Jenna Kaufman was ready to sling her basketball high-tops over the telephone wires when she returned home to Damascus, Md. from Ireland following a year in the Victory Scholar program.

By all accounts, her basketball career was complete.

But after some more time passed, more time that did not include her playing the game, the former Seton Hill star began to yearn for the court again.

It was time for a hard pivot.

“I decided to come home to work and teach,” Kaufman said. “But I missed basketball so much, so I started to reach out to coaches. It was weird not playing. Something was missing. I knew I wasn’t done.”

Long story short, Kaufman worked some contacts and paved a path to a professional hoops career. The former All-American guard recently signed to play for St Pauls Killarney of the Irish National League.

She will earn a monthly salary, have her accommodations paid for and get a regular grocery stipend as she plays the game for a living.

“Everything became really real, really fast,” Kaufman said. “When you’re in college, you’re not really thinking about getting an opportunity like this. I know I didn’t. I’ll get paid to play basketball.”

St Pauls Killarney, based in County Kerry, will return to National League women’s basketball for the first time since 2012 and play in Division 1 of the Southern Conference.

While in Ireland initially, Kaufman, 24, earned a master’s degree in sports and exercise psychology from Ulster University in Northern Ireland through the Sports Changes Life Foundation.

Landing a job in her chosen field is an eventual goal, but in the meantime, she was teaching at Little Bennett Elementary in Clarksburg, Va., while also coaching middle schoolers at a recreation center and training high school players when she noticed the void in her life.

Suddenly, she was making arrangements to return to Ireland.

“The Victory Scholar program helped me make connections,” she said. “It was beneficial to have a year off because it made me appreciate the game so much more. I have kept up with my game, and I feel like I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I am more devoted.”

Kaufman, who scored 1,409 points at Seton Hill before graduating in 2018, played for the Ulster Elks in the Irish National League while she was studying abroad, so she is familiar with the style of play.

Women’s pro basketball is unique in Ireland because players range in age from 16 to about 26. The younger girls pay to play. They are not paid.

“Just the imports get paid,” Kaufman said. “We have three night practices a week because some of the older players have jobs. We play games on the weekends.

“You don’t really hear much about women playing overseas. I wasn’t aware there were opportunities like this. You hear about it more for the men. You don’t even have to be a D-1 player. You can be a D-2 player and be a pro.”

A pretty good D-2 player, that is.

Seton Hill coach Mark Katarski said he saw Kaufman’s next-level ability in 2017 when the Griffins took a memorable trip overseas.

“I think for both Jenna and I, the trip to Spain we made as a team the summer of 2017, just before her senior year, kind of cemented it for both of us,” he said. “She seemed to adapt to the international style of play well and thrived in experiencing a different country and culture.”

Seton Hill earned its first PSAC Tournament win when Kaufman was a senior. She was one of six players in Division II to score at least 520 points, grab over 240 rebounds and hand out 70 assists.

She was an All-American honorable mention pick by the WBCA and Division II Bulletin, an All-PSAC first-teamer and a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.

Two former Seton Hill men’s basketball players also signed pro contracts overseas recently. Trevor Blondin will play in Finland, while Nate Davis was set to play in Germany.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Bill by email at bbeckner@triblive.com or via Twitter .