The Temple volleyball team is no stranger to recruiting and developing international athletes. The team currently has four individuals from overseas, and a long-standing history of international players.Â
Dincer playing in her home country of Turkey
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This year, however, the coaching staff and operations teams have had to rewrite their roadmap of getting international student athletes to Philadelphia. Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam, discussed the volatility in saying "it was a very different year than normal, there were a lot of restrictions regarding travel, embassies were closed, but like every challenge you face you just have to be creative and find solutions."
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Ilyada Dincer, a freshman from Ankara, Turkey, experienced the difficulties of this process first hand.
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Dincer always knew that she wanted to play collegiate volleyball in a United States city. Through a mutual connection between Dincer and Ganesharatnam, she was able to narrow her sights on Temple. "We had seen her play before because Coach Akiko (Hatakeyama) was in Europe recruiting before we directly contacted Ilyada," said Ganesharatnam.
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Dincer committed to Temple University during the early stages of the global pandemic back in May. At this point, "I was very worried that I was not going to get my visa in time to be with the girls when the season starts" she said.
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Following Dincer's commitment, the focus quickly turned to being able to obtain a visa for her to join the team prior to a potential 2020 fall season. With embassies closed, and countless travel restrictions, the coaching staff and athletic department had to pull strings and even talk with a member of Congress, in order to get her visa processed.
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"Ultimately, we were able to get in contact with the embassy in which Ilyada applied through" explained Ganesharatnam.
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Dincer explained that she "was not expecting" to receive her visa so quickly provided the circumstances. However, with a visa in hand, she was able to make her journey to Temple, and it lived up to her expectations. "When I first got here I was so impressed by the city, I love it," said Dincer.
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The process of joining team activities proved frustrating for the freshman. The team had already been in the full swing of events. However, with her arrival, she needed to yield negative COVID-19 test results along with a quarantine period.
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Dincer explained that when she was finally able to join her new teammates the experience was nothing short of amazing. "It was great, I did not struggle when I started because the girls were so helpful," she said.
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With everything that has transpired over the past seven months for Dincer, the eyes are still on her first competition, whenever that may be.
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Ganesharatnam is in agreement and explained this in saying "for us the safety of the student athletes and staff is first, but if we are able to get back to normalcy we are really just looking forward to competing, traveling, being at the airport and watching film together, those are the things that bond the team together."
