Daniela Passoni considers herself a homebody.
So, in some ways, being stuck in Waverley, South Africa — home for Passoni — the past 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a blessing. In other ways, it's been torture. Namely, she's missed her other family: the Cal State East Bay water polo team.
"I think without the support of my coaches and teammates in the U.S., I don't think I would've been able to make it, honestly," Passoni said.
That's both a general statement and one specific to the Tokyo Olympics, where Passoni will goaltend for her home country's water polo team.
For the longest time, Passoni never thought she'd be in either position: a U.S. college athlete or an Olympic water polo player. She's confident the former made the latter possible, however. A two-year starter for Cal State East Bay, she's now a vice captain for South Africa's Olympic team.
"Back home, collegiate sport isn't as great as it is in the (United) States, so not many people take the sport as seriously as my team does," she said. "I really, really love the intensity of the sport (in college), and I think that has made me grow as a player."
In two years at Cal State East Bay, Passoni has earned All-America honors twice. This included a First Team recognition in 2020 as a sophomore. She's already recorded nearly 350 saves in her career. Less measurable, she said, are the mental gains she's made in the water.
Yet not long ago, she didn't want to pursue collegiate water polo in the United States. At least, she didn't think she did until a random email popped up one day from an NCAA school — "I can't even remember the university," she said — interested in recruiting her.
The lightbulb went on at that point.
Maybe I could go.
Maybe I am good enough to play overseas.
These thoughts continued to stack on top of each other until Passoni decided to put together her "water polo CV," comprising her various accolades and experience that included many years on the South Africa national team circuit. She sent this off to several schools. When Cal State East Bay, located near San Francisco, responded with interest, Passoni was hooked.
"I really liked the fact that East Bay was on the West Coast, that it was warm and the climate was sort of like South Africa," she said.
It certainly didn't hurt that Cal State East Bay's head coach, Lisa Cooper, also hails from a different country — Australia — and understands the challenges of being so far from home. Add on a team environment foreign to collegiate environments outside the U.S., and "I was just excited to come and play overseas," Passoni said.
Still, 10,000 miles from home is 10,000 miles from home. And, as Passoni admits, she's "quite the homebody."
Leaving was never easy. Three-plus years later, however, she couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity and, even more so, her teammates.
"Leaving home and going to the U.S. was probably one of the hardest things I've done so far in my life," she said. "I think when you are part of a team, you do know that they will become your family. That's sort of what got me through in the beginning, that I already had a family and I've just yet to meet them and make memories with them. And that's really what happened. I became part of such a great family here in San Francisco."
Her teammates have been instrumental in helping her through the pandemic. She's been stuck in her home country since she traveled back right before South Africa and the United States shut down their respective borders.
"When the pandemic hit and everyone went home, the support that I got from my teammates just to carry on training (was huge)," said Passoni, who's continued her college courses remotely while back in South Africa. "With our COVID lockdown, it was really tough to find motivation, but I think with them backing me and them telling me, 'We've seen you play before. We know what you are capable of. You got it,' that really helped me and got me through the ups and downs of training before trials."
For Passoni, her Olympic trials consisted of a national tournament this spring. Teams filled with the best water polo players in the country competed against each other and were nominated based on their performances to a governing body for consideration. The selections were broadcast on national TV.
The moment Passoni's name scrolled on the screen is one she will never forget.
"My whole family was watching," she said. "It was such an amazing experience because they come up with all your names, so your sport comes up and then it just comes up in alphabetical order, all the names. I just remember the music because the music was fast-paced and there was quite a heavy beat, so my heartbeat was literally going to the beat of that music. Then, when I saw my name, I just burst into tears. Everyone was sort of screaming. I think our whole neighborhood heard us. … It was just phenomenal."
Soon after, she phoned Cooper to share the good news and dropped the announcement in her Cal State East Bay team's group chat. Without them, she's not sure she'd be here. And she means that a few ways.
"I think I've grown a lot both in the water and out of the water," she said of her time at Cal State East Bay. "Going overseas has sort of pushed me out of my comfort zone and made sure that I sort of knew how to think for myself and start doing those tough things that adults have to do."
Such as packing for the Olympics.
