{"id":343804,"date":"2025-12-12T05:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343804\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T05:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T05:58:12","slug":"csenge-krakoczkis-long-journey-from-hungary-to-the-united-states-the-argonaut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/343804\/","title":{"rendered":"Csenge\u00a0Krakoczki\u2019s\u00a0long\u00a0journey from Hungary to the United States\u00a0 \u2013 The Argonaut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Csenge\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0went from playing volleyball in a small town in Hungary to receiving over\u00a0 90 emails from junior colleges and universities. This gave her a multitude of opportunities\u00a0before she landed at the University of Idaho. <\/p>\n

After accepting her offer, she\u00a0showed\u00a0up\u00a0after never coming to the states and\u00a0adapted\u00a0to the new life of\u00a0being\u00a0a student college athlete.\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0is from\u00a0a very small\u00a0town in Hungary called\u00a0Komarom, which is right on the border\u00a0of Slovakia. This was\u00a0a very small\u00a0town without many chances for\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0to pursue her\u00a0volleyball\u00a0dreams. She moved over to\u00a0Balatonfured, a city that is right next to a beautiful\u00a0lake with a population of 13,000 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krakoczki\u00a0was motivated to go play volleyball in\u00a0Balatonfured\u00a0after a coach had gone to\u00a0one of her games and chosen to invite her to come watch the volleyball team play in the\u00a0city and\u00a0take a look\u00a0at the school.\u00a0After she saw it, it was the next part of her journey to go\u00a0play for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krakockzi\u00a0had played on a club volleyball team while she was living in her hometown of\u00a0Komarom, and when she moved to play more serious volleyball,\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0joined the\u00a0school\u00a0team, which\u00a0was more like high school volleyball than club.\u00a0What made her want to\u00a0come play\u00a0volleyball in the United States,\u00a0after never having\u00a0traveled there, was when she was promoted from the smaller team to the adult team in\u00a0Balatonfured.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Krakoczki\u00a0said,\u00a0\u201cAfter that, I think that\u00a0maybe I\u00a0want to work more, and I had a lot of international players in\u00a0the team, and I thought that I want to\u00a0go\u00a0also\u00a0some other country and try it and\u00a0maybe\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0working. And I really love it here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The recruiting process for her was a lot different than a volleyball player from the states.\u00a0Since she lived in Hungary, she had to hire a company, and they created highlight videos for\u00a0her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was a lot of hype around her before she even stepped into the states. When choosing\u00a0Idaho, she said she talked with\u00a0head\u00a0coach\u00a0Romana\u00a0Kriskova\u00a0and liked her since she was nice, and that she\u00a0spoke with some of the players as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The players she talked to told her\u00a0the team\u00a0was\u00a0nice and\u00a0so was the campus.\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0started looking at the college\u00a0through\u00a0some pictures and\u00a0looking\u00a0on\u00a0Google\u00a0Maps.\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0talked about the school and campus and how much she appreciates how nice\u00a0people are and that it was\u00a0really weird\u00a0for her at first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked with my mom, and I said I really love\u00a0the school. And she asked,\u00a0\u2018You are sick?\u2019\u00a0Because\u00a0I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0love the school in Hungary, but here, I like it,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Setter Csenge\u00a0Krakoczki attempts to block the ball in senior night match versus Sacramento State | Aubrey Sharp | Argonaut<\/p>\n

The transition from America was hard for her as well since she had to learn English, with\u00a0Hungarian being her first language. Two years\u00a0ago,\u00a0when she decided she wanted to come\u00a0to the United States, she learned and studied more English.\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0flew to Los Angeles, and spent a few days there with her teammate, and it was\u00a0hard for her at first. After a while,\u00a0it got easier for\u00a0her,\u00a0and people told her that she\u00a0got\u00a0better\u00a0and better every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since arriving from Hungary,\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0has had a culture shock,\u00a0but\u00a0is enjoying her time so far in the U.S.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the\u00a0car\u2019s\u00a0really big\u00a0here.\u00a0[In]\u00a0Hungary,\u00a0we\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0really use trucks, so it was really\u00a0different. And the\u00a0stores,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0so\u00a0weird\u00a0that I can find everything in one store. And the packs\u00a0are big, are\u00a0huge,\u201d\u00a0she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krakoczki\u00a0is currently studying hospitality and tourism and takes a nutrition class as well,\u00a0which\u00a0has been interesting\u00a0for\u00a0her. She\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0decide yet which one is better. She wants to\u00a0travel\u00a0a little bit and potentially play professional volleyball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Setter Csenge\u00a0Krakoczki sets the ball up in the air towards one of her teammates | Colton Moore | Argonaut<\/p>\n

One of the main differences,\u00a0according to\u00a0Krakoczki,\u00a0between\u00a0the U.S. and Europe when it comes to\u00a0volleyball is the style and pace of play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0games are\u00a0really fast,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI think in Hungary\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0more slower, or in Europe,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0slower and some rules\u00a0[are]\u00a0different.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krakoczki\u00a0lives with her teammates\u00a0and her\u00a0two dogs,\u00a0Pindi and Maji,\u00a0and has\u00a0enjoyed\u00a0Moscow so far.\u00a0When they are not on the volleyball court,\u00a0they\u00a0go out and do\u00a0fun things after games or practice. She knew some\u00a0people before moving to America, and with 11 new people on the volleyball team this year,\u00a0it has been a huge change for the whole team.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0arriving,\u00a0she\u00a0has grown a\u00a0lot\u00a0and practice\u00a0has helped her.\u00a0The first few games were\u00a0really different, and it was so new that she felt\u00a0like she wasn\u2019t playing\u00a0good,\u00a0but now it has improved a lot for\u00a0her. Krakoczki\u00a0said she wants to stay here for four years and\u00a0help turn the Vandals around.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast\u00a0year, I heard it was not that good. I think this year\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0better, and I hope the next year\u00a0will be\u00a0better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Krakoczki\u00a0has a very bright future ahead of her and will go into next year with high hopes for\u00a0the Idaho Vandals Volleyball team. The\u00a0relatively all-new team will go into next year with a\u00a0year\u00a0of experience and chemistry, giving\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0the support she needs to\u00a0thrive.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Csenge\u00a0Krakoczki\u00a0went from playing volleyball in a small town in Hungary to receiving over\u00a0 90 emails from junior colleges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,44163,172130,90350,3,172131,21,19,22,20,25,24,9222],"class_list":{"0":"post-343804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-big-sky","10":"tag-csenge-krakoczki","11":"tag-idaho-vandals","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-romana-kriskova","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-volleyball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}