Friday Features: Jessica Codato finds friends, volleyball success at Valdosta State
By Mike Perrin
Valdosta State University volleyball fans are accustomed to seeing
Jessica Codato do amazing things on the court.
Last season, she became the first Blazer to earn All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She was also the first Valdosta State Gulf South Conference Player of the Year and earned All-GSC, All-GSC Tournament and All-South Region honors.
Last week, the native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, recorded the first triple-double of the season in the league with 10 kills, 45 assists and 19 digs in a 3-2 loss to Eckerd at the South Region Crossover. A week before that, she was named GSC Offensive Player of the Week.
How did it feel to earn a spot in VSU’s rich sports history with that All-America recognition?
“I was very surprised, but words cannot describe the feeling of getting such award,” she said. “It was the proof that when you want something so bad and you work hard for it, you can get it. The whole season last year was a reflection of that. The entire team was so focused and worked so hard the entire year. It was great to have had such an amazing outcome at the end [with the GSC Tournament title].”
The 5-foot-10 senior took a roundabout route to south Georgia. She spent her first year in an American college at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., before transferring in 2013.
“I started thinking about college volleyball in America when I had to choose between playing professional volleyball and finishing college back in Brazil since, unfortunately, doing both at a high level and at the same time would be almost impossible,” she said. “That’s when I started my research and decided to start the whole process of getting recruited. In Brazil there are companies that help student-athletes come to the U.S. for all types of sports, and since I had no idea where to begin I asked for their help. Most of my recruitment happened through e-mail and Skype calls. Unfortunately I couldn’t go to any visits, so I had to make my choices based on anything I could find online.
“Valdosta seemed to be a home away from home. It had great academics, a beautiful campus and Coach
[Mike] Swan, who was also coming in for his first year and seemed very determined to turn the volleyball program around. It was everything I was looking for, and I have absolutely no regrets.”
Codato had visited the U.S. a couple of times as a tourist before college and she has been able to return home for a Christmas and summer break a few times. Adjusting to being away from home was an even bigger adjustment, she said, than adapting to life in Valdosta (population 54,518) from Sao Paulo (population 11.8 million).
“Coming from a big city was definitely different, but it wasn’t too hard to get used to,” she said. “I like how calm Valdosta is and how everything is close by. Some things that definitely took a while for me to adjust to were the culture differences, the language and being away from my family, which was probably that hardest one, especially in the beginning.”
Thanks to technology, she’s able to keep in contact with her family. “When I didn’t get to go home for holidays, my family managed to come to the U.S.,” Codato said. “I am very close to them, so we talk almost every day and they watch every single game online.
“It’s definitely hard sometimes. Technology does help a lot as it is easy to call them and see them even if for a little bit through the computer screen, but my team is my family here in the U.S., and they make it a lot easier when those tough times come.”
Codato is one of four international student-athletes on the volleyball squad this season, with teammates from Germany, Italy and Spain. “We definitely talk about being in America, but also since we are all four from different countries, we talk a lot about the differences from home as well – which is very interesting. I am very close to both the Americans and the foreigners, this team is very easy to get along with and we are always together.”
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