BERLIN, April 22. /TASS/. US basketball player Sue Bird says playing for clubs in the Russian women’s premier basketball league had a huge impact in shaping her career.

On April 21, Bird was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the International Basketball Federation during an official ceremony in the German capital of Berlin.

"I spent ten seasons in Russia playing in EuroLeague and honestly those years shaped me just as much if not more than anything else in my career," she said speaking at the ceremony.

"It’s different styles, different systems, different environments and physicality you just do not see anywhere else. It challenged me on every level and the people I competed against and with pushed me to bettering ways I did not expect," she added.

Bird, 45, played for the Russian clubs Sparta & K and UGMK Norilsk between 2004 and 2014 winning the EuroLeague championship five times to go with five Russian championships.

Bird was drafted first overall by the Women's National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Seattle Storm in the 2002 draft. She won four WNBA titles for the Storm.

Playing for the US national women’s basketball team she is a five-time Olympic champion and the winner of four FIBA World Cups.