Desi Wilson: English version

When I first met Desi, she was celebrating with her teammates the victory of the Cev Cup. I can't remember how we entered into conversation, but my first thought was: wow, she is such an outgoing person! It can't be the same one who only a few minutes ago was so focused and aggressive on court. “Yes, on court and off I am very different. When I play I'm very concentrate, serious and quite aggressive, but off courts I transform myself; I like joking around all the times, I don't take me so much seriously and I'm very out going and easy going. The word that would describe me best is “crazy”....but not in a negative way. I love playing jokes to everyone, and, I have to admit, sometimes I have a very bad mouth”. When Desi speaks you can really sense and feel her energy and radiance, the very same brightness and vitality that one thinks belong to Fiji, Desi's birthplace. “I was born in Fiji and I speak perfectly Fijian. Makare, my real name, means “Clear Water” in my the local language. Now for everyone I am Desi, the short form of Desilet, my family name. I have still part of my family in Fiji and I think that everyone knows me there as I'm the only professional player from those islands. It's the most beautiful place in the world. What I miss the most from those lands is food. You know, food is very important to me” she tells me laughing. “In Fiji we eat a mix of everything, from fish to pork, and I think that now I can eat everything as I am so used to this mixture of food. It's difficult to describe as it is very different from everything you have in Italy or Europe...we eat the same things as pork or fish, but we simply prepare them in a different way. A typical ingredient I like very much is curry: in Fiji we had a lot of Indian influence in the past and so their cuisine has been adapted and has become part of our tradition as well. Moreover, I really love “Lovo”, that is a specific way of cooking food. We use this technique everywhere in the different islands. In Fijian, “Lovo” means “earth oven”. The basic concept involves burying meat, fish or vegetables underground along with hot coals or a similar source of heat. We dig a pit and then we put stones inside and around and we set a fire. When the stones are warm you can cook any kind of wrapped food on it by covering everything with a blanket. The only inconvenient is that it takes nearly four hours to cook your food with “Lovo”, but you could use it everywhere, even here in Urbino if it wasn't so cold”. The link with her home land is so strong that she named her daughter after one of the islands of Fiji: “My daughter's name is Wakaya like a small island of Fiji. My father used to bring there my brother and myself on holidays when we were little and I have been alway fascinated by that place. Now, some friends of mine manage the island and it is a place where movie stars often go. Some years ago, for instance Pierce Brosnam was there. It is quite an exclusive place. At that time, I wanted an exotic name for my daughter, something special for her, not normal...as she is not a “normal” girl and so the name is perfect for her”. Now Wakaya is 8 years old and lives in California: Desi goes back home every summer, but she misses her daughter very much: “the distance is very hard for both of us. I try not to think about it too much though, otherwise I wouldn't be able to focus on my work. I think you have to get a bit numb to the situation. We talk a lot through Skype: it's great as she has become older now and so she can express better her thoughts and feelings. It's nearly time for me to stop playing volleyball and watch her playing. At this moment I'm not pushing her to anything: she is eight years old and she does what she likes”. But it looks like that the girl is following the very same steps that brought Desi to become the great athlete she is now: “My mum was actually a volleyball player and she played for the national team of Fiji. I started there with her when I was very very young and I was following her to practice and to the matches. When she was playing, I was always around her crying, grabbing her legs and asking when we could go home and that I had enough of volley. It's kind of funny as right now I'm living the same situation with my daughter. Now, in fact, it's Wakaya that steps in the court and tells me that she wants to go home and that she is tired. When I was her age I was not pressured towards volley: I tried many other sports such as track, basketball, swimming...volley was something that came easy for me and when I started playing I simply couldn't stop anymore. It's something that is in my blood and that I love doing”. If maybe volleyball was in her DNA thanks to her mother, there is another person that Desi wants to thank for becoming a professional player “beside my mum, if there is a person I should thank, this is my stepfather. Sure, every coach influenced me and my game, in their own way, but without my stepfather I wouldn't have become a professional player. You know, with the situation I had in my family, we were only my mum, my sister and I; it's amazing as this man came in our family and played an important part in my career: he always supported me in my decisions, he was the one who brought me to trainings and to competitions, and finally he helped me to enter the team of Washington University. Not to mention the fact that it was him who taught me the values and the discipline in sport. I owned a lot to him”. Thus, in 1994, at the age of 18, Desi leaves the beautiful shores of Fiji to land in Washington, Canada. “At that time I was awarded a scholarship to play for Washington University in Canada. I was very lucky because there I had the chance to learn how to play volleyball professionally. Then, I was capped by the national team. Playing for your country is a great honor, but the only problem was that they made me play in position four and not middle. Actually, I don't know what they were thinking because I had never played in that position before. Maybe they thought that as I could jump very high, I could fit perfectly in that position; but unluckily, as I learned on my skin, jumping is not the only skill you need to play as a spiker”. With her positive attitude, Desi made the best of a bad job. “Playing in that position helped me to become a much more versatile player though”. Thus, after a couple of years in the national selection, the future middle of Chateau D'Ax Urbino moved to Reggio Emilia, Italy, to play in her first professional team.”Italy had a lot to offer to me, from volley to culture and history. And sure, food: Urbino staff talks about it every time. They constantly talk about how amazing Italy is. It's funny but they are absolutely right”. However, in 2001, after a good season, Desi decided to stop playing for two years: “I decided to stop as I was married and I had just had my daughter, so I couldn't play off season anymore. At that time a good friend of mine, Tyra Turner, started playing beach volley and needed a partner. She wanted to play and so she asked me to join her: I liked the idea as I could stay in America and play. I accepted and it really went good for both of us: we played for the professional tour (the AVP) and also for the FIVB”. Desi went back to indoor volley in 2006, when she flew to Turkey to play with Telekom Ankara. “ I really liked Turkey as it was a great surprise for me. Normally, people are worried about muslim culture especially in the States; but I loved living there: people are very friendly and they aren't what I had expected at all. They are very westernized and Turkish society is a huge mix where there's not such a great separation between poor and reach”. The following season, she moved again, this time to reach Russia: “Every culture is extremely different. For me playing in so different countries is an extraordinary experience, as I love traveling and getting in touch with different languages and different cultures. There are pros and cons, sure, but all of them were great experiences for me. In Russia, my team was located nearly next to Siberia...actually it was 30 kilometers away from the Chinese borders. No doubt that it was a great change for me. Despite the cold, I was fortunate to be in a great club and a great society. My teammates, in fact, made my staying great. Girls in Russia are huge, I couldn't believe how huge they were at the beginning...I think there must be something in the Vodka they drink”. And ultimately, in 2009, the Fijian middle blocker made her second appearance in the Italian championship, this time with the Spes Conegliano: “ That season was horrible both for me and the club. It was an unfortunate situation because on the paper we had a good team, not so good to win the championship but good enough not to finish last. After such a bad season, you have simply to look forwards and hope for a better one next year”. And Desi's hope were more than fulfilled. During the summer, Urbino looked for her and offered the Fijian player a role as a first-string middle blocker. “I was shocked actually, because after last season I thought that I would have never played again in the Italian league. Besides, Conegliano was my first time in Italy since I had left in 2001; until that point, I had only played in Russia and Turkey, and so nobody really knew me here. I was sure that after that performance in Conegliano no Italian team would dare to call me. Instead Urbino did. I was shocked and at the same time very thankful”. At the court of coach Salvagni, Desi found the right atmosphere to recoup her career and to write an historical leg in the history of the Italian cup by winning the Cev Cup. “I mean, just winning two matches in a row after the previous season was for me a success. My family teases at me for this reason as they were saying: “you have already won 4 matches in a row..wow... you can stop playing now!”. Playing the Cev cup for the first time and winning it was absolutely fantastic. I'm very excited for my club as we have the chance to play for other great results this season. I really like my team and our staff: i can't say enough good things about this club and all the people that work with us”. The peak of this season for the little Italian society has been the Cev Cup, but Desi and teammates have been able to reach the fourth position in the Italian league. So, what is the secret of this success? “I think that there's no secret at all. We're a very closed group of girls. It's like we are the pieces of a puzzle who simply match perfectly together. There's not one superstar in our team; there's no one player more important than the others. Everybody knows her role and is happy with it. We are just working well together”. Watching her playing, you may say that the Fijian native is one of the leaders of this team, but she does not see it in this way: “I don't know if I really have a role in the team as every person takes something different from you. All I can say is that I try to give my best every match: I try to do what my coach asks me to do and what I am supposed to do at my best. That' s the only thing I am worry about: just having my job done. Along with it if I have a good influence to my teammates I am happy with it, but it's not a role”. Her steal determination and the right environment helped Desi to reach the first position as the best middle-blocker of the Italian league with 232 points in 19 matches and 54 blocks. And the season has not finished yet. “At this point I would say that blocking is my strongest point, definitely. I have improved a lot during this season. I'm doing very good in this part of my game. Instead I think I have still to improve a lot of things. As I have switched position to the middle, last year it was the first time I played so much behind the setter and so I feel I have to improve my run and movements. It's still a new position for me”. A lesson of humility and professionalism for everyone who may think that the best player in her role has something to improve. And there is no surprise of such a thought from a players who has just finished to read Tolstoy's “War and Peace”: “During my free time I love reading. I have just finished “War and Peace” by Tolstoy: not a very light reading, let me tell you. Many people talked about this book, so I told to myself “lets me see what it is about”. I won't never ask this again, trust me. Actually, I read a bit of everything, but my favorite books are the old classics”. Like water can penetrate even in the most narrows cracks and is always in movement, so Makare lives her life and sees her future: “as far as volleyball goes, I think that I am going to play for another two years – although I have been saying that for five years by now – and then stop. I want to finish strong: i don't want to finish when I'm at the bottom of the pack. My wish is finishing when I'm still at the top and with a good club, one I have a good connection with. Personally, I'd like to start a new path, a new career, something I can get so passionate as volleyball. I hope that it won't be something connected to volley either because at this point of my life I think I have learnt all what you have to know about it. I want to educate myself in something different”.