"This country is amazing, though I would just change the climate sometimes" - After having lived on three continents, Dorottya Szilágyi is now training at home for competition.

"I was quite small in South Africa, so I mainly remember the local fauna, which I found very interesting, we went back on a safari when I was about twenty to relive the memories," says Dorottya, the daughter of the water polo coach Péter Szilágyi. - “In New Zealand, however, I took part in my first pool trainings at the age of six, and my father became my trainer, because we lived in those places as he worked there. In the meantime, I also tried other sports: I played netball, which is similar to basketball and is very popular there, and I also did gymnastics. I arrived in Australia after a detour in Hungary as a ten-year-old, so it was perhaps the most significant places in my childhood. Here, in addition to other sports, I also picked up diving, though, after an injury, I had to decide which sport to give my full energy without endangering the others. I chose water polo, but at the age of fourteen I also stopped that for a while.”

At first she was quiet

It might have been a kind of adolescent rebellion for Dorka to spend her time with her grammar school friends for two years instead of her earlier two training sessions a day, sometimes going running to maintain her rhythm. She says that those two, more relaxed years, were necessary for her later success just because the variety broke the monotony of competitive sports, for her then, still very young, self. She then rediscovered her long-unseen love, water polo. At that time, events around her accelerated as, at the age of sixteen she was invited to play in Dunaújváros, Hungary - her future coach, Attila Mihók, travelling to Australia to personally convince her of the benefits of switching and moving. The athlete, who had previously been invited to the Australian national team of her age group, also sought the advice of her sister, with whom she had been playing water polo for many years and, finally embarked on the great adventure, packed up and came home.

"The transition was not smooth, because, before, we only spoke Hungarian in our home and used English everywhere else”.

“For months, I barely dared to speak Hungarian here at home. I talked almost only to my American teammates because it bothered me that others laughed at my accent. Even if they didn’t do it out of malice, just finding it cute how I expressed myself and pronounced the words. To build my self-confidence, I had to watch lots of Hungarian films and read in Hungarian, although I only made slow progress with books in Hungarian rather than in English. In the long run, it also helped that communication took place in Hungarian in the changing room, so I got used to it,” Dorottya recalls the difficulties of integration. She then went through Hungarian national teams of different ages and has been playing in the adult national team since 2017. She has medals and near-medal results, but an outstanding success - big international finals, or even a win at one - is still missing from her collection. So she has motivation for the years to come.

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Dorottya Szilágyi with her father, Péter Szilágyi

Now she at home in Hungary

The coming period does not seem easy for the family because, although her father, Péter, returned home as a coach and Dorka as an athlete, her Hungarian mother and sibling still live in Australia. The story of the latter - Victoria, eighteen months older than Dorottya, is also extraordinary. After stopping active sports, she was studying to be a psychologist at one of the best universities in Western Australia, but her first child was born before she graduated, so she ‘chose’ motherhood. Because of her little girl’s allergies, she started working on the topic of healthy eating, so she became an influencer in that area, selling her own hand made – ‘all-free’ – products, and managing companies’ social sites. She lives with her family, in Margaret River, on a farm where stray animals, such as kangaroos, are also taken in and adopted out. In her spare time, Victoria also paints.

"Normally we meet once or twice a year; I usually spend Christmas in Australia and they mostly come to Hungary in the summer," says the water polo player, who also spent some time playing in the Eger team in Hungary, before returning to Dunaújváros. -

Interestingly, as a teenager, we weren’t the closest of sisters, although now I look up to my sister as my role model and, of course, now that we live so far apart, we value each other highly and we miss each other.

Maybe the distance was necessary for that as, when I was a teenager, I also needed a break from water polo before I could start loving it again. And where is my real home? After moving, I went home to Australia for a few years, but now that has changed and, for a long time, I have felt I am at home in Hungary. I am also planning my future here although, if it were up to me, I would swap the two countries’ climates. When winter comes to Hungary and the days get shorter and colder, I miss the continuous sunshine of Australia. Summer is everything to me, though, of course I have managed to adapt to the weather here.”

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Dorottya Szilágyi

Bad things don't affect her

Of course, Dorka still misses her mother a lot. The last time she saw her was in January, when she travelled home to support her at the European Championships in Budapest. Last year, and this year too, the Christmas trip is missing, with online contact being more in focus, especially during the epidemic even, as she says, her mom is her best friend. And she has got closer to her father, too, thanks to the fact that they worked together for two years in the Eger team where, at the time, Péter was second coach, though he since become the head coach. They also agreed not to talk about water polo at home, and there were no separate father-daughter conversations during the training sessions, but on the team bus, at joint lunches and dinners, it felt good to be together in the sports environment and to work toward the same goal. If the Eger club had not been forced this year to give up its best players for financial reasons, including Dorka - for whom it was important to continue training in a leading team in preparation for the Olympics, Péter would not have taken on the head coach position while his daughter was a member of the team. His daughter believes that the Hungarian national team will win the right to participate in the Olympics in the qualifying tournament due in early 2021, especially if her positive attitude is also shared by her team mates.

 "Perhaps that is what I brought with me from the countries where I was raised: the optimistic, smiling, happy outlook on life of Australians and New Zealanders."

“I feel like I am more naive than most Hungarians, I see the good in everything, I am not greatly influenced by bad things and I do not despair, whatever happens. I’m less sad or angry than my acquaintances, which obviously drives me forward in sports too. However, I’ve also become more realistic as, since I’ have lived here, I no longer believe so much in fairy tales. At the age of 16, I suddenly had to grow up; I remember my mom, at the last minute, showing me how to use a washing machine, for example. As much as I miss her, it is so good that so many of my relatives, my grandparents on both sides and my cousins, with whom I really enjoy spending time, live here, that is, in Eger. My partner plays basketball in Nyíregyháza, though compared to Australia, that is no distance and we manage to meet frequently. It's worth it because, with him, I can be an even better person. Anyway, this country is amazing. I love living here at home and moving back was the best decision of my life!