Above the Net With... Amanda Pereira

Our fourth Above the Net feature highlighting and written by a Lady Saints Volleyball player is from Amanda Pereira.  Pereira is a 5'11 freshman setter from Santos, Sao Paulo, Brasil, and had entitled her entry "From BraSil not BraZil". 

Hello Lady Saints fans, my name is Amanda Pereira and I am from Santos, Sao Paulo, Brasil. Yes, I meant to spell it Brasil, because that is how we spell it in my country.  We spell many counties names much different than you do in English, including Estados Unidos (United States), Alemanha (Germany), and Espanha (Spain).  I have two sisters, one is 24-year-old, Camilla, and 19-year-old, Marina. Coming into my first year as a Lady Saint has changed many things in my life.  First, more than anything was that I had to adapt myself to a very new environment here in Liberal. Also, like I referred to earlier, I am learning a new language. However, my team is filled with players from different countries such as Dominican Republic, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and the United States, so that gives me the opportunity to learn about their cultures too.  At first, we needed to figure out how to put all these different styles of volleyball together, so we can play the best that we can as a team, but it was hard because we all spoke so many different languages. Now we have been playing together for around two months and there is at least one language we all speak the same, volleyball!  Our coach, Coach B, has done a really good job in that aspect, of bringing us all together. Being in the United States has brought me new experiences and friends.  For example, we didn't know each other two months ago and lived thousands of miles away from each other, but now #5 Kimberly Diaz is like my sister. Also, I couldn't get a better person as a roommate than #15 Lindsey Schwab, she makes everything way easier for me helping me on my homework, English, and many other things that I need help with. 

Talking about the conference and my team, I think that we have a really solid team.  Our biggest problem early on, like I said, was the communication. But for me personally, having a coach that speaks my language has helped me. Right now we are in second place in conference with a record of 4-1.  We are going to play the hardest we can every game to try to win the conference, win the regional tournament, and go to nationals.

Finally I want to say thanks to all of our fans that support us game by game.  We look forward to seeing all of your faces supporting us at the game tonight and also remember to invite everyone to come to our games tonight and this weekend at the Greenhouse!

Chao!

#1 Amanda Pereira