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Wednesday, January 10, 2001
Theocharidis hopes Costas Theocharidis knows coach Mike Wilton doesn't allow swearing in his practices. No exceptions.
for productive
encore
The sophomore from Greece
will try to better his freshman
season, but may miss tonight's
game against LewisBy Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin"So I taught the guys to swear in Greek," said the 6-foot-2 sophomore outside hitter from Orestiada, Greece.
"They're getting pretty good at it," he said with a laugh. "Coach doesn't know what they're saying."
The swearing rule is not the only thing that Theocharidis has been able to get around since coming to America. Last season he got around the blocks of opposing teams to post a 6.14 kills per game average (eighth nationally) and a .378 hitting percentage for the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team.
GAME TIME
Who: Hawaii vs. Lewis
Theocharidis was named Newcomer of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and also earned first-team All-American honors.
Wilton, who credits Olympian Mike Lambert with tipping him off about Theocharidis, said he got more than he expected.
"He was even better than we thought he was," said Wilton. "He did things I didn't really see on the tape."
Theocharidis was the team kill leader in 18 matches and had 30 or more kills in five matches. His career-high was 34 kills against Brigham Young and Pepperdine. But Theocharidis is not a one-dimensional player.
"He has an all-around game," said Wilton. "I think his spiker efficiency percentage was as high or higher than Yuval's (Katz) was his freshman year.
"He's a good defensive player (1.81 digs per game), and a decent blocker (0.99 blocks per game). And of course there's his ability to see the block."
There's no need to ask Theocharidis what he can do for an encore to his freshman season. He doesn't really believe he did much.
"It means nothing," he said, referring to the honors he received. "Hopefully this year I will be a better volleyball player. I want to be more consistent, especially in my serving, swinging, passing."
But Theocharidis is a little frustrated with himself right now because he's not sure if he'll be able to play in the opener against Lewis tonight.
The problem is tendinitis in his elbow, shoulder, biceps and knee. He developed the condition playing a lot of tennis over the holidays with teammate Eyal Zimet.
"Eyal is a very good tennis player, so we played some matches," said Theocharidis. "I lost all the matches. But the worst thing was that I got injured."
Despite therapy, he was still feeling pain yesterday and did not practice. But Wilton has not ruled him out. If Theocharidis doesn't play, Tony Ching will start in his place.
Theocharidis does not like to miss a match because he's in love with Hawaii's fans.
"At home, my (club) team is one of the best in the Greek league and the average attendance we have is about 500-600 people," he said. "Then I come here (and) it's a different world."
He said that in Greece no one would even congratulate him on a good match.
"But here it feels so great to hear the fans screaming for you," said Theocharidis. "They say, come over here with my family, take pictures. It's not just here but all the Hawaiian Islands. When we played the preseason games, we didn't play very well but we had these whole families come after the game to us asking for autographs and pictures. It's an incredible feeling. It makes you feel like a person."
Even now, Theocharidis knows he'll miss those fans when he graduates.
"Hopefully, I can come back and play in an alumni game and get this feeling back," he said.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
