Feller to continue career in Iceland

By her own admission, McCalle Feller, who since graduating 16 months ago has dabbled in both sports broadcasting and EMT training, tends to go where the winds take her.

Next month they'll land her in Iceland to continue her basketball career. She will be the latest Lady Griz to play overseas after signing a contract this week with Fjolnir Reykjavik.

She'll leave her home in Spokane the second week of October and fly to the north Atlantic, where she'll play in Iceland's Division II league. Her contract runs through April.

"Anybody who knows me knows I'm a go-with-the-flow kind of person," she said. "I don't know what I'm getting into, but I'm excited about it."

Feller signed on with player-agent Jeanne McNulty King of 2X Inc., herself a former Lady Griz standout, after graduating in May 2016 with degrees in both journalism and media arts.

An opportunity to play in Australia came her way last year, but the timing of the offer did not allow her to pursue it. She thought that might be it, until McNulty King contacted her on Saturday.

"She said, 'How serious are you about going overseas? Are you still interested?' " said Feller, who's been living in Spokane since May while she pursues EMT certification.

"It was totally out of the blue and caught me by surprise. Basically it came down to if I could make it work with my EMT stuff. They are letting me go two weeks later so I can finish my certification process, so it kind of all fell into place."

It's the next post-collegiate step for Feller, who was named second-team All-Big Sky Conference as a senior in 2015-16 after averaging 16.7 points per game. With 1,022 points, she is one of 33 Montana players to reach 1,000 for her career.

She worked at KTVH in Helena from October until May, but "it wasn't really my thing," she said. So she changed both location and vocation. She headed to Spokane with the hopes of becoming a firefighter.

But basketball was still there, always the constant, no matter where she lived.

"I played with the Carroll girls when I was in Helena, and I've been playing with the Gonzaga girls since I moved to Spokane," she said. "I always loved it, but I thought the opportunity to continue playing was gone, so this came out of nowhere."

She'll play for Fjolnir Reykjavik as the team's first-ever American in a seven-team league. They provide her a place to live, one meal per day, a salary and a car. She'll coach a junior team, practice five times a week and play once a week for the Seals.

"We're the Seals, but we have pigs on our jerseys. I don't know why yet. I just know that we have pigs on our stomachs," Feller said.

She is on a one-season contract. It ends April 10 but could be extended should the team continue winning and advance to the Icelandic Cup. Should Fjolnir Reykjavik win the league, the team could get bumped up to the top division the following season. Which is more than Feller wants to think about.

"I honestly do not even plan that far ahead. If another opportunity arises, I have no idea if I'll take it or not until it's right in front of my face," she said.

"After college, it's this crazy time when you're trying to figure out what you want to do. After investing time and money into my EMT training, I didn't want to go backwards, because going overseas is like putting your life on hold, but I know I'm excited."

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