Last March, kinesiology sophomore Jessica Barreira took going away for college to a new level when she came to ASU from Lisbon, Portugal.
Growing up, Barreira watched track on television and from then on it became a dream to run in the U.S.
“I wanted to come here and practice how they practice so I could get better,” Barreira said.
Head coach Greg Kraft came across the young jumper when she competed for Sporting Clube de Portugal. At the time, one of Kraft's LSU colleagues was in contact with Barreira's club.
LSU had no room for a jumper and soon Kraft and Barreira were emailing regularly.
“Most of the time he would check in on me to see how I was doing,” Barreira said. “See how my season was going.”
These conversations piqued Barreira’s interest and prompted her to research ASU’s track program online.
“I started doing research myself,” Barreira said. “I saw that so many great names of American track and field went through this school so I just decided to take a shot at it.”
Barreira couldn’t explain why she decided that ASU was the right school, but said one day after talking to Kraft she knew it was the right thing to do.
In the spring of 2016, Barreira left her home and flew across the Atlantic to join the ASU team.
However, she said transitioning from Portugal to the U.S. came with its challenges, partly because of cultural differences.
“Things that you should do back home, I don’t do here,” Barreira said. “Or things that I do here, I don’t do back home.”
The hardest part of the transition for Barreira was living an ocean away from her family and lifelong friends. She also transferred mid-season, which made her miss the preparation and conditioning period that all the track athletes go through in the fall.
This resulted in Barreira getting off to a slow start.
“You can imagine how difficult it is for a young lady to come all the way across the Atlantic Ocean,” Kraft said of his athlete. “To come to the desert, it is a very difficult adjustment and not one that I think you can take lightly.”
Kraft said he wasn't sure how much of an advantage Barreira's training in Portugal gave her, but what ever it was, it helped her come to a university like ASU.
“I think it is one of those things, coming in last year in the middle of the year and competing right away,” Kraft said. "You just try to focus on improving, coming to practice every day and working on getting better."
Although the principles for training jumpers are the same across the world, Barreira said it took time to adjust to the way athletes train in the U.S.
“What made it a little bit harder was the difference in training, so last year I didn’t do as well as I wanted to,” Barreira said. “Toward the end of the season I started getting used to it, getting used to the whole ‘American process.'”
Barriera started to see improvement at the end of the 2016 outdoor track season and used that to motivate herself during fall preparation period.
Flight 2 of the W Long jump is underway. Keyasia Tibbs and Jessica Barreira will be jumping for the ☀️. #ForksUp
— SunDevilTFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) February 17, 2017
At the end of the 2017 indoor season, Barreira was disappointed with her results, but she and her coaches are very optimistic.
Assistant coach Tamara Ards said she thinks the sky is the limit for Barreira’s outdoor season.
“By the end, if she keeps doing what she’s doing, she is capable of going to compete in the conference in most definitely the javelin and the multi-event,” Ards said.
Barreira has similar expectations for herself this season and doesn’t see why she can’t finish in the top eight in the conference championship meet.
However, one thing that Barreira will continue to do this season is motivate her teammates.
“She is really, really motivated,” Ards said. “Whether it is in watching video, races, sprinting, hurdling technique — she always wants to get better, she is studying to get better.”
Above all, Barriera is just looking to improve in her meets this year and make her journey worthwhile.
“PRing is always the goal, getting a PR in whatever event,” Barreira said. “My coaches just want me to improve.”
Reach the reporter at jzaklis@gmail.com and follow @JoshZaklis on Twitter.
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