WNBA’s Kamilla Cardoso recalls tough immigration to the US
CHICAGO (BVM) — Kamilla Cardoso booked a one-way flight from Brazil to the U.S. when she was just 15 years old to pursue her basketball teams. The bold move turned her into a two-time college basketball champion and the Chicago Sky’s No. 3 pick in the WNBA draft.
In the ESPN+ original docuseries “Full Court Press” (released on May 11), Cardoso recalls her transition from impoverished beginnings in Brazil to the challenging adaptation of living in the U.S. without her family.
“I grew up on a bad part of Brazil, and you either make it out or stay in the hood,” Cardoso said on “Full Court Press.”
Cardoso grew up in a poor family, which included her mom and sister.
“When I started working on the street… I carried baskets, I begged, I picked up stones to sell,” Kamilla’s mother, Janete Soares, said on “Full Court Press.” “Kamilla used to sleep in a basket in front of my spice stall (where I worked). I used to bathe them there and take them to school.”
Despite the lack of resources in her hometown of Montes Claros, Kamilla blossomed into a 6-foot-4, 14-year-old basketball prodigy. An agent ultimately convinced Kamilla to pursue the American Dream.
Kamilla enrolled at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Tennessee in 2016. She moved into a house with eight teammates and her Hamilton Heights coach, Filipe Goncalves. They communicated using Google Translate since Kamilla didn’t know English yet.
“In the first two months that I left home, it was the hardest months for me,” Kamilla said on “Full Court Press.” “I wasn’t eating. I lost like almost 20 pounds. I was very sad, but I used to call them every day and they used to tell me, ‘You just gotta stay strong.’”
But chasing her dreams was especially difficult since she didn’t always feel accepted.
“[Since she was so tall at a young age], she couldn’t wear the same clothes as others, and she wasn’t allowed into playgrounds due to being so tall,” Kamilla’s sister, Jessica Cardoso Silva, said on “Full Court Press.” … “Her dream was to be accepted. To be an ordinary person that people would see and not say, ‘Look how ugly this giant girl is.’”
Kamilla noted, “[People] used to bully me, and I used to go home and cry.”
It’s been eight years since Kamilla immigrated to the U.S., and she likely can say that she feels accepted now. The sacrifice has paid off and it’s keeping her family in Brazil off of the streets.
“She was always a fierce Black woman, a fighter,” Kamilla’s mom told “Full Court Press.”
