The Colorado Women’s Basketball team has introduced a series called the Newcomer Spotlight Series to highlight its new additions for the 2025-26 season. The team has welcomed 10 new players, including five freshmen and five transfers.
Freshman guard Isa Hämäläinen is among those featured in the series. When asked about her decision to play college basketball in the United States, Hämäläinen said, “I knew it was the next step that I had to take, just because I really want to play at the highest level possible. And I knew that the US had the best possible choices for me in terms of development on the court [and] off the court.”
Hämäläinen chose to join Colorado after feeling an immediate connection with both the coaching staff and the environment. “It felt like home immediately, whether it was the coaches [or] the whole place. [I] immediately fell in love with the place. The coaches were really, really welcoming. Everyone is really family-oriented, which is really, really important for me. And then basketball-wise, I think it felt like my style of play, so something that I’m used to. So I also thought it might be easier to adapt and learn,” she explained.
When discussing role models on her new team, Hämäläinen emphasized learning from everyone: “Honestly, at this point, I would say almost everyone. I really like meeting new people and having people come from different places. Obviously, we have such a new team this year – [there’s] a lot of different people from different places. So I think looking up [to] everyone, like the fellow freshmen, even though we’re in the same position, they’re still coming from different places, and they know some things I might not know, and I might know some things that they might not know. So, just helping each other out every day.”
Reflecting on her experience at the European Championship where she won silver, Hämäläinen said: “Honestly, I still can’t believe it. It’s been a couple [of] years, but I still can’t believe it. Obviously, everyone went into the tournament very optimistic. We knew we had a great team, but just knowing that we’re that tiny little country, no one really expects us to do anything exceptional. It was amazing; something that I’ll cherish forever and something I’ll never forget.”
Hämäläinen believes her international experience will benefit her at Colorado: “I’m used to playing with older players. Back home, I’ve been part of teams that have professional players that are already extremely experienced, and also playing on the international level with the national team [that] pushes me to work harder. I think overall playing against such experienced players will help me out in any way possible. Honestly having that competition already will transform my playing here whether that’s just learning from others or being able to compete on the court.”
She also shared that she played soccer growing up before choosing basketball due to family influence: “Honestly basketball has been running in my family for a while. My dad has played his whole life my granddad played and I’ve been playing basketball since I was five. I really enjoy playing basketball so I think it was kind of an easy choice.”
On joining a new team environment at Colorado she said: “Just practicing with everyone has been really nice because obviously coming into a new team you never know what to expect but I’ve been really enjoying playing and then obviously off the court we do a lot of things together whether that’s just hanging out grabbing food with people…I think we have such a great group of girls that it’s really easy to hang out with people and just have fun.”
Regarding travel experiences before arriving at Colorado she mentioned visits to Florida and Thailand as highlights due to their unique cultures and scenery.
Hämäläinen also spoke about Luxembourg’s international community: “I think it kind of translates here as well…We have a lot of different cultures there people from different places…And then I just think it’s really pretty there…There’s really nothing exceptional there but it’s such a pretty place…”
For more details about Colorado women’s basketball including schedules and results fans can visit CUBuffs.com or follow updates via Instagram or Twitter @CUBuffsWBB.
