Marko Vidačković
Marko Vidačković, a sophomore Safety for the University of Oregon, talks about his Croatian heritage and getting into the sport of American football coming from Germany.
Where are you and your family from?
I was born in Germany and lived in Stuttgart for the first six years of my life where there is a big Croatian community. Then I moved to New York for four and a half years because of my father’s career. After that we moved back to Germany for five years and then when I was 15 we moved to Portland, Oregon. I spent my last three years of high school in Portland. After I graduated my whole family moved back to Germany but I stayed here for college. Both of my parents are Croatian, my dad is from Zagreb and my mom is from Hvar.
How did you get started playing American football coming from Germany, a country not known for its American football?
My dad watched some football while he was in Germany like the Super Bowl and big games and when I moved to New York in 2007 the Giants won the Super Bowl. I grew up playing soccer like all Europeans and Croatians and when I got to the U.S. I started watching and playing flag football too. I do love soccer as well so it took me a while to pick between the two sports. After flag football, my father and I convinced my mom to let me play tackle football and I played for the rest of the time I was in New York.
Can you speak a little bit about your recruitment process?
When I first got to high school in Portland, my sophomore year, I played junior varsity football and then played varsity my junior and senior years. I didn’t have many stats after my junior year and during that offseason I told myself I wanted to play college football so I started playing with a trainer and going to camps. I had some small schools that were good academically reach out to me at the end of my junior year but none of them really interested me. The summer going into my senior year I went to a number of camps and made a name for myself with the college coaches. When my senior season came, numerous college coaches came out to see me play and at the end of my senior year schools started reaching out and my recruitment really picked up. I started making visits and getting offers. I reached out to Oregon after my junior season and there weren’t really any talks but after my senior year they reached back out to me. I was focused on smaller Division I schools but then Oregon and Washington reached out and that started the ball rolling. After my senior year there were only about 2 months before signing day, the day every football player signs for a University, and that is when I got a lot of offers. It took a while but it was well worth it.
Why do you think college in the United States was the best option for you?
It was everything I always dreamed of as a kid. When my family moved back to Germany the second time I always talked to my mom about my wish to move back to the U.S. to go to college. I loved the image of colleges in the U.S. with the campus, the people, the classes, the social life, and the sports. I wanted to be part of the atmosphere of a college stadium like Oregon. When I was in Germany I saw pictures of the Pennsylvania State’s football stadium of over 100,000 fans and that was always in my mind. I wanted to be on that field with those fans one day. Oregon gets about 57,000 fans a game and when I went for a visit during a game I saw the atmosphere first hand.
What was it like going from Germany to the U.S. all those times?
The transition was very exciting for me when I moved to Portland for high school. It felt like a vacation for the first few months and didn't feel like I actually moved. In Portland we had an overfilled school with thirty five to forty students in a class and a different group of students in every class. This was very new to me because in Germany you usually have your twenty five peers in one class and you stay with them throughout the whole day. Going from one hundred people in my grade in Germany to having five hundred in Portland was crazy. When I watched my first high school football game they had the band playing and a student fan section going crazy. The fact that there were school sports in high school, not just club sports like in Germany, was very appealing to me. Going to practice straight from school and hanging out with your teammates in school and class was different. The image that my sisters and I had of high school in the U.S. was solely from movies like High School Musical so that is what I thought I was coming into.
How has the language been for you; a struggle or have you gotten used to it?
Croatian is the first language I learned and then German once I started going to school. Once we moved to New York I learned English and then Spanish later on in school there. Language was never a problem for me and a lot of people are surprised that English is not my first language and that I am from Germany because of how well I speak it. Since I went to New York at such a young age I don’t really have an accent at all.
Have you been able to build good relationships while away from friends and family in a new environment?
Building relationships in college is definitely easier than in high school. Everybody is at a new school away from home and you have to make friends with people from different places. It was definitely easier for me to make friends in college than in high school. My teammate from Australia and I are the only international students on the football team here at Oregon, but there are a bunch of other international students on other teams and at the school that I have built connections with. Playing sports you are around your teammates constantly and it is hard not to be friends with them and make relationships.
Did your school provide you with sufficient resources to help you get accustomed to a new country and school system?
They provide everything, whether for everyday life, school, tutors, if you want to talk to anyone about your mental health, nutritionists, athletic trainers, doctors, anything you need. You just have to reach out and they will help you.
What do you think of the level of competition in the U.S. compared to Europe?
It is definitely a big jump in football to go from high school to college. It is all of the best high school players coming together on one team so the competition is through the roof. It was a big adjustment when I first got here.
What do you hope to achieve both academically and athletically in your next few years at Oregon?
Academically I want to get my master degree in four years. I got a lot of credits out of the way in high school and I am taking summer classes here because I want to graduate with my bachelors as fast as possible so I can focus on my masters. I am studying business administration right now but I am not sure what exactly I will specifically major in yet. Athletically I want to play in front of the fans, travel, and win a national championship here with Oregon. I want to win the Pac-12 conference championship every year I am here and gather as many experiences as I can.
Do you have any advice for athletes in Croatia hoping to play at colleges in the States?
Make sure it is something that you really want, and once you make that decision just work on it everyday. On the sports side, whatever sport you want to play, practice everyday. Everyday you can do one thing to improve at home, in a gym, or on a field/court. You either get worse or better everyday. That is what you can control and then everything else will fall into place.
Finally, would you share with us your favorite sport as a spectator and who is your favorite athlete?
Soccer is my favorite sport to watch. I actually went to the World Cup Final in 2018 in Moscow when Croatia played in it. That was the greatest experience of my life. I will root for Germany when they are not playing Croatia but I am Croatian all the way, rooting for my country; ride or die. I follow all of the soccer leagues around Europe and the world and really follow the champions league. I am a big sports fan so I also watch a lot of basketball and now baseball. I don’t get to watch a lot of football because on Saturdays when college football is on I am playing in it and on Sundays we have meetings and practice so I don’t get to watch that much NFL football. Before college I did watch a lot of NFL though. My two favorite athletes are Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James and on the football side I like a lot of players like Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers.
Thank you Marko, for speaking with us and sharing your experience. We wish you all the best with Oregon and look forward to watching you further your career.
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