Cardoso’s fighting spirit stemmed from her upbringing in Brazil, where she dealt with bullying because of her size and needed to stand up for herself. A docuseries chronicling the 2023-24 college basketball season offered a behind-the-scenes look at the ex-South Carolina star’s personal life.
The ESPN production “Full Court Press” follows Cardoso’s sensational conclusion to her NCAA tenure, which culminated in a national championship. It features enlightening interviews with her mother, Janete Soares, and sister, Jessica Cardoso Silva.
“For me, it was really hard at the beginning [of my life] because they used to make fun of me, they used to bully me and I used to go home and cry,” Cardoso says at one point. “Sometimes I used to just fight them because I was very electric.”
READ MORE: Chicago Sky rip Bill Simmons podcast after patronizing dig at WNBA
READ MORE: A’ja Wilson makes ex-Iowa star Kate Martin wear South Carolina gear after national title loss
“She didn’t bow to anyone,” her mother adds. “When she was 10 years old, she already was 5-foot-10 and her shoe size was 9.”
