The Camosun Chargers women’s basketball team have a new player, and she’s come all the way from Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Codi Tiedeman is here playing for the Chargers for the rest of the winter semester.
Tiedeman, a first-year Marketing student, was contacted by Chargers women’s basketball head coach Justin Thiessen last year.
“He contacted me through the grapevine,” says Tiedeman. “Justin was looking for international recruits, and my coach happened to cross paths with his message. Apparently, Justin was looking for someone tall and athletic, and asked, ‘Who do you have?’ So here I am helping out the Chargers.”
Tiedeman says that she has always craved life experience and received nothing but support and encouragement from her family and her own basketball team back home.
“I always told Mom I want to go somewhere, do something,” says Tiedeman. “My dad was so excited for me he started counting down the days all the way from August. I arrived in Victoria on the 29th of December. My team was so happy for me; all my coaches wished me luck.”
Tiedeman says that the transition from Australia has been hard, especially because of the weather.
“The school system is similar, but the weather is quite different,” says Tiedeman. “Our summer is finished at Christmas, so we work from the calendar year, which means I was in second year at home but I am still in first year’s college courses in Victoria. When I first arrived, our coach, Justin, picked me up at the airport. I was shivering a lot and he thought it was hilarious because I was so cold.”
At the time of our interview, Tiedeman and the rest of the Chargers were going through an intense training program preparing to play Langara College in Vancouver.
“My days are very full, what with training every day, and the gym,” says Tiedeman. “A lot of running, a lot of shooting. We have gym on Mondays; we have yoga. Individually, we have to shoot 400 shots a week. It is very strenuous, very intense, but I love it. It is much more of a college basketball experience than I ever had at home.”
Tiedman says that she’s excited for the new opportunities that playing on the Chargers is bringing to her.
“I am just trying to do my best and play basketball,” she says. “We are all trying to make nationals at the end of the year. Justin has his eye on the prize and we’re right behind him.”
Thiessen is enthusiastic about the decision to bring Tiedeman to play for the Chargers.
“First and foremost, she’s an awesome athlete and a great person,” says Thiessen. “She comes from a great family, as well. With her background in track and field, she’s just a perfect fit for us. The decision to bring her over here was pretty easy. In terms of basketball, the sky’s the limit with her.”
Tiedeman says that she still has trouble believing that all of this—coming to Canada, playing for the Chargers—is actually happening.
“It’s like a dream. It’s all life experience, to go and make a home somewhere new and different, and everyone loves the Aussie, right?” she says, laughing. “But I am calling my parents once a day; they’re calling me once a day. My teammates, they are trying to figure me out, figure out my strengths and weaknesses, trying to find my chemistry in the team. We all have to get to know each other and try out our teamwork. It has been hard; I have had to work very hard. But it is all such a great opportunity. I am just trying to enjoy every second of every day.”