6B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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SPORTS
PROFILE
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005
russian tennis player finds home at Kansas
Freshman balances new settings
BY RAHUL SHARMA
rsharma@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
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jeff jacobson/KANSAS ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
Elizaveta Avdeeva, Obninsk, Russia, freshman, lunges for the ball during a match against Texas in Overland Park Sunday. Avdeeva came to Kansas from Russia in hopes of pursuing both an education and her love for tennis.
Freshman tennis player, Elizaveta Avdeeva is in her first semester in the United States and her first semester of college at the University of Kansas.
A native of Obninsk, Russia,
Avdeeva joined the Kansas
women's tennis team last month.
"First couple of weeks were very hard," Avdeeva said. "It's very different, the life, the foods. In Russia, there are no programs with playing and studying together."
Liza, as she is called by the coaching staff, was recruited by assistant coach Frank Polito. She said she chose Kansas because of her conversations with Polito. Other schools Avdeeva considered were St. Mary's College of California, Northern Arizona University and Jacksonville University (Fla.), among others.
Polito said one of his friends traveled to Russia to scout
Avdeeva. The coaches then received a video tape of Avdeeva through a Russian recruiting service. The service informs young Russian athletes about the opportunities of gaining an education in the United States while competing in tennis.
Eventually, a profile of Avdeeva was submitted to Polito.
Avdeeva's older brother, Artum, served as Avdeeva's contact with Polito over the telephone. In the heat of the recruiting process, Avdeeva agreed to come to Kansas.
At first, Avdeeva had reservations. She asked Polito if there were any Russians at the University. Polito told her about Kansas men's basketball freshman Sasha Kaun. Kaun, a reserve center on the team, is originally from Tomsk, Russia. Polito gave Avdeeva Kaun's contact information.
"Later I called him," Avdevea said. "He told me about KU. He learned three years in Florida. Here [Kansas] he likes more than Florida."
Avdevea said that Kaun told her all about living in the United States, in Kansas and attending the University. Kaun and Avdevea still keep in contact.
"A good friendship," Avdeeva
Despite having traveled across the globe to compete for Kansas and earn an education, Avdeeva said she is close with her family and keeps in close touch with them.
Kansas tennis coach Amy Hall-Holt has been beside Avdeeva every step of the way.
"She misses home," Hall-Holt said. "We try to make a
happy environment for her."
The environment has certainly lived up to its billing. Avedeva said her new friends had made the transition smooth for her.
"People here are very friendly," Avdeeva said. "If you need help, anyone will help you."
"During school, they [teammates] ask me how are classes," Avdeeva added. "Three weeks ago, when I needed books, people helped me."
Adjusting to the different lifestyle is part of the transition she is making in becoming a student-athlete.
"Every 15 minutes, I hear,
'Liza, come on,' she said. "It was weird. But now it helps me.
I'm not alone. It's team tennis."
On the hardcourts, Avdeeva received moral support from her teammates.
So far this season, Avdeeva, is still looking for her first collegiate victory (0-4). She has competed against some of the top talents in the country. But at this point, winning isn't everything.
"I think there was more pressure just coming out, that she wanted to do so well. And its not about who she was playing against," Hall-Holt said. "I think it more about that she wanted to play so hard that she put the pressure on herself."
Avdeeva and Hall-Holt talked about goals at the start of the season.
"It's important to believe in winning," Avdeeva said. "But also believe in yourself."
This week, the tennis team (0-1 Big 12 Conference, 1-4 overall) gears up for a road trip to University Park, Pa. where Kansas will take on Penn State and Yale this weekend.
"I see her making big strides," Hall-Holt said. "She's got an excellent game. I definitely see her making a big impact."
After only five matches this season, Avdeeva said she was happy to be a Jayhawk.
"I can say I like playing here," she said. "I like playing for team."
Edited by Megan Claus
NHL
Hockey season called off after negotiations hit wall
BY IRA PODELL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - The NHL canceled what little was left of the season yesterday after a series of last-minute offers were rejected on the final day of negotiations.
A lockout over a salary cap shut down the game before it ever got a chance to start in October. Now the NHL, already low on the popularity scale in the United States, becomes the first major pro sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute.
"As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce ... it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season," commissioner Gary Bettman said. "Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05."
Bettman said the sides would continue working to get an agreement.
"We're planning to have hockey next season," he said.
A few hours later, NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow stressed that the players had given a lot of
ground.
"Keep one thing perfectly clear," he said. "The players never asked for more money—they just asked for a market-place."
The league and players' union traded a flurry of proposals and letters Tuesday night, but could never agree on a cap. The players proposed $49 million per team; the owners said $42.5 million. But a series of conditions and fine print in both proposals made the offers farther apart than just $6.5 million per team.
This will be just the second time the Stanley Cup isn't
awarded since Canadian governor general Lord Stanley first had the idea for a North American champion trophy in 1893; the last was 1919, when a flu epidemic forced the finals to be called off in the then 2-year-old league. There was a lockout in 1994-95 that ended in time for teams to play 48 games, still more than half the regular season.
Before Monday, the idea of a salary cap was a deal-breaker for the players' association but the union gave in and said it would accept one when the NHL dropped its insistence that
there be a link between revenues and plaver costs.
That still wasn't enough to end the lockout that started on Sept. 16 and ultimately wiped out the entire 1,230-game schedule and the playoffs.
And now, that offer is off the table.
"By necessity we have to go back to linkage since no one knows what the damage to the sport will be," Betttman said.
The NHL's last game came in June, when the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Calgary 2-1 in Game 7 to win the Stanley Cup.
Since then, a lot of stars have
moved on, going overseas to play. Jaromir Jagr, Vincent Lecavalier, Teemu Selanne, Joe Thornton and Saku Koivu are among the more than 300 of the league's 700-plus players who spent part of this season playing in Europe.
For other older players, such as Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Dominik Hasek, the cancellation puts their careers in limbo.
"This is a tragedy for the players," Bettman said. "Their careers are short and this is money and opportunity they'll never get back," Bettman said.