Victor Batista is living the BYU dream. He's getting an education, he met his wife in Provo and was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Oh, and not to mention, he's been named an All-American and won a national championship. While things may be going great so far for the Dominican Republic-born Batista, the dream didn't start out so smoothly. Arriving in Provo in January 2004, Batista was less than prepared when he stepped off the plane.
"It was cold because I came in the winter," he recalled. "I didn't even have a coat. All I had was a thin jacket. I didn't know what college life in the states would be like, let alone that it would be cold and snowy. I knew nothing about it."
The cold and snow were the least of his problems. When he started school, Batista's grasp on the English language was equivalent to that of a high school student taking Spanish in the United States.
"I had taken a little bit of English in high school, maybe four years, but it was nothing," he said. "It was like taking Spanish in high school here in the US. I learned things like 'how are you?,' and 'where's the bathroom?' Things like that."
Despite his struggles, Batista credited his teammates and fellow students with helping him survive his first semester as a Cougar.
"Everyone here is nice. If you ask someone anything they will help you. My first week I had my map and my schedule. I just asked someone and they took me to my class. People always held doors for me. The first couple of times I went through a door it hit the person behind me because I never held doors in my life.
"My teammates were very nice to me. When Tom (Coach Peterson) would explain things, I would ask Taylor (Evans) because he speaks Spanish and he would help me."
When Batista was young, he dreamed of earning an athletic scholarship and coming to the United States. The only difference between then and now is he was aspiring to play basketball, not volleyball. But his hometown Tamayo is known for producing some of the best volleyball talent in the country, and one coach saw potential in the young Batista.
"Most of the best volleyball players in the Dominican Republic are from my hometown," he said. "The coach always told me I should play and he said I could get a college scholarship to play in the states. I always said no because I played basketball all the time and I wanted to get better.
"One day we were practicing and the volleyball teams were waiting for the courts. I went up for a dunk and some guy fouled me hard and I got hurt. After that the volleyball coach told me I was too skinny and didn't have the body to play basketball. So the next day I was there in the gym practicing volleyball at 6 a.m."
While he had never played competitive volleyball, Batista caught on quickly. He said he felt like he always had the ability. Having participated in several other sports including baseball and tae kwon do, Batista drew on his natural athletic abilities to excel in volleyball.
A few years after picking up the sport, Batista was excelling, traveling to several countries while playing on the youth national team for the Dominican Republic. One of those travels took him to El Salvador for a tournament, where he met Hector Lebron, a former BYU All-American setter and at the time, an assistant coach for Puerto Rico.
Batista had been considering opportunities to play professionally but decided to look into playing in the United States.
"I was deciding between coming here (the United States) or playing professionally," he said. "In the end I decided to get a degree and then if I could, I would play professionally. When you think about playing professionally or going to school, school is higher than anything. If you decide to play pro and you get injured and can't play, you are left with nothing. What do you have in your mind? Nothing. If you go to school, after that you can play pro and if you get injured, you still have your education."
Lebron encouraged Batista to go to BYU and play college volleyball and helped him get in touch with BYU coach Tom Peterson.
BYU wasn't the only school that had Batista on its radar. The University of Hawai'i had also shown interest. But when he decided to go to college instead of playing professionally, choosing between the Cougars and Warriors was easy.
"Tom was very helpful and answered all of my e-mails," Batista said. "BYU gave me a lot more attention than Hawai'i and that was the difference."
"I remember the first day of practice my legs hurt really bad because of the altitude. I went up for a jump serve and when I came down my calves cramped and they hurt so bad I wanted to cry."
A rough first day did not keep Batista from making his presence known. Because of his extensive playing experience, Batista came to the Cougars with the ability to play almost any position.
"When I came the first week, Tom was trying me in almost every position," he said. "I played outside, opposite, middle blocker and libero."
After a week, Batista began to standout as a middle blocker, a position where the team needed extra help because of injuries.
"We needed a middle blocker because a couple guys were hurt and I was playing really well in practice," he said.
Not only did he thrive at the position, he became a second-team All-American. Batista led the team in blocks and finished second in hitting percentage. His presence in the middle helped the Cougars win the 2004 National Championship over Long Beach State.
"It's hard to describe how it felt to win," he said. "I went up to block with Jon Alleman on the last point and Scott Touzinsky (a Long Beach outside hitter) hit it into the antennae. After that, we all went crazy and ran all over the place."
In 2004, Batista's contribution was a bit of surprise as he arrived in Provo just days before the season began. In 2005 he was a key contributor on a team that finished 20-10 and lost in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament. Now that he's a senior, he feels he needs to step up and be a leader.
"I never miss weights and I am at practice everyday," he said. "I'm working to get another national championship. I feel responsibility along with the other guys that are seniors."
Batista has had many successes since coming to Provo, not just in athletics. Just a few months after helping his team win the National Championship in May 2004, Batista was at a party and met Nikki MacFarline, who was in Provo for a few months helping her sister. The two spoke for a while and through his "Dominican charm," Batista got her phone number. He called her that same night, despite still struggling with English.
The two hit it off despite the language difficulties and Nikki having never attended a volleyball match.
Nikki's original plans were to stay with her sister through December and then return home. But she was so smitten by Batista she decided to stick around Provo and the two were married in May 2005. Then a few months later, he surprised many people by being baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had been taking discussion since arriving in Provo but made the decision when he felt it was right.
Batista came to Provo to play volleyball. So far he's been an All-American, won a National Championship, got married and was baptized. He's living the dream.