Idaho State Athletics
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Idaho State women’s basketball Estefania Ors is living her life experiencing everything she can.
Ors, born and raised in Altura, Spain, had an active childhood thanks to her loving parents and older sister, Natalia.
Ors and her sister have built a strong relationship growing up together.
“We’re pretty close,” Ors said. “I’ve been with her since I was born and I grew up with her and she has come here a couple of times. She came to Cancun. She comes everywhere I go, kind of. When we play and it’s important she will come and be there for me.”
Despite the distance, she also keeps a healthy relationship with her parents.
“I talk with my parents a lot on facetime and they come a lot,” Ors explained. “They came to Cancun and they came here for my graduation. We’re pretty close.”
Ors and her father have created a special bond over sports.
“ My dad is pretty active,” Ors continued. “He played soccer when he was young and now he bikes. He bikes like every day. When I’m home in the summers my conditioning is with him. I go on the bike on
the mountains for like three hours so he’s pretty active. I didn’t play basketball at first, I played soccer, and my dad was al-ways playing with me and when I changed he would just play basketball with me. He always played with me.”
Ors’ journey through sports began after her sister picked up basketball.
“I actually play basketball because of her,” Ors explained. “When I started basketball I hated it. It was in school and I hated it because all of the guys had the ball and they didn’t pass it to me so I was like ‘I’m over this. I hate this.’ And then my sister started basketball when I was in the fifth grade and I told my parents ‘well if she goes, I’m going to play, too.’ So because of her I played basketball.”
Ors also found happiness in playing games with her cousin.
“I have a cousin who is a year younger than me and I played with him all of the time,” said Ors. “But with my sister she was five years older than me and when I played with her, I came from soccer to basketball and I played with boys all of the time, so I was kind of strong and I would push and make contact and my sister didn’t like that. I would play with her for a little bit and she would be over it and be like ‘yeah I don’t want to play with you’. So I would play with my cousin a lot, like 1v1.”
Playing games was easy with a court just outside Ors’ house.
“I have a little basketball court at my house and we always played growing up, my cousin and I” Ors said.
Her easily-accessible court was set up thanks to her dad who built it himself.
“I remember I would play any sport when I was little before I started basketball,” Ors said. “I played tennis, I did triathlons, swimming, biking, running, and soccer. My dad always wanted me to be the best and he loved to watch me play. I remember in the afternoons, I have a big backyard, so when I played soccer he would have a goal set up and be the goalkeeper and my sister would play, too. That was really fun. When I started playing basketball, the basketball hoop at my house was built by him. It’s a really great basketball hoop and he built it for me. I always wanted him to rebound for me and he did a line of three, too. He always played 1v1 with me, too.”
Ors’ dad setting up the backyard isn’t the only way he shows his unconditional support.
“My dad is my biggest fan,” said Ors. “He would go to every single game. He’s not in the USA but if he was he would go to every game. He will wake up at three oclock, my mom, too, but she’ll get up at like halftime, because the time is like eight hours ahead so the games will be at three in the morning there and he will wake up to watch the
game. Every single time.”
Her venture into competitive basketball started about sixth grade.
“I live in a little town where there was only one basketball team,” Ors explained. “They were five years older than me so I would practice with them. It was a boys and girls team and I played with them but they were older than me so it wasn’t really like playing. The summer of sixth grade, my aunt and cousin live in a different city, in Castellón, and I would go to summers there and my cousin and I went to a basketball camp and I really liked it. There was a team that asked if I wanted to try it and play for them. So I played for them. It was about an hour away from where I live.”
Without help from her parents, Ors wouldn’t have been able to make it to games and practices.
“I was really lucky that my parents could do it because my mom is like a housewife and my dad only works in the morning so in the afternoon they could drive me,” Ors said. “I was really lucky.”
The hardwork and dedication paid off as Ors committed to Idaho State after playing at a university in Spain for a year.
“I came one year later because I started at a university in Spain,” Ors said. “I didn’t want to come the first time. I had a coach who knew Coach Ryan and I talked to him and he recruited me. Honestly, when I verbally committed, I did not commit. I didn’t know english and when they asked I was just like ‘sure’. I didn’t know. But I don’t have any regrets. I love it here.”
Ors wanted to live the experience of playing Division I college basketball in America.
“I wanted the experience,” Ors explained. “A person builds with the experience they live so I wanted to live this experience. I wanted to learn english, too. I feel like you learn english once you speak it every day.”
To Ors, basketball is everything.
“Last year I was injured and I couldn’t play for eight months and I realized how much basketball means to me and defines me,” Ors said. “I don’t know who I am with-out basketball which is kind of bad be-cause in the future I won’t play so I need to know who I am without basketball. When you’re stressed or frustrated with anything outside of basketball, for me, I just go play and it relaxes me. So I feel basketball is a really big thing in my life and all the connections I’ve made from it, too.”
Four years later, Ors has found a second home in Pocatello.
“It’s been really great, honestly,” Ors said. “Since my freshman year, the environment at ISU is amazing. I love my coaches, I love my teammates, I love the fans and all of the ISU athletic administration. I feel everyone is like a big family so I really like it here.”
Needless to say, the transition did come with some adjustments.
“The food,” Ors laughed. “Back home the diet is so different and things that are not here so that was an adjustment. Also missing my family and friends. I had to learn to live without them day to day. I can call them and text them but I cannot be with them so that was the biggest adjustment I had to make.”
Learning english was a goal of Ors’ that she has accomplished since coming to America.
“My freshman year I did not know english at all,” said Ors. “People who met me my freshman year and now that I’m friends with them they are like ‘freshman year you didn’t want to talk to anybody’ and it was because I didn’t know english. School was pretty easy. It wasn’t that hard in school but it was hard outside of school. But basketball was pretty good because when you do a drill you can see the people in front of you so you just repeat it. It was hard to communicate.”
Ors is currently in the second year of her Master’s in Athletic Training.
“I want to be in athletic training or physical therapy,” Ors said. “Right now I’m in
athletic training but I might start physical therapy school back home. I just love it. I love taking care of the athletes and getting them better because I’ve had injuries be-fore and I know how important it is.
“My environment growing up was very happy and active. I always needed to do something and my dad pushed me to do it, too.”
She plans to go back home after getting some experience under her belt.
“I want to stay here for a couple of years to get experience and then go back home,” Ors said. “My plan is always home. I love where I live and I love my family.”
After four years of college basketball, Ors has some advice to give herself.
“My four years have been really great,” Ors said. “I would tell myself my freshman year to relax. Do what you have to do and relax. You don’t need to be nervous about anything. It will fall into place and every-thing happens for a reason.”
