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somebody who was successful,” Sediva said. “She was a nice person, and
that helped a lot.”
The journey went well until the U-23 European Championships held
in Finland four years ago. After training with the national team in South
Africa and the Canary Islands—and enjoying the adventures—she felt
ready for the U-23 meet, but wound up struggling.
As she and her coach walked out of the stadium, tears in her eyes, she
bumped into Jack, who obviously wanted to continue Tech’s success in
the throwing events. He stood there waiting, looking past her struggles
and instead seeing her form and loving her potential. He offered her an
intriguing option—the potential of coming to school in the United States
and competing.
“Not at all,” Jack said when asked if the poor performance deterred
him. “You could see that she had the talent. Sometimes, you just need a
new location and a new outlook.”
Viewing Jack’s presence as a sign, Sediva decided to take himup on his
offer, enrolling for classes in the spring of 2014.
“I kind of had always wanted to come to the U.S., but I never had the
courage, and I had a really good team back home, so it was hard to leave
it,” she said. “But after this competition, I thought, ‘Well, this is a sign.
This is the time to leave.’”
The decision meant leaving her beloved home. It also meant leaving
her parents and her brother and sister, both of whom are significantly
older. Her sister, 12 years her elder, served as a second mother to her. It
also meant leaving her nieces.
I
’m not that big of a fan of the game, but I
love the experience. I like the fans going
crazy for football, and all the action going
on around it. I love getting to know new
cultures, and going to a football game is
probably the biggest piece of American
culture that you can get.
Irena Sediva
on her
“Enter Sandman” experience
“
”
Continued on page 42
track & field spotlight
irene sediva