Leaving Ukraine: A pro basketball player from Vestavia Hills got out just before the invasion
Updated: Mar. 07, 2022, 11:39 a.m. |Jordan and Carlee Swing pose during happier times in Kyiv, Ukraine, where Jordan was playing professional basketball. Playing professional basketball is hard. Playing professional basketball in a foreign country is harder.
Last fall, the 6-foot-6, 31-year-old was looking for a new team after playing for the Mexicali Suns in Mexico’s National Professional Basketball League. His agent found a couple of opportunities in Europe, he said, and despite some rumblings of border trouble between Ukraine and Russia, it wasn’t thought to be serious enough to refuse the contract.
Once the embassy started sending regular alerts, the Swings were not so sure it was going to be safe to stay. Former Vestavia Hills basketball standout Jordan Swing is shown playing pro ball in Israel. He was playing in Kyiv, Ukraine before leaving just before Russia's invasion. BC Kyiv Basket played a home game on Feb. 11. The six Americans who went on the court that night had been alerted around midnight by the embassy.
“Getting out got to be super crazy,” Swing said. “[Mike] actually got stuck there. It took him four days to get from Kyiv to Poland. On a normal day, that’s a 5½-hour drive. He was not on his own, but the team didn’t really have a plan to get him out once the war broke out. A friend who is the head of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Eurasian division happened to be in the U.S. for a conference when the war broke out, Swing said. Another friend is a missionary from Argentina who has a Christian school in Ukraine.
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