There’s a sacred honor in putting on your country’s colors, and for Ana Beatriz Passos, donning Brazil’s green and gold is a privilege that never loses its magic. The passion she brings to the women’s basketball court in Vandal black and gold will soon be channeled through her homeland’s colors, an honor the Idaho freshman doesn’t take lightly.
“I am very happy to be representing the Brazilian national team again. The feeling of wearing this jersey is always unique and comes with a lot of honor. I will always give my best and represent my country in the best way,” Passos said in a press release by Vandal Athletics.
Passos, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, came to the Vandals mid-season in 2023 and redshirted before making her Vandal debut this past season.
Fellow Brazilian native head coach Arthur Moreira is excited to see Passos be able to represent Brazil again. “It is a great honor to represent your country and I’m glad Ana gets to do that again,” Moreira said in the release.
“It will be a great experience for her to compete in the World University Games against some of the world’s best players,” Moreira said. “We will be watching and rooting for her.”
Passos may not have shown up in the stat sheet much, but she had a big role in all the categories not on the stat sheet. Passos was a key player for the Vandals in her hustle, defensive intensity and mentality and was a major reason for the Vandals’ success defensively this past season.
The World University Summer Games, held in the Rhine-Ruhr region of Germany, is a tournament like the Olympic Games that happens every other year. It showcases the best countries and best college players around the world in a highly competitive international tournament.
Passos and Brazil will start their road to gold with a match-up against Hungary on July 18 at 8:30 a.m. PST. The next day they will take on Japan at 5:30 a.m. PST, and their last group stage game will be against Lithuania on July 20, also at 5:30 a.m. PST, with their goal to be in the gold medal game five days later on July 26. All of Brazil’s games can be seen on FISU.tv.
As she stands for Brazil’s anthem in that German arena, Passos will carry with her every lesson learned from São Paulo to the Palouse. The music will wash over a player who chose the difficult road — leaving home, persevering through a redshirt season, discovering her value in the unglamorous work of defense.
Now, wrapped in her nation’s colors, the São Paulo native will have her reward for every sacrifice made along the way this chance to represent Brazil on the world stage.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected].