Emanuely de Oliveira and UF women's basketball coach Cam Newbauer embrace when de Oliveira returned to campus last week. (Photo: Sam Stolte/UAA Communications)
The Waiting (Is Over): Emanuely de Oliveira Faced Exhausting Ordeal
Saturday, June 19, 2021 | Women's Basketball, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The day Emanuely de Oliveira said goodbyes to her teammates and coaches on the University of Florida women's basketball team in March 2020, no one knew for certain when they would see each other again.
The onset of the global coronavirus pandemic in the United States had shut down the Gators' season, closed classrooms, created political chaos and sent Oliveira home to her native Brazil to wait out the storm. Oliveira realized she wasn't going home for a week or two, but at the time, youthful optimism ruled the day.
"I took clothes to stay two months, three months max,'' she said this week. "It got to December and I'm like, 'I'm still here.' I'm not patient at all and I had to be. Sometimes at the beginning, I would get mad and angry and frustrated. I would talk to my mom. She is really patient. I definitely learned to be patient and just wait, because I couldn't do anything about it."
In the ensuing months, as the U.S. adjusted to life during the pandemic and safety protocols were developed to allow college athletics and other normal activities to resume, Oliveira attempted to return to the states to prepare for the start of her junior season. However, the COVID-19 crisis had invaded Brazil and forced lockdowns and closed government offices. In a country that has its share of political and cultural turmoil, the pandemic created more instability than usual. According to Reuters, Brazil's death toll from COVID-19 is expected to pass 500,000 on Saturday, the highest recorded official death toll outside the U.S., which has a population approximately 119 million greater than Brazil.
Oliveira's newfound patience proved to be a blessing. She was not coming back to Florida anytime soon.
Despite repeated efforts to get a visa to return to the states – Oliveira said she made 18 appointments online that were canceled because the government offices were shut down – she found herself stuck in her hometown of Criciúma, a city of about 220,000 residents in the state of Santa Catarina in the southeastern part of the country.
Gators guard/forward Emanuely de Oliveira in action against Georgia before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the 2019-20 season in March 2020. (Photo: Logan White/UAA Communications)
She continued to take her UF classes online, but while her teammates and coaches reconvened in late summer to begin preparing for the altered 2020-21 season, Oliveira was left resigned to make the best of a difficult situation. A guard/forward who began to crack the regular rotation as a sophomore, Oliveira found solace in the fact she was around her parents and stepparents for the first time in more than three years.
And her older brother, Natán, her playing partner growing up.
Natán, 23, is two years older than Emanuely. They played mostly soccer together before Emanuely turned to basketball and earned a spot on the Under-15 and -17 Brazilian national teams. Soon, Natán began to play the game and left home to play point guard for a club team in another part of Brazil.
These days, Natán is back in their hometown studying and working to become a physical therapist. Emanuely's time home gave the two an opportunity to reunite after several years apart.
"It was a special time,'' Natán said this week on a Zoom call from Brazil. "We were away from each for so long, being able to help her practice, for me, it was really a great time. We have a great relationship as brother and sister."
To stay in shape and work on her skills, Emanuely would often rely on the help of Natán during 6 a.m. shooting sessions before he went to work. He would rebound and defend on the days when the government lockdown allowed local parks and courts to be open.
"At the beginning, we could not leave, just for specific stuff if we really had to,'' Emanuely said. "By December, we could go out to park and all, wearing a mask. We could be out until a certain time." Emanuely de Oliveira is all smiles behind her face covering as she returns to UF for the first time since March 2020 earlier this month. (Photo: Sam Stolte/UAA Communications)
After coming to the U.S. to finish high school and play basketball at a prep academy in Utah, Oliveira made a recruiting visit to Florida. She told herself she would not commit to any school on an official visit, but the UF campus and the Gators hooked her. When she finished her senior year at the Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, Oliveira came directly to Florida to begin college, the start of the longest stretch of her life without returning home.
As the Gators reunited last year and started the season, Oliveira stayed in contact with coaches and teammates via Zoom. The team's video coordinator would upload the team's games to a streaming service so she could watch replays of the games.
During one game, Oliveira noticed a cardboard cutout of her on the bench, a symbol that she still belonged on the team.
"It was weird, but I really liked it,'' she said. "It was hard not being here. I was sad. I was definitely sad. There's some stuff that we can't really think much about. We just have to go through it. I think what made the year good was just being able to be with my family.
"But the whole year was hard. Everything would go to normal for a week or two weeks, and then back to lockdown. It's still like that."
Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, Criciúma and other small towns in Brazil have experienced a rash of gang robberies and violence more common in the country's larger cities. The chaos in her normally sleepy hometown made headlines around the world.
"It was a surreal scene,'' Clésio Salvaro, Criciúma's mayor, said in a televised interview in December according to the New York Times. "The city was left in a state of panic."
Still, Oliveira said that other than being forced to remain inside for long stretches due to government restrictions during the pandemic, her family has fared well over the last 16 months. She said three members of her immediate family contracted COVID-19 but have recovered.
As recently as two months ago, Oliveira remained uncertain of when she could return to the U.S. Finally, the government offices reopened in early May and an appointment to get her visa actually held. While at the meeting, she was told she was cleared to return whenever she wanted.
"She was happy,'' Natán said. "She was also a little worried, leaving her family here. I understood she had to leave for something bigger. She was happy and anxious to come back and play."
For her long-awaited return, Oliveira had to make a four-hour drive with family from her hometown to a larger city to catch a flight to São Paulo, where after she landed there, she boarded a flight to New York. Once in New York, she caught a connection to Orlando, and finally, got a ride back to Gainesville on June 10.
When Oliveira arrived at the team's practice facility – 453 days after she headed home to Brazil – head coach Cam Newbauer and assistant coach Kelly Rae Finley greeted her at the door with big hugs.
— Gators Women's Basketball (@GatorsWBK) June 11, 2021
Newbauer wanted to see her face from behind the mask Oliveira wore.
"Good to have you back,'' he said.
Oliveira continues the transition back to life in the states and the UF campus. She said it feels strange to have renewed freedom and not to have to wear a mask everywhere you go. The workouts and weightlifting are a different kind of adjustment.
Still, after what she has been through, there is nowhere else Oliveira would rather be.
"It feels like I'm a freshman again,'' she said. "It made me see that I really want to be here and play. I'm just trying to get back and just help the team as much as I can, because last year I couldn't."
