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(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos of Kamilla Cardoso: G Fiume/ Getty, Jacob Kupferman / Getty)
Kamilla Cardoso arrived at the airport about three days after her 15th birthday.
All of her friends from her hometown in Brazil had come with her for a makeshift sendoff party. So had her former basketball coaches, along with, of course, her mother, Janete Soares, and her older sister, Jessica Silva.
When it came time to say goodbye, Cardoso knew that if she bid farewell to everyone in her circle individually, she’d start crying. So she said an all-encompassing group goodbye to her friends and coaches — ‘Bye everybody! I love y’all!,’ she sang in Portuguese. She saved the final minutes before boarding for her mother and sister.
The three of them had always been so close in Montes Claros. Like most younger sisters, Cardoso enjoyed tagging along to Silva’s various sports practices. And like any parent, Soares had questions galore when her baby floated the idea of moving 4,000-plus miles away — solo — to play high school basketball in Tennessee with hopes of eventually pursuing a WNBA career. Would Cardoso be secure and cared for? Would she have people to support her? Was this plan trustworthy?
“OK,” an emotional Cardoso told Soares and Silva on that 2016 day, bracing herself to board. “I’ve gotta go. Otherwise, I won’t be able to get on this plane.”
As Cardoso found her seat for the flight from Montes Claros to her connection in San Paulo, she did not know when she might see her family again. She was headed to Chattanooga, Tenn., to play for coach Keisha Hunt at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, where Hunt had a reputation of developing top grassroots and high school talent, eventually including Cardoso’s now-teammate at South Carolina, guard Raven Johnson. It was the right call, Cardoso knew — but heart-wrenching, nonetheless.
On the second leg of her trip, a 10-hour flight from Sao Paulo to Atlanta, Cardoso cried again. She fretted about knowing only three words in English: “Hi,” “Yes” and “Bye.” Four, if she counted “McDonald’s.” She worried about how homesick she knew she’d be.
“Now look at her,” Hunt said earlier this month, about eight years later. “I’m just so proud of her.”
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South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso’s 4,000-mile journey to the top
