Energia Brasileira

With five, or one-third, of the 14 UTRGV volleyball players from Brazil, the familiarity among them has helped the team on and off the court.

Freshman outside hitter Ingridy Foltran, of Barueri, Brazil, told The Rider she said all the Brazilian players feel like family as they help each other with language barriers, volleyball tips and just having someone there from the same country.

On the court 

Sophomore middle blocker Luisa Silva Dos Santos, of Belo Horizonte, said the team is always together as they help each other on and off the court. She said they bring Brazilian energy to the court and it has helped them build a good connection from it. 

“I think we’re, like, always on fire,” Dos Santos said. “So, we play really angry, so I think that explains the Brazilian energy.” 

Assistant coach Vini Baigan, of Osasco, said having so many Brazilians on the team makes games easier since he can communicate with them and does not have to hide it from the opposite team. 

He said what usually happens on the court is that the setter will call out the position of who they will set the ball for in Portuguese, so the other team will not pick up on where the ball is going. 

Another advantage Baigan said is that he can communicate with the team without having to call a timeout. 

“There’s always going to be a Brazilian at the net, or Luanna [Emiliano] can listen and I can tell her and she just goes there and whispers to them,” Baigan said. “So, instead of burning that timeout, saying, “‘Hey, we’re going to do this right now,’ I just tell them and they can adjust right away, and the other team is not going to prepare for something different because we haven’t called the timeout.” 

Dos Santos said this tactic has helped the team get points in many games and that her non-Brazilian teammates have even picked up Portuguese and use this tactic as well. 

“They are learning,” she said. “Sarah [Cruz] knows a lot of Portuguese, so sometimes she talks to the setter in Portuguese so they can understand, and it really works. 

Off the court 

Sophomore right-side hitter Maria Eduarda Rodrigues, also from Belo Horizonte, has been friends with Dos Santos since 2000 and said having so many Brazilian players is the best thing because she is still learning English. 

“Sometimes I don’t understand something because we’re still learning English,” Rodrigues said. “And [other teammates] understand, and we help each other all the time.”

Rodrigues and Santos first played in Brazil together, then played at Odessa College and both transferred to UTRGV in 2021. However, when they first arrived in Odessa, they knew no English, which Santos said was hard at the beginning. She said little by little and being around her teammates, she is learning English.

Foltran said when she arrived at UTRGV, it was hard to adjust but having Brazilian teammates makes her feel more at home and has helped her adapt to being so far from home. 

Baigan said he understands what the Brazilian players go through since he had to experience leaving home, being homesick, a different language and culture since he played volleyball at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, in 2009. He said by going through that whole experience, it shows the volleyball players that everything is going to be all right and trust him. 

“They rely on you more,” Baigan said. “They open up if something is wrong, or their families, like, have a better trust, because, like, I went through the same process and for my parents it was really hard. So, I feel that, like, building that trust is easier.” 

In previous interviews with The Rider, head coach Todd Lowery said it was a rebuilding year and wanted to get the team’s culture right before anything else. 

Asked how the Brazilian players contributed to getting the culture right, Baigan replied that their familiarity with each other, outgoing personalities and work ethic has everyone on the team on the same page to push hard and buy into the program. 

He said Foltran is an example of how the culture has shifted and resulted in more hard work for the team. 

“You’ll offer her an opportunity to come and do extra [practice and] she is always here,” Baigan said. “So, when you have one person doing that and you start dragging everybody with you, you know, like, everybody’s gonna go, ‘Oh, she’s gonna do extra? We should go.’ I can guarantee this year we’ve done more extra practices than all the other years combined. … It’s different parts of the puzzle that we try to put it together to succeed at the end of the year.”