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Hasalikova Finds 49er Life to Her Liking
by Frank Burlison, Long Beach Press-Telegram
October 12, 2006
If everyone in and around the Long Beach State community spoke and understood
the Czech language as well as Michaela Hasalikova has taken to English,
oh, the things she could tell them!
The thing is, it's only been for the better part of three months that
the 49ers' volleyball standout has been in the United States, and she's
already made an indelible impression on all of those who have come into
contact with her. And that's even if it does take her a while to assimilate
the meanings - literal and otherwise - of words and phrases from a language
that, until she landed at LAX in late July, was something she had never
conversed in before.
"I think `Misha' (pronounced `me-shuh,' which is what Hasalikova
is called) is the most impressive person I've ever met," teammate
Mariko Crum said of the 6-foot-4, 22-year-old middle blocker, who grew
up in the eastern Czech Republic town of Vsetin and attended Masaryk University
in Brno before signing a scholarship agreement with the 49ers in June.
Crum and Hasalikova have become tantamount to surrogate sisters.
In fact, come Christmas, Bob and Kim Crum, the parents of Mariko and her
two sisters and two brothers, will be setting another place at the dinner
table
when Mariko brings Hasalikova home for the holidays.
If Misha already didn't have parents and a boyfriend (a basketball player)
waiting for her in Europe, Mariko might lobby Bob and Kim to file adoption
papers.
"I don't know anyone else," Mariko said, "who could pack
up, leave their family and head to a country where the only thing you
know about its language or culture is what you've studied in a textbook.
"And it's all based on her dreams and desires to experience living
in this country and getting (extending) an education. It's incredible,
absolutely incredible."
So is Hasalikova's smile.
It's her calling card.
"It is such a difference here," she said, flashing that smile
for the first of about 45 times during a 20-minute conversation after
practice in the Walter Pyramid late Tuesday afternoon.
"In Czech Republic people (while walking) don't speak if you don't
know the person. But here, if I'm sitting at a table having breakfast,
lunch or dinner, people come and sit down next to me and I have new friends!"
Of course, being around her teammates since August has helped her interact
with other students, away from the Walter Pyramid.
She is slowly but surely picking up on "Americanisms" of the
English language.
She smiled again when asked about a phrase that confused her initially.
"The girls were like, `What's up?"' she said, laughing.
Thankfully, she learned quickly that it wasn't a literal question or a
way to mock her height.
She's got an American greeting to take home with her next summer.
"The girls," she said, smiling again in reference to those wacky
teammates of hers, "are teaching me some of the American slang."
For the time being, though, her interactions are limited to the classroom,
walking from class to class, the volleyball courts or study hall.
"I am so busy," she said. "I have classes in the mornings,
three hours of practice (in the afternoons and early evening), two
hours of study hall and then I have to study more when I get back to my
room."
Hasalikova studied Health and Nutrition in the Czech Republic and, yes,
has a definite opinion about the fast food-conscious fellow students on
campus.
"Back home, we only have McDonald's, Kentucky (Fried Chicken) and
some pizza places," she said. "In Europe, everyone cooks and
we don't go out to restaurants so often."
Hasalikova, now majoring (appropriately enough) in American Studies, had
no relatives who have ever visited the United States but the idea of coming
here had been with her for a while when she was contacted by Long Beach
State coach Brian Gimmillaro last winter.
"A friend of mine in Europe told me about her," he said.
After checking out some video footage and doing research on her academic
background and club team status (she was an amateur, meaning that wouldn't
be an issue with the NCAA), he began to recruit her in earnest.
"I was finishing my studies (at Masaryk University) so it was like,
`What do I want to do now?' she said.
She knew a few volleyball players who had played at colleges in the U.S.
and when Gimmillaro called offering a scholarship, well ...
"My parents were great ... they had always given me a lot of freedom,"
she said.
So they signed off on the venture almost immediately.
"My father," she said, smiling again, "he looked at Long
Beach on the Internet."
Her boyfriend?
"He wasn't so happy (initially)," she added. "But he figured
it would be a good experience and a way to improve my life and help my
job (opportunities) in the future."
Her teammates, especially Crum, have become her "support system"
with her communication with her family and boyfriend limited to e-mail
and "conversations" via the computer program "Skype."
"We're trying to be her connection to all of the other things in
life here (other than volleyball)," Crum said. "She really doesn't
offer any opinions yet. She just `listens and absorbs, listens and absorbs.'
It's too early for feedback yet."
Crum laughed.
"But," she said, "I can't wait until she does start offering
it."
When she sees more of this country - "I've only been around the campus,
and to the beaches (Manhattan and Huntington, courtesy Crum)," she
said. "But I'm going to see the Grand Canyon and Arizona when I visit
Mariko" - she will, no doubt.
And it will help when she feels she can articulate all she needs to in
English.
She can't do that now.
"I don't know," she said, when asked about what she misses most
about her country, and her loneliness.
"I'm not so good at English so it is hard to explain what I am feeling."
She has an expansive English vocabulary when it comes to describing the
emotions she felt when she came onto the Walter Pyramid floor when the
team opened the season against the University of Missouri Tigers.
"It is so amazing and so exciting," she said. "It is such
a good atmosphere. In Czech, we might get two or three hundred to watch
our matches. Here, we have 1,500 every time!"
The 49ers, with 12-4 overall and 3-1 Big West Conference records, play
host to UC Davis tonight and the University of Pacific on Saturday evening.
Once the season is over, though, who knows?
One is liable to cross paths anywhere Crum or another teammate - or her
roller skates - take her.
That's right.
"I like all sports - swimming, tennis (her primary activity until
taking up volleyball at 13) and roller skating," she said.
"I brought my skates with me to the U.S. but I haven't used them
yet."
Don't worry, Misha ... you'll have plenty of opportunity.
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