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Suez Ready To Lead
Orli Klinger
,08/30/2007 |
From Raanana to Ramat Hasharon, to Villanova, Poland and France. Liad Suez Karni has gotten a lot done in a career that's yet to reach it's prime. 'Safsal' caught the young National Team Capitan for a chat right before leaving for the last-chance tournament. The lessons learned in Poland, the option of playing in Israel, the upcoming games and the reason you need to come cheer for Israel – inside.
Everyone remember the lanky young player who used to nail a three seconds after coming off the bench for Raanana or Ramat Hasharon. Even though she hasn't played in our Division I league for the past five years, Liad Suez Karni is still a very recognizable name to any women's basketball fan in Israel. Today, after four years in Villanova and a year as a bosman in Europe, the 26 year old is the oldest player on the roster and Capitan of the Israeli National Team.
Great, but why won't she come back to Israel? That question is probably popping in a lot of heads. So here you go.
"I don't rule out coming back to Israel. Could be next year, could be not next year, I don't know", said the Capitan who confirmed she had offers from Israeli teams for this season. "Last year my husband was with me, this year he won't be. There's an appeal to coming back, it's not easy being overseas all year, you miss people and everything. Professionally as well, there are good teams in Israel. Right now I'm happy in Europe. As long as I feel I'm able to progress and it continues to be fun for me, then that's where I'll stay".
Suez finished a very strong four year career at Villanova University with slim WNBA draft hopes which didn't come to be, and found herself in the Polish winter playing for Wilsa Krakov – a team 2nd only to the Euroleague powerhouse of Gdynia. Wilsa finished the season celebrating an incredible championship, but Suez was long gone by then. She parted ways with the team 12 games into the season, after averaging 5.7 points per game.
"I didn't leave, let's start with that", she mentions with a smile. "It may not have been the right place to go to straight from college but I'm not sorry I went there because I learned and understood it's not always just about basketball. For example early on I played really well, I was in shape and came in with lots of confidence from the NT campaign, but even though I played well, I didn’t play much. With time it starts to hurt your confidence and that's something that as a foreigner you can't afford to have happen. Whether you play 30 seconds or 30 minutes, you have to play the same way and with the same confidence. That's something my experience in Poland taught me".
"On one hand I saw that I can compete at this level, but on the other hand I saw there are many things I have to improve in order to be a player you really count on at this level", Suez continued. "In that regard I'm glad I went there because it was an important lesson, and I put it to use in Nice".
From Poland Suez continued to France and signed with the cellar-dwellers of Nice. Her stats jumped to 11.3 points per game in 36 minutes of action per night. "In Nice it was a better situation for me, coming in from a little lack on confidence to a situation where there are no subs, you can play freely for 40 minutes. It really built up my confidence. I got to play a lot, play very good teams, and overall do well and get a contract for next season".
With or without something to do with the 19 points she scored on them last season, Suez signed for next season with Aix En Provence who finished 7th last season and built a stronger and deeper roster for next season. "Provence is a Eurocup team and I'm very happy about that, I'm really looking forward to next season, I think it'll be really fun. It's another challenge and slowly I hope to implement all sorts of lessons I learned this year". Suez will join K.B Sharp, Brazilian Kelly Santos, Latvian Anda Yakobson and Serbian Ines Kresovic.
And now we bring our attention back to the reason we did this interview a little behind the baseline on the floor at Zisman gym, with squeaking sneakers as the background noise. "Yes, yes", was her answer to the question whether the team has faith that finishing first in the bracket is possible. "I think we have a good talented team and finally a very balanced team, unlike previous years. We have four good posts, we have players at the 3, the 2, the 1, we really have all the ingredients".
Israel is in group B of the last-chance tournament, where nine teams are competing for the final ticket to the European Championships to be held in the end of September. Israel will play Hungray and Bulgaria, and only the first team in each bracket will advance to an additional tournament where the three bracket-leaders will play for the ticket. The last team in each bracket will also play and additonal 3-team tournament, and only the winner will stay in division A.
The last time the National Team hosted a game in Israel was in 2005, in the last-chance tournament, and Suez saw those games from the stands as she couldn't come to Israel in time due to school. Last year Israel had to host in Bulgaria because of the war in the north. "We're very excited to play in Israel, personally I haven't played in Israel in a while and I'm having fun", she said. "I think we know we can compete with these teams. It'll come down to who makes less mistakes, who plays smarter, who wants it the most. That's what's going to eventually win the games and we want it to be us".
So do we.
See you at Zisman.
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