|
|
California Champion
Shlomi Peri
,03/11/2006 |
A week after winning a historic Pac 10 championship and less than a week before the start of the NCAA tournament, Ortal Oren shared the experience of winning a championship with us, summed up four years in college, spoke her mind about the foreigners rule in the Israeli league and told us through pictures about her new hobby.
Last season ended in a very big disappointment for UCLA who didn't get an invitation to the NCAA tournament. This season they don't need any favors from the committee after getting the automatic bid by defeating conference leader Stanford in the Pac 10 tournament finals. UCLA came back from 13 points down in the 2nd half to force overtime, dominated the extra period and got an 85-76 win.
In order to make the finals UCLA beat the 2nd seed Arizona State, 60-59. In the quarter finals UCLA beat Cal, 80-63, and Ortal Oren scored eight points in 12 minutes.
Pac 10 Champs
Ortal, tell us about the experience of playing in the finals and winning the tournamentr
"It's an experience I'll never forget. The excitement, the pressure, the madness is something words simply cannot describe. You have to be there to understand. Participating in the Pac 10 tournament is an experience within itself since all the teams stay in the same hotel and there are signs all over the city. The losers go back home that same day and the winners get to stay in the hotel so it feels kind of good to run into teams on their way out in the elevator while we're going back to our rooms. The game itself was very exciting, one of the most thrilling games of my life. With 2:30 minutes to go Stanford was up 9. That was the turning point I think, we started to realize that if we don't step it up now we're going to lose the game, and that's what we did. We gave it our all and after the overtime we became Pac 10 champions."
 At the buzzer in the finals
You upset Stanford, did you believe before the tournament that you can go all the way?
"Of course we believed we're going all the way. Stanford is a very strong team and they have great players at every position, but we came ready into this tournament knowing we won't settle for anything short of first place. We knew we have a long and exhausting weekend with three games back to back and that anything can happen in any given day. That's why we approached each day as if it is our last."
How did you celebrate the championship? How did they greet you back on campus?
"Other than the celebrations in the arena and cutting down the nets which was a ceremony, we went out to a restaurant and then partied all night long at the hotel. This is the first time UCLA has ever won the Pac 10 title so people on campus were going crazy. It was a lot of fun coming back knowing we represented the college with pride and made history."
 Celebrating at one of the events
You're going into the NCAA tournament now, do you feel you could surprise some teams and make it into the final stages?
"There's no doubt we can. We have a very competitive and talented team here at UCLA but it seems like we never fulfilled our true potential. We started the season kind of slow but we're peaking at the right time. I think that by winning the Pac 10 we showed ourselves and the world that we can play with any team in the NCAA."
Have you been able to follow the Israeli league? What do you think about the fact each team can have four foreigners and there's hardly any place for the Israeli players?
"Yes, I follow the league in Israel from time to time, just to check out the results and stats. The truth is I stopped following after Shira Haelyon got injured! In my opinion, having four foreigners per team deeply hurts the development and promotion of Israeli players, the young players and the veterans as well. It doesn't help our league since there are no more dominant Israeli players like in the past. I think that the people in charge of women's basketball in Israel need to reevaluate the situation and decide what the main goal is."
How would you sum up your four years in college professionally? In what aspects of the game do you feel you improved?
"Before I went to college anyone who saw me play knew that the offensive end was my strong and dominant part of my game. Today after four years in college I can say that play both ends. I'm stronger, I've learned what hard work really is and most of all I have that hunger and fire in my eyes. The competitiveness and high level here won't allow you to be mediocre. In order to succeed you have to work, there are no magic tricks or formulas for success."
Eventually, you ended up coming off the bench for four years, are you a bit frustrated with your minutes through out your career?
"Obviously I am, but you have to find the bright side in everything in life. To this day it's hard for me that I'm not getting the minutes I deserve, but that is the philosophy of my coach and you have to consider that we have three players in my position that are among the best in the country. It's very easy to just break, give up and accept the fact that no matter what you do you're still going to sit on the bench. But with all the frustration I think that most of all I learned how to deal with situations I can't control and get the maximum out of them. So even though I wasn't a star and didn't get the chance to really show what I can do I know I graduated as a winner and that I never once accepted meritocracy. "
 The fire in the eyes
Not many Israelis survive four years in college, explain the importance of staying the full four years and tell us how you survived there away from your family and friends
"If I told you it was easy I'd be lying. It wasn't easy and it was even hard. You learn to appreciate things we as people take for granted, such as family, the language and close friends. You don’t have that support system here, it's about survival here and if you're not strong enough you could crack in an instance. I had tough moments and times when I felt alone and doubted myself but those times are the real test. You have to be strong, patient and find the light at the end of the tunnel. I think time took care of things and after my first two years I decided to really adjust and have fun. There's a saying that goes "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and that's exactly how it was. Once I realized that and decided I wanted to go all the way with this, I found my inner peace and happiness which I wake up with every day. I want to point out that my family back home, my uncles in the states and my close friends who I keep in touch with on a daily basis are the reasons I'm still standing tall and smiling."
We heard you do a little modeling, tell us a bit about that. How did you get into it?
"Yes I started to model last year. It was an experience. Truth is I wasn't very interested in that but people told me I had to give it a shot. I decided I have nothing to lose, what could be wrong in combining basketball and beauty. So I went to this audition hoping not to fall off my heels and embarrass myself, and I left shocked that I made it into a group of 30 girls chosen out of 300. I have a fashion show coming up in May. I hope I could pursue this in Israel also. It's not a career I'm counting on right now, it's just a hobby."
In a fashion show
We get this impression that you've become a real California girl, did you fall in love with the area?
"Fact is I did, I love it here but Israel will always be my home. I don't think I became a California girl, I'm Israeli and that's what I'll always be. I've matured a lot in these four years away from home and my parents, which helped me to build my own character without any outside influences. People who haven't seen me in a long time are pretty shocked by the way I changed. I'm not coming back as a California girl, but rather as a UCLA graduate with a bachelor of Psychology with a lot of life experience, on and off the court. Moreover, I'm coming back with a smile on my face knowing I graduated UCLA and left my mark."
 A winning smile
Latest stories
|
|
|
Print
|
|
|
|
|