Boston College Athletics
Tsvetelina Dureva: From Bulgaria to Boston College
October 19, 2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2011
As she walked out of the gate at Logan International Airport, Tsvetelina Durevacried. This wasn't how her first trip to America was supposed to go.
She had already experienced a three-hour flight delay and her luggage had been lost in transit from her home in Bulgaria. Worst of all, she couldn't speak any English, didn't have a cell phone and didn't know where she was going or who she was supposed to meet.
Luckily, the head volleyball coach at the time, Andrea Leonard, found her star recruit and whisked her off to campus before anything else bad could happen.
It was an inauspicious beginning for senior Dureva to be sure, but not one that would rattle her. Sure, she knew all along that it would be challenging to adapt to American culture, but she had experienced a similar transition when she moved to Sofia, the capital and largest city in Bulgaria, from her hometown of Razlog, a small town of little more than 13,000 nestled in the mountains of the southwest.
The move to Sofia, like the move to Boston, was driven by a desire to play volleyball. Dureva, along with one of her closest friends, had been recruited by the club team Zvezdi 94 and their small town was far from a volleyball hotbed. With her parents' blessing, Dureva moved to the capital city at age 13, where she would live alone in an apartment with only her friend.
"It was just us in the apartment living the life, no parental control, no anything," Dureva said, with a laugh. "It is not very traditional to do that back home, as well as here. I ask my mother how she let me go there at 13 years old. But she said she believed in me and knew that I was a responsible person and that's why she let me go. My parents told me that this was the best thing to do because where we lived in my little town there was no future for me to develop as a volleyball player."
As it turns out, Dureva's future was bright. Playing on an undersized and competitive team that relished its role as the quintessential underdog, she contributed to a national championship and saw her team finish in the top five all five of her years on the team. She established herself as an offensive threat, proved her skills at the vital outside hitter position and also learned to be independent and take care of herself.
When the recruiting letters started coming in, Dureva was faced with a choice that would profoundly affect her American experience. Even though she originally wanted to go to school in Florida or New York, she found herself drawn to the idea of living in Boston, even though she couldn't really explain why. It was "just a feeling," but one that would convince her to commit to Boston College without visiting it once.
That brings Dureva back to that moment in Logan International and all of the challenges she would face in her first years. Despite her experience in Sofia, moving so far from home is always a challenge, especially when it involves a cultural shift.
"I get really attached to certain things, like home," she explained. "So it was really hard to transition to Sofia, and that's why it was hard for me to come here, as well, because I feel so homesick all the time. I get used to living somewhere, and then I have to move somewhere else, and then I have to move somewhere else again.
"I feel like I had a rough first two years. I was really, really homesick, and I found it really hard to adapt to the culture here because it's so different. Every single aspect of life is completely different. But as time progressed, I found more friends and I found my spot in the whole environment."
With the help of her teammates, who would often order for her in restaurants, explain drills in practice and help her take notes in class, Dureva endured her difficult first semester at BC. As she began to grasp English, her grades dramatically improved, landing her on the All-ACC Academic Team and ACC Honor Roll multiple times. As she opened up, she made new friends and slowly began to embrace BC's culture.
As all of this was happening, Dureva was establishing herself as a vital team member on the court, despite the transition from a more technique-based European game to a power-oriented American one. As an outside hitter, she was expected to deliver in the clutch, as the setters will go to the outside because it is considered the safest option. She flourished in BC's up-tempo style, recording many kills on the attack by taking advantage of her opponents' inability to close the block quickly enough.
Last year, she added her name to BC's record book, finishing with 372 kills which is 10th all-time for a single season. While she is known primarily for her offensive talent and aggressiveness, Dureva's consistently high number of digs points to her defensive ability. She was third on the team with 254 digs last season and is currently fourth on the team with 123. Even though she says that defense is the weakest part of her game, her ability to get into the right position and predict her opponent's moves have led to her success.
In the end, Dureva's talent has paved the way for her to play on high level teams, but it has been her love for the sport that has sustained her even during the difficult times of transition.
"It's such a big part of me because I've been playing volleyball since seventh grade and I honestly can't imagine my life without it," she said. "It will be really weird when I finish my season in a month and I won't be able to play volleyball ever again."
Written by Jen Dobias
