’t know anything, so I was always asking questions. I definitely feel closer to them. We hang out a lot more than we did, and our chemistry’s been good.”

Given the trip’s itinerary, it’s easy to see why Giovannetti wanted to stay off her feet. The same day they arrived in Greece, there was a two-and-a-half-hour practice. Even in between games and practices, the group was constantly on the move.

“The program we went with had so much planned for us,” Sterk said of Beyond Sports, an organization established in 2010 that invites select college athletes to compete globally. “We went to Athens and Thessaloniki. They had tours, we went to the Acropolis, a cooking class, a bike tour, snorkeling, a full-day cruise to the islands. We’d start each day at 6 a.m., tour everything, then play a game that night, then we’d stay up until 1 a.m. to call our families, then do it again the next day.” 

Each senior left Greece with a new perspective on the world and the game they love. 

“All three are unique with different levels of readiness for a trip like that,” said Washburn women’s basketball coach Lora Westling, bba ’05, mba ’07. “Payton’s the wanderlust who’s traveled abroad at a moment’s notice. Yiibari’s very mature and has traveled before, but it was great for her to go and compete. And Gabi had never put herself out there on a trip this size. They were all impacted positively in a different way. That’s what travel does. You bond differently.”

The players were split between two squads because of NCAA rules that prohibit three collegiate teammates from playing together in the offseason. The three Ichabods were among 30 Division II and Division III student-athletes who competed against 27- to 44-year-olds from the second level of Greece’s professional ranks. Nwidadah, Washburn’s leading scorer last season, won all four games she played in Greece. Sterk and Giovannetti, the only Ichabods to start all 31 games last season, teamed up to go 3-1. 

“The girls we played against were super kind,” Sterk said. “Even before tip-off, we’d all go shake each other’s hands, which is something we don’t do in American sports anymore. They’d talk to us and take pictures after the games. So, it was more friendly competition, where in the U.S., it’s more cut-throat.”

Experiencing different cultures is why Westling aims to have her teams travel as much as possible, most recently leaving the continental U.S. for a December 2024 trip to Puerto Rico. But it’s difficult and costly to plan annual trips to new locales, which is why Westling encourages players to accept invites like the one from Beyond Sports whenever possible. 

“Every time we ask transitioning seniors what their favorite memories are, they say it’s these trips,” Westling said. 

With the 2025-26 season now underway, the world travelers brought back memories, new dessert recipes, and on-court experiences they’ll recall during their final year at Washburn and beyond. 

“I feel like I came out of my shell a little bit trusting to go overseas and play basketball because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Giovannetti said. “I’m glad I opened up and took the trip.” 

“Being able to go with Gabi and Payton, we got so much closer,” Nwidadah said. “I don’t want to say it shifted my entire perspective, but I mean, it really did.”