Csenge Krakoczki went from playing volleyball in a small town in Hungary to receiving over 90 emails from junior colleges and universities. This gave her a multitude of opportunities before she landed at the University of Idaho.
After accepting her offer, she showed up after never coming to the states and adapted to the new life of being a student college athlete. Krakoczki is from a very small town in Hungary called Komarom, which is right on the border of Slovakia. This was a very small town without many chances for Krakoczki to pursue her volleyball dreams. She moved over to Balatonfured, a city that is right next to a beautiful lake with a population of 13,000 people.
Krakoczki was motivated to go play volleyball in Balatonfured after a coach had gone to one of her games and chosen to invite her to come watch the volleyball team play in the city and take a look at the school. After she saw it, it was the next part of her journey to go play for them.
Krakockzi had played on a club volleyball team while she was living in her hometown of Komarom, and when she moved to play more serious volleyball, Krakoczki joined the school team, which was more like high school volleyball than club. What made her want to come play volleyball in the United States, after never having traveled there, was when she was promoted from the smaller team to the adult team in Balatonfured.
Krakoczki said, “After that, I think that maybe I want to work more, and I had a lot of international players in the team, and I thought that I want to go also some other country and try it and maybe it’s working. And I really love it here.”
The recruiting process for her was a lot different than a volleyball player from the states. Since she lived in Hungary, she had to hire a company, and they created highlight videos for her.
There was a lot of hype around her before she even stepped into the states. When choosing Idaho, she said she talked with head coach Romana Kriskova and liked her since she was nice, and that she spoke with some of the players as well.
The players she talked to told her the team was nice and so was the campus. Krakoczki started looking at the college through some pictures and looking on Google Maps. Krakoczki talked about the school and campus and how much she appreciates how nice people are and that it was really weird for her at first.
“I talked with my mom, and I said I really love the school. And she asked, ‘You are sick?’ Because I don’t love the school in Hungary, but here, I like it,” she said.
The transition from America was hard for her as well since she had to learn English, with Hungarian being her first language. Two years ago, when she decided she wanted to come to the United States, she learned and studied more English. Krakoczki flew to Los Angeles, and spent a few days there with her teammate, and it was hard for her at first. After a while, it got easier for her, and people told her that she got better and better every day.
Since arriving from Hungary, Krakoczki has had a culture shock, but is enjoying her time so far in the U.S.
“I think the car’s really big here. [In] Hungary, we don’t really use trucks, so it was really different. And the stores, it’s so weird that I can find everything in one store. And the packs are big, are huge,” she said.
Krakoczki is currently studying hospitality and tourism and takes a nutrition class as well, which has been interesting for her. She can’t decide yet which one is better. She wants to travel a little bit and potentially play professional volleyball.
One of the main differences, according to Krakoczki, between the U.S. and Europe when it comes to volleyball is the style and pace of play.
“The games are really fast,” she said. “I think in Hungary it’s more slower, or in Europe, it’s slower and some rules [are] different.”
Krakoczki lives with her teammates and her two dogs, Pindi and Maji, and has enjoyed Moscow so far. When they are not on the volleyball court, they go out and do fun things after games or practice. She knew some people before moving to America, and with 11 new people on the volleyball team this year, it has been a huge change for the whole team.
Since arriving, she has grown a lot and practice has helped her. The first few games were really different, and it was so new that she felt like she wasn’t playing good, but now it has improved a lot for her. Krakoczki said she wants to stay here for four years and help turn the Vandals around.
“Last year, I heard it was not that good. I think this year it’s better, and I hope the next year will be better.”
Krakoczki has a very bright future ahead of her and will go into next year with high hopes for the Idaho Vandals Volleyball team. The relatively all-new team will go into next year with a year of experience and chemistry, giving Krakoczki the support she needs to thrive.