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Friday, November 17, 2000
Janka Gabrielova was mad as her second season at Weatherford (Texas) College neared an end and Division I coaches weren't exactly knocking on her door. Gabrielova gets
lot of attention as
UH point guardThe junior college transfer from
Slovakia settles in with Wahine after
an uncertain future in TexasBy Al Chase
Star-Bulletin"All the coaches wanted was big girls, post players. I was so disappointed. I only have two more years to play in America," the 5-foot-6 point guard said.
Weatherford coach Bob McKinley told Gabrielova not to worry.
In fact, she had a similar experience before leaving Slovakia to play for the Coyotes.
"The coach called me to see if I knew any post players. I had a friend, but she had a boyfriend and was too scared to go away," Gabrielova said.
"Then the coach called me back and asked, 'Can you shoot?' 'Can you dribble?' 'Can you play against blacks?' I said 'Yes' because I wanted to go. Then he said, 'Can you speak English?' I said I would study English."
Her desire to come to America was fueled by a love for aggressive basketball, something she didn't see in the European game.
She enjoys passing the ball and making the players around her better. She did just that at Weatherford, averaging 11.7 and 12.7 assists a game her freshman and sophomore years, respectively.
The English improved because she got out and made friends instead of staying in her room and watching television for hours.
"I told my coach I wanted to go to a place with nice weather and a beach and a place where I could play a lot," Gabrielova said.
"All the time I was in Europe, I only went to the beach one time in my life."
What university could possibly meet those conditions?
Gabrielova's boyfriend, Mindaugas Burneika, was being recruited by Rainbow head coach Riley Wallace. She had played one year with Wahine center Dainora Puida at Weatherford. And she had known Wahine manager Kveta Truchlikova in Slovakia.
Yet, Gabrielova and Burneika didn't have plans to continue their careers at the same school the way Puida and her husband, Nerijus, did a year earlier.
"He told me we don't have a future. He said you have to do what's best for you and I have to do what's best for me," Gabrielova recalled.
Then Gabrielova received an email from Truchlikova saying the Wahine might need a point guard.
"They wanted a point guard and post player from Brazil, but they didn't come," Gabrielova said.
She made a recruiting trip here and made up her mind to return.
"When I was leaving the hotel on the 25th floor and I saw the view, I knew this is where I wanted to be," she said.
Gabrielova had to adjust to the Wahine way of doing things. Practices were more intense, there were more offensive and defensive sets and, unlike at Weatherford, the weight room was a daily stop.
When UH head coach Vince Goo saw Gabrielova's tattoo of a lizard on her right leg, he said that after two years it would be as big as an alligator.
Having grown up in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, a country at the precise geographic center of Europe, Gabrielova now finds herself at the center of the Wahine offense.
She has the advantage playing with veterans of the program that know and understand the offense.
"It was difficult in the beginning here because there are so many plays, but I think now I'm doing better," Gabrielova said.
Her initial test is today at 5 p.m. against Northern Arizona in the first round of the Hawaiian Regent Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu