Friday Features: CBU’s Kenzie Jones and Rafaella Angelidou Form Sisterly Bond
By Chris Megginson
Four years ago, Christian Brothers University forward
Rafaella Angelidou left her parents and older brother behind in Thessaloniki, Greece and moved to the United States for basketball without knowing anyone. Today though, she has gained two sisters and a brother and an entire extended family in Missouri after developing a special bond with teammate
Kenzie Jones.
Rafaella, known as Raf, played her first year of community college at Howard College in Midland, Texas, but said the transition was difficult. She spent Christmas and spring break alone. In 2015, she transferred to Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri, where she met Kenzie, a freshman who grew up only two minutes away in Farmington.
As the year played out, the two began to grow close – even more so after the season. Kenzie took Raf to her parents’ house to do laundry and would take her places because she didn’t have a driver’s license or car.
“Whatever I needed, they were there for me,” Raf said.
By May, the bond increased to the point that Kenzie told Coach Sarah Condra about Raf while on a recruiting visit to Christian Brothers. Raf took a visit shortly after and both were offered. While they each had offers from other schools, the decision was made to transfer together, a move that helped provide each of them with a since of family in their new place.
“The biggest part of why I chose CBU is Kenzie,” Raf said. “I didn’t want to go to another school where I didn’t know anybody.”
For Kenzie, it was her first time living more than two minutes away from her family.
“I’m grateful for her because obviously she’s my best friend and she knows everything about me. It was nice to have a little part of home with me here in a different state,” she said.
Three years into their friendship, Raf has become a member of the Jones family. She has not been home to Greece since the summer of 2016, and spent each of the last two Christmas breaks and last summer in Missouri. At Christmas, she’s treated equally with as many gifts as Kenzie or her younger siblings, who call Raf “Sis” and tell their friends they’ve adopted her.
“By now she is a part of the family already. You don’t even have to ask if Raf is coming home. It’s automatic,” Kenzie said.
So much so, that now when Raf is home in Missouri, she’s off visiting members of the Jones extend family without her teammate. She spent the summer living with Kenzie’s aunt and uncle, who took her to get her driver’s license, employed her for the summer in their business and gave her one of their older vehicles.
“They helped me through a lot of stuff, and I never imagined I’d have a sister on the other side of this planet,” Raf said of Jones family. “My family means the world to me. I miss them so much, I can’t explain it, but when you have another family here, it kind of covers it.”
Condra has had sisters on her team in the past, most recently Emily and Samantha Reeves last year. She sees a similar relationship between Kenzie and Raf.
“They’re very close. They take care of each other and have that sisterly love … You don’t see kids take care of each other like this as much. We’ve had some close players, but this is a special story,” Condra said. “They know each other inside and out … It’s a unique relationship and deep connection that carries over on to the court.”
The addition of Kenzie as point guard and Raf as a forward is reaping rewards in the Bucs’ offense. Raf leads the team with 12.2 points per game, including a team-best 82.9 percent from the free throw line and shooting 43.6 percent from the floor. Kenzie is there to dish out the assists, averaging 3.3 per game and 8.5 points per game.
“I don’t have to tell her anything on the court. I just look at her, and she knows what I’m about to do. She knows every move I’m about to do and when I need the ball,” Raf said.
Condra says it’s evident they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, especially, both physically and mentally.
“They know what makes each other tick … what to say to each other and how to motivate each other, what’s going to work and what’s not going to work,” Condra said.
Part of that mental game is knowing when to drop a small fight or how to connect deeper with a teammate, Kenzie said. She believes that is something that has rolled over among the rest of her team as they’ve “implemented love and a family community on the team.”
Raf is Condra’s first international player, which has also helped introduce part of another culture among the CBU women’s basketball program. For a while they learned a Greek word of the day, and have heard about Greek coffee and food.
Kenzie says Raf is always cooking a Greek cuisine that she’s forced to try. While she’s still growing accustom to some of the Greek foods, she says she’s introduced Raf’s health eating habits into her diet, and emphasizes that Feta cheese is on everything. For Raf, the one American food she’s come to love is the taco soup, Kenzie’s mom makes.
Both credit the other with helping come out of their own shells as a person.
“She pushes me to be more outgoing. I’m a little introverted when I first meet people, but she will go up to anyone and talk to anyone,” Kenzie said.
“She taught me to be independent. I was asking her how to do every single thing and she was like, ‘stop asking for help, just do it by yourself. You can do every single thing,’” Raf said.
Both Kenzie and Raf are majoring in psychology at CBU. Raf is minoring in criminal justice, which she earned an associate’s degree in at Mineral Area College, and will not graduate until May 2019. Kenzie is minoring in cognitive neuroscience with the plans of pursuing her master’s in speech pathology.
The two already have their first trip to Greece planned for 2019 after they finish their degrees and begin to pursue their next step in life. While Raf hopes she can remain in the U.S., she knows that can be hard.
Until then, Kenzie and Raf will continue to enjoy each day together, sharing Greek chocolate and Starbucks as they strengthen their sisterly bond.
Follow Megginson on Twitter @jcmeggs. Email comments to megginsonjc@gmail.com.
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2017-18 Friday Features Archive
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Mississippi College
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Montevallo
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Valdosta State
September 22 |
West Georgia
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Union
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West Alabama
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Christian Brothers
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Mississippi College
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