Editor’s note: This story appears in the Star’s 2019-20 college basketball preview section, which is included with the Sunday, Oct. 27 Arizona Daily Star.
Lucia Alonso arrived at the UA three years ago with a lot to learn.
The native of Leon, Spain, knew English but struggled to pick up the nuances of the language. On the floor, she’d yell “mira! mira!” — “look!” — to her UA teammates.
Basketball, by comparison, came naturally. Alonso immediately earned a starting role at point guard, where communication is key.
It wasn’t long before Tucson became home — and before Alonso grew into a leadership role.
Now a senior, Alonso has taken the Wildcats’ fellow international players under her wing. Mara Mote (Latvia), Sevval Gul (Turkey), Tara Manumaleuga (Australia), Birna Benonysdottir (Iceland) and Helena Pueyo (Spain) make up part of Arizona’s exclusively foreign freshman class.
“I try to help them with everything I can and give them advice, because I know how it feels,” she said. “I know the struggle of being far from home in a different country and some of them don’t speak English very well yet. I try to keep them engaged with the team and tell them, ‘if you need to talk, I’m here. Whatever you need.’”
That offer extends to logistics off the court. Alonso has shown her teammates how to navigate campus and where to get their scholarship money, among other things.
“With Helena we can talk in Spanish, so that’s cool,” said Alonso. “She texts me about stuff like, ‘Coach said this; what is she talking about?’ I just explain it to her. We go to lunch together and we talk about Spain, our national team, everything, so that’s pretty cool. We are locker buddies, too. So we talk every day.”
Pueyo said Alonso has been her go-to player since she was a recruit.
“Before I came here, I asked a lot of questions and she has helped with all the things — the university and basketball. Everything,” she said. “Now, if something is difficult with my classes, she helps me.”
Arizona guard Lucia Alonso has improved her communication skills since first arriving at the UA.
The other freshmen are still adjusting to college life. Gul and Pueyo live together in one place, and Mote, Benonysdottir and Manumaleuga live in another apartment.
“The easiest part is getting to know the team. The hardest part is being away from my family for so long,” said Benonysdottir, a 6-foot-3-inch inch forward. “It’s really hard. In the first few months I was fine, but then it really kicked in that I won’t see them until Christmas. It takes time to get over that.”
A conversation with UA assistant coach Salvo Coppa, a native Italian, also helped.
Coppa “told me how hard it is, yet it also makes us better,” Benonysdottir said. “He really helped me and Coach Adia has talked to me, too. They all know — it’s nothing new to them.”
The shared language of basketball also makes things easier. Barnes teaches her system by showing players what to do — a plus for the Wildcats who are still learning nuances of the language.
It can be intimidating, but the freshmen have been leaning on each other.
“I don’t feel like I am alone. We are really all in this together,” Benonysdottir said. “The team also helps and has really made us feel welcomed from the moment we came here.”
It’s exactly what Barnes hoped for when she brought in an all-international recruiting class.
“They have been really good at helping each other and creating really good relationships, which is important,” Barnes said. “There are cultural changes — just the food, the lifestyle, the sense of urgency, the pace of everything in America. It’s just really different.
“I know that and I am sensitive to that because I played overseas for 13 years. I’ve been on teams where no one spoke English. So, I know what that feels like. But I think when you are young and you don’t know what that feels like you don’t know how to be inclusive with that. My job is to teach them. I brought them all to a Turkish restaurant. I like doing that stuff. I think it’s going to add to their lives. They are going to learn different things and learn about different people and travel.
“I think in the next couple of years what you are going to see in this program are players like Bryce (Nixon) going to Spain for two weeks with Helena. … I think you are going to see a lot of that, which is pretty cool.”
