B / SPORTS / TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
VOLLEYBALL
Standout sophomore is willing to take background
SARA KRUGER skruger@kansan.com
With a roster full of powerhouse players, Tayler Tolefle, a sophomore from Lawrence, has occasionally blended into the background.
Describing herself as "conservative," Tolefree said she has the ability to shock.
"Occasionally I will come up with something and surprise them," Tolefree said of her playing.
Tolefree had 11 kills and a 450 attack percentage in the game against Arkansas Little Rock Saturday. What's more, she led the team with 13 points. All this proves what Tolefree's teammates already know: They can rely on her when the games get hectic.
Setter Nicole Tate, a junior from St. Louis, said, "Taylor is great. She is calm and confident and works hard and is always there when you need her"
Tolefree said that on the sideline, she thinks about what she needs to do to make the team successful. Then, when she goes into the game, she said she's ready for action.
Last Saturday, the Jayhawks were trailing 6-1 until TJelgle went in.
She said, "When you are out,
you want to come in and help turn
things around. Looking at the court
I notice what I can, come in and
help."
As the schedule picks-up, including a showdown with Kansas State this Wednesday. Tolefree said that nothing can be taken for granted.
"You don't have to feel the pressure at the end if you start winning games now," Tolefree said. "You want to win, but you have to build upon it and stay strong through the end."
Tolefree said she is excited to get the season moving, meet the next opponent and gain momentum.
“It's exciting to be playing Kansas State first. It is a great way to start off conference play with a bang.” Tolefree said. “We're ready to go and this is
who we get to play first so let's play tough and come out clean."
the Wildcats bring to the court, the Jawhaws will be ready.
"We saw a lot of different styles of play," Tolefleia said of the pre-season. "I think we are more ready to be able to adjust to other teams and what they might throw at us. I think this is the best start that we have had in a while."
"Occasionally I will come up with something and surprise them."
Tolefree isn't alone in her excitement about taking on a conference team.
Tate said, "It's always fun to play Kansas State; it gets us jacked for the Big 12. We're looking forward to it. Hopefully we will come out on top but they have a new team and so do we. We'll see what happens."
Still, Tolefree said the team could
TAYLER TOLEFREE
Sophomore middle blocker
Tolefree said that no matter what
never be content.
"We're never there," she said.
"There is always something more we can get a few more points off of."
Tolefree said she looks to improve herblocking,hitting and technical skills. As a freshman last year, Tolefree said she learned as she went. But this year, she looks to improve.
ciate the time spent with her new team.
"We want to focus on this team this year. We are a third of the way done. I want to live in the moment. Everyone ahead of me keeps moving on, and I want to appreciate this team and these girls and this time with no regrets of letting it pass by"
Edited by Emily McCoy
Sophomore middle blocker Tayler Tolefree spikes a shot past two Winthrop players last week. Tolefree had a team-high five blocks to go along with a season-high eight kills in the game.
Ryan Waqgoner/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
NBA
League interested in Indian Yao Ming
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
BALLO KE, India — Satnam Singh Bhamara stares down at his feet. At size 22, there's a lot to stare at.
The 14-year-old is already 7 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. To say that he stands out from the other boys in this remote Punjab village, population 463, is like saying that Everest is a rather tall mountain.
After its runaway success ... China, the NBA has turned its sights on India. But basketball is not terribly popular here; as one
sportwriter says, "Genetically,
were not inclined that way."
But what if you could tind an Indian version of Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6-inch Houston Rocket center who jumpstarted the Chinese game? His signing led to lucrative broadcasting and sponsorship deals, skyrocketing apparel sales and millions more fans.
"The Yao Ming factor is crucial," said Ayaz Memon, a sports journalist.
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From Ballo Ke, local scouts dispatched Satnam to a regional basketball academy where, over the last four years, he worked to develop skills to match his height, leading some to call him India's best young player. This month, the young giant will head to the IMG Basketball Academy in Florida, which is sponsored by a U.S. talent agency.
"If God keeps blessing us, one day he'll play on the Indian national team, even the basketball world cup," village elder Aatma Bhamara said, his unfamiliarity with the name "NBA" suggesting that the Americans have their work cut out for them. "He's putting our village on the map."
NBA officials say Satnam may or may not be the one, but they're determined to build a sport that was introduced to the country by missionaries in 1903, and today is played, enthusiastically if not always well, by a few million Indians (in a country with 1.2 billion people, it remains a niche activity).
"We see great opportunity in India," said Akash Jain, the league's director of international development for India. "Sometimes you find a diamond in the rough if you're lucky... But our focus is long term."
They maintain that India,with its emerging middle class,rising disposable income and media-savvy youngsters,has the raw ingredients to take off as a basketball market.
Perseverance and a healthy budget — the NBA won't disclose its spending — will be indispensable in a country known for bureaucracy, poor infrastructure and a weak sporting culture apart from the national obsession, cricket. India won a single gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, whereas China, another developing country with an enormous population, snagged 51.
No one else in the village plays basketball, but the 7-footer hopes to change that.
"If I really make it big one day, my dream is to come back and build the village a court," he said. "Then hopefully more people will start playing, like me."