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Notre Dame’s Kate Koval is a rising star in college basketball and a daughter of war-torn Ukraine

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  • Post last modified:February 2, 2025

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Through warmups and the game, the cell phone sat on the team’s bench.

In the small gym in Brookville, N.Y., Long Island, no opponent could match Kate Koval that February night. Her coach yelled to her, calling the plays, and Koval instinctively reacted. Her body was on the court, but her mind was elsewhere.

She repeatedly glanced at the bench to see if the phone had lit up or vibrated. She heard all the sounds of the gym — shoes squeaking, buzzers, whistles, fans — but all she focused on was a ring from the sideline. A timeout from her coach. A voice on the other end of the call.

Before the game, her coach, Christina Raiti, had asked the opposing coach and head referee to make an exception to the rules and allow the phone on the sideline. They all agreed and said she could call a timeout — no matter which team had possession — if it rang.

They all hoped it would. But it remained on the bench. Silent.

That morning, Koval had woken around 5 and received a call from her mother, Natalia.

She and Kate’s father were OK, her mom emphasized as she rushed around the apartment, preparing to evacuate Kyiv, Ukraine. They would call later when they could.

Koval’s parents lived near the city center, not far from the main government buildings. Hours before, at dawn on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia had invaded Ukraine. Explosions had been reported across the country, from Kyiv to Chernihiv to Odesa.

Leading up to the invasion, Koval assured her friends in New York, where she had lived for the past five months pursuing her basketball career, that the mounting threats weren’t unusual. Since late 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin had been massing Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Russia had long held a presence in Ukraine.

But this was different.

When her parents had called that morning, her dad, Oleksandr, said that once they got to safety, they’d try to watch a live stream of her game that night.

She reminded herself of that throughout the day as images of bombed Ukrainian cities and casualty counts — military and civilian — rolled in. Surely, Koval thought, if her dad had basketball on his mind, things couldn’t be that bad.

Throughout the day, she called and texted her parents, but her messages were left unanswered — or maybe they hadn’t even gone through, she thought. When she arrived at the gym, almost 12 hours had passed since Koval had heard from her parents. When Raiti suggested canceling the game, Koval was incredulous.

She couldn’t stomach the idea that her parents, possibly sitting in a bomb shelter while their country was under attack, wouldn’t be able to see her. She didn’t know if they were OK, but if they could check her game, she wanted them to see that she was.

So, Koval played. And the phone sat on the bench throughout the game, waiting for a call that didn’t come.

In 2021, when Koval was 15 and living in Kyiv, she was reaching a limit. She had competed with Ukraine’s youth national teams since she was 12, playing up two to three years, and with a club team that traveled internationally.

Oleksandr had been the one who helped push her sports dreams. As a child, she split her time between ballet and basketball, but when adolescence hit, she chose the hardwood. Oleksandr read up on nutrition and weight training to help his daughter excel. He helped with her mental approach, too. “He could’ve been a psychologist if he wanted,” Koval said.

She understood her best path to the WNBA went through a U.S. college. At 6 feet 2 (and still growing), she had maximized her development in Ukraine. The Kovals began researching schools where she could get a jump-start on the American basketball experience.

In four years, she’d become a key player on a Notre Dame team eyeing a national title, but in the spring of 2021, she was just an unknown entity in a country un-renowned for producing women’s basketball talent.

A scout had sent video of Koval to Raiti, the Long Island Lutheran High (LuHi) coach. The program was solid in the Northeast, but Raiti sought more talent to make it a national power. Koval, Raiti knew, could change LuHi’s trajectory.

On a video call Raiti had arranged with Koval and her parents, Oleksandr peppered Raiti with questions about LuHi’s academics and his daughter’s potential living arrangements. Oleksandr and Natalia had advanced degrees and supported their daughter’s WNBA dream, but they also wanted to ensure it didn’t impede her pursuit of a neuroscience major.

Raiti assured them Koval would have the best of both worlds at LuHi.

By August 2021, Koval was on a plane to JFK. With her mom and grandma helping, she moved in with her host mom, Islande Blaise, in Queens. Koval and her family met Raiti for dinner in the city one night. Koval said little, but as they left the restaurant, she pulled Raiti aside and said: “I’m ready for this. They’re the ones who are nervous,” motioning to her mom and grandma.

Koval’s transition to New York was rocky. Her classmates and teachers spoke too quickly (“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, my textbook English is not helping,” Koval said), and like any new kid, making friends was daunting. In basketball, the American game proved faster and more physical.

Koval couldn’t sleep. Her dad was on a flight to South Bend. She had planned a proper American college weekend: a campus tour, a Fighting Irish football game, tailgating, family meals. Notre Dame basketball coach Niele Ivey called it “Oleksandr’s official visit.”

Koval had come to campus that summer as an early enrollee. Now, the Irish were on the brink of the 2024-25 season. Oleksandr, Natalia and Natalia’s mother wanted to see Kate’s life in her new home. They cooked her favorite borscht and walked her to classes. (Oleksandr was thrilled she stuck to her neuroscience plans.)

Ivey invited them to dinner at her home. Oleksandr said little but asked Natalia to translate a message for Ivey: “I see why Kate chose Notre Dame.”

“She’s really found a home here in South Bend,” Ivey said. “For somebody that young to carry that much responsibility and be strong with what she does. … She never complains. I know that has to be hard for her — her family, just the last five years of her life — carrying that in her heart.”

After a week, Oleksandr returned to Kyiv, where he continues to serve in the military.

Koval talks to her dad every day. He hounds her about her studies, the Irish’s season (they’re 17-2 and ranked No. 3) and her basketball progress. He looks forward to these calls as much as she does. It’s a sign of normalcy for him, too.

When he talks about his daughter, he can go on and on. “I just can’t be brief,” Oleksandr said. He’s proud she has pursued choices that require sacrifice; it means she’s preparing for the future — a similarity he notices between himself and Kate.

When their calls end, it’s hard for Kate to keep from imagining what life might be like when the war ends, when her dad can visit any time and she can return to Kyiv whenever she feels homesick.

She prays this is on the horizon.

“Having my family just like come together back to my grandma’s house for a nice Christmas dinner,” Koval said. “Every day, it’s in my prayer … just seeing families get restored and families being brought back together.

“Dads coming back to their kids and their wives.”

For now, they’ll wait for the phone to ring every day, to see each other’s name on the caller ID and hear the voice on the other end of the line.

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