In 2022, Trinity San Antonio arrived on the Puerto Rico nationwide staff camp, the place her grandmother helped her achieve a real understanding of Puerto Rican tradition. (Photograph courtesy of GCU)
PHOENIX – Grand Canyon ladies’s basketball participant Trinity San Antonio nonetheless goals about indulging within the viral chocolate chip muffins from the Olympic Village.
Vital on her plate or in her fingers at each meal, the Puerto Rican guard cherished having fun with what many might solely expertise via social media.
Whereas the flavour of the American-inspired pastry one way or the other earned gold in a rustic well-known for its pastries, there was a deeper that means – past style – that made it her favourite a part of the Paris Olympics final summer season.
“It goes again to when my dad was little and he would go to the island and he simply received to expertise what it meant to be Puerto Rican. With the ability to forge my very own path and determine for myself what it means to really feel, establish and turn out to be Puerto Rican,” San Antonio mentioned. “That was the largest factor for me.”
San Antonio isn’t the one Valley-based athlete who lately proudly wore a jersey from her grandmother’s native nation on one in all sport’s highest phases.
Caprice Chiuchiolo, a Gilbert Christian highschool lady’s soccer participant, lately donned an Ecuador jersey in three group stage video games of the FIFA U-17 Girls’s World Cup.
Sporting the colours, flag and crest on the highest stage for the primary time because the lone participant who didn’t initially hail from Ecuador, Chiuchiolo discovered consolation in understanding that the nation can be supporting her.
This sense of assist – within the midst of coping with nerves – not solely eased her transition but additionally deepened her love for sporting the jersey and representing her nation.
All of it culminated with a decisive 4-0 win on Tuesday, the place Chiuchiolo scored two targets and earned Participant of the Match honors, securing a quarterfinal matchup with reigning champions Spain on Sunday. This adopted a 2-0 victory over the Dominican Republic within the opening recreation and a 4-0 loss to Nigeria within the second.
Sporting her Ecuador nationwide staff penny, GCU commit Caprice Chiuchiolo feels the unwavering assist of each her household and the Ecuadorian group regardless of the place she performs. (Photograph courtesy of Caprice Chiuchiolo)
“We all know we’ve got a number of folks cheering us on in Ecuador,” Chiuchiolo, a Grand Canyon-commit, mentioned previous to the World Cup. “They love soccer and so they all rally round us and the staff. Extra importantly, we all know that they’ll be ready for us once we come again dwelling as a result of we all know that it doesn’t matter what, the folks of Ecuador will all the time assist one another.”
As they share the expertise of representing their fathers’ heritage, GCU and competing on one of many greatest phases, they really feel extra related to their lineage than ever, regardless of dwelling a whole lot of miles from the nation they symbolize.
That, in itself, speaks to what it actually means to placed on their nation’s colours.
“It means every part,” San Antonio mentioned. “The whole lot about who I’m, about what I combat for, about my lineage, about my historical past. It’s a part of me.”
Born and raised in California, San Antonio remembers waking up as early as 5 a.m. to look at the 2012 London Olympics.
For her, receiving the knock – her coach knocking on the door at 9 p.m. in a lodge room in Spain for the Olympic Qualifiers – immediately led her to imagine she was getting minimize.
As soon as she was instructed she had made the staff, every part got here full circle.
“Nobody works tougher than T.T.,” GCU ladies’s basketball teammate Laura Erikstrup mentioned. “I wouldn’t say that about anybody apart from T.T. That lady is within the gymnasium 24/7, whether or not it’s seven within the morning or seven at night time. She lives within the gymnasium and works tougher than anybody I do know.”
When San Antonio was 18, she acquired an invite to the nationwide staff camp in Puerto Rico forward of the 2022 FIBA Girls’s Basketball World Cup in Australia.
Anticipating the identical end result to finally come her method because it did the night time she heard the knock, she approached observe with the mindset of constructing her teammates higher.
Even when she made the minimize, her method benefited her each on and off the courtroom.
“I used to be popping out of my freshman 12 months of faculty at California Baptist,” San Antonio mentioned. “I barely knew something about what it means to play for a staff like this or what it means to symbolize your nation. In order that was a extremely nice expertise.”
And it couldn’t have occurred with out her grandmother, who, when San Antonio arrived for the nationwide staff camp in Puerto Rico, gave her a real understanding of what the tradition is all about.
From taking her round San Juan and introducing her to her massive household, to Zumba classes within the morning and “hanging out with all of the abuelitas 24/7,” these experiences left an enduring affect.
Seeing her grandmother’s model of life and the way a lot it meant to her left San Antonio desperate to forge her personal path, motivating her greater than ever. San Antonio averaged 7.5 factors per recreation for a Puerto Rico squad that completed eighth within the ultimate standings. Puerto Rico confronted the previous back-to-back WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, at Colonial Life Enviornment in Columbia, South Carolina, final Might in preparation for the 2024 Olympics.
With nothing assured and the stakes even larger, San Antonio didn’t play your entire first quarter. Subbing in to start out the second, she made a right away affect, sinking a financial institution shot to open the quarter and completed with a team-high 10 factors.
Trinity San Antonio proudly represents Puerto Rico in her nationwide staff uniform in the course of the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Photograph courtesy of GCU)
“Humorous reality, I didn’t even shoot a ball earlier than we even began enjoying and through your entire warmup as a result of that they had a chapel,” San Antonio mentioned. “I simply keep in mind probably the most important factor for me was I walked in that room, Syd Colson, Alysha Clark, like folks that you simply’ve seen via a cellphone or on TV. I feel that was a confidence booster for me that it doesn’t matter what degree you get to, your basis nonetheless ought to keep the identical.
“I feel that not capturing a ball did me some justice, not going to lie.”
Along with guarding USA nationwide staff members Kelsey Plum and Jackie Younger, San Antonio knocked 6-foot-3 heart Megan Gustafson off stability to hit a fadeaway jumper, prompting her teammates to cheer, “Trin, you’re out right here hooping.”
Because the youngest member vying for a spot, making an enduring impression that night time was not nearly securing a spot on the staff; it represented one other alternative to forge deeper connections to her lineage and carve her personal path via one thing she loves.
There was no higher technique to obtain this than on the largest stage in all of sports activities.
“We’ve got an Olympian right here at GCU,” GCU ladies’s coach Molly Miller mentioned. “It’s wonderful. I feel she grew quite a bit. She was enjoying towards the most effective on the earth. So for her to not solely play towards that competitors, however even from a psychological standpoint. In recreation alternatives, off the courtroom alternatives, preparation alternatives, she’s actually grown quite a bit.
“For her to deliver that again to her teammates, it’s particular.”
Whether or not it was 2 a.m. or 11 a.m., Miller, Erikstrup and their households have been watching San Antonio and cheering her on, even pausing the TV for Miller’s children to take footage along with her within the background.
Whereas she anticipated assist from household, buddies and the group, the outpouring from Puerto Rico far surpassed something she had ever envisioned or anticipated.
“Earlier than we left, there was a stroll the place we walked via the town of San Juan the place we went to the governor’s workplace,” San Antonio mentioned. “We hand them the flag of Puerto Rico and all my teammates signed it. In any case, the quantity of assist in a second we would have liked saved us going. Then to see it in Paris, you don’t wish to cease combating. You don’t cease operating. You don’t cease enjoying exhausting. You might be lifeless drained, however you continue to are going to maintain going.
“You wish to do it for them simply as a lot as you wish to do it for your self.”
Earlier than Puerto Rico’s opening recreation on July 28 towards Serbia, coach Gerardo Batista gathered the staff, and in that second, the magnitude hit the squad’s youngest participant.
“I keep in mind coach was attempting to encourage us and simply remind us why we’re right here,” San Antonio mentioned. “Then, he mentioned we’re right here for that little island that we play for in our hearts. I actually broke down. I used to be crying. Everyone was like ‘the poor child.’ I used to be like, ‘you guys don’t perceive.’ This implies a lot extra to me than I feel folks notice.”
Regardless of shedding all three group video games to Spain, China and Serbia, and ending third on the staff in factors, rebounds, and assists per recreation, representing her nation had a far better affect on her off the courtroom.
“Feeling a bit faraway from my Puerto Rican lineage, this paved my method again to it,” San Antonio mentioned. “I’ll not likely have a Puerto Rican presence round me with my household being so far-off, however via this expertise I used to be capable of finding an outlet to get me again to myself and my tradition. That’s how highly effective representing your nation might be.
“Hopefully I get extra alternatives to play the Aces on a distinct staff, however most significantly, doing so with my title related to Puerto Rico.”
Chiuchiolo, who has been representing Ecuador since she was 14, acquired what she now views as a life-changing name from an unknown quantity that her father needed to translate.
Because it was an invite to symbolize the nation her father’s mom hails from, she instantly acknowledged the importance of the distinction, which has undoubtedly deepened for her through the years.
Gilbert Christian Excessive Faculty soccer participant Caprice Chiuchiolo, who has represented Ecuador since she was 14, acquired a life-altering name that led to her scoring the essential targets in Ecuador’s first U-17 World Cup qualification. (Photograph courtesy of Caprice Chiuchiolo)
“It’s an important honor to have the ability to symbolize my household in that method,” Chiuchiolo mentioned. “With the ability to play in a distinct tradition, talking a distinct language and studying extra about myself. It was loopy to consider at such a younger age and I had an thought of what it meant however by no means actually knew what it might do for me.”
Just like San Antonio’s pre-Olympics preparation, attending camps in Ecuador’s capital of Quito allowed Chiuchiolor to enhance her Spanish, expertise the breathtaking surroundings and savor the native delicacies.
Nevertheless, the second she actually understood what it meant to symbolize Ecuador got here on March 21.
After beating Bolivia, shedding to Chile and tying with Paraguay in Group A of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Qualifiers, Ecuador confronted Uruguay in a match that might decide who superior to the World Cup.
Historical past was made that night time, one Chiuchiolo describes as unforgettable.
Past scoring her first nationwide staff objective by faking out the goalkeeper after receiving a via ball to place Ecuador up 1-0, Chiuchiolo adopted it with an nearly inconceivable shot, curling the ball into the facet netting from exterior the proper nook of the penalty field – nearer to the endline than the nook itself.
Not solely did the 2 targets put Ecuador up 2-0 en path to a 4-2 victory, however additionally they helped the U-17 Ecuadorian staff qualify for the World Cup for the primary time.
“It was only a very emotional second for me as a result of I had been gone for thus lengthy,” Chiuchiolo mentioned. “With the ability to work my method up, as a result of that was the primary recreation I began, and contribute straight away in that recreation, it meant a lot to me. I knew my household and everybody was supporting me again dwelling and we’re all watching. However what actually made it emotional was seeing how a lot it meant to Ecuador.”
Together with her father’s household, together with uncles, aunts, cousins and her mom’s complete facet of the household in Ecuador, it wasn’t only a significant second for him – it meant much more to them.
“They have been like us however much more proud,” her father, Tony Chiuchiolo, mentioned. “It’s a dream come true for all of us. We have been all simply in awe and it’s so surreal that she’s representing Ecuador. I by no means anticipated it. We took it one step at a time. We’re so proud that she has this chance and she or he’s labored so exhausting to get it.
“I do know not solely are we going to be rooting for her on the World Cup, however all of the Ecuadorians are as properly. They’ve an important fan base and it simply exhibits what being Ecuadorian and representing your nation is all about.”
