Far from home
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 11, 2000 9:00 p.m.
Cal Sports Info Eldad Hazar
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Three years ago, Eldad Hazor packed his belongings, boarded a
plane in his native Israel, and headed to America. He arrived on
the Berkeley campus, introduced himself to the men’s water
polo coaching staff, and then informed them that he came to
play.
Now that’s confidence.
“We didn’t hear about him,” Cal head coach
Peter Asch said. “We didn’t recruit him or anything of
that nature. He flew himself over here and just showed
up.”
Hazor said he wasn’t too nervous about making the trip,
even though English was his second language and he had no
guarantees.
“You always have concerns, but on the other hand, I like
to try new things,” the senior driver said. “I like to
see the world, I like to meet new people.
“I can’t deny that I didn’t have any concerns,
but on the other hand, you can always go back (home) and say,
“˜I tried,’ and do something else.”
But he came, he started and now, three years later, Hazor is the
one of the most dominant forces on a Cal team ranked second in the
nation.
“He’s one of the leaders of their team, and a very
smart player,” UCLA head coach Adam Krikorian said.
 Cal Sports Info Cal driver Eldad Hazor
scores past the USC goalie in a match against the Trojans last
week. The top-ranked Bruins will face Hazor and the other Golden
Bears this Saturday. Cal has only played UCLA once this season, in
which they lost 10-7.
Hazor started playing water polo 12 years ago at age 12, as
water polo was big in his hometown of Tivon. There, he only got
better as he kept playing; he even practiced while fulfilling his
country’s two-year military requirement after high school
graduation in 1994.
After the requirement ““ in which Hazor said only that he
“served in the logistical unit” ““ he went to
Oranim College in Tivon for a year, and then made the decision to
come to the U.S.
“I was looking to (get) a higher education, as well as
playing water polo at a higher level,” Hazor said.
“That’s the reason.”
Though he heard about powerhouses UCLA, Stanford and USC, Cal
was the only school he considered.
That first year he scored 17 points. His sophomore year he was
fourth on the team with 27 points, and by his junior season he was
second with 30 points.
So far this year Hazor has helped Cal to a 6-4 overall, 2-1
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record. He’s also second
on the team with 19 goals.
He’s come a long way, from being the guy no one heard of
to being one of the leaders of the team.
“You can tell he directs the players, like a point guard
does in basketball. He’s the one telling them where to go,
what to do,” Krikorian said.
Last week he earned MPSF Player of the Week honors ““ the
second in his career ““ when he scored the winning goal to
lead his team to a 9-8 upset of then-No. 1 USC.
This week, he’s focusing on the Saturday game against the
now-No. 1 Bruins.
“I definitely think that UCLA right now is the best team
in the nation,” he said. “They’re ranked No. 1,
but it’s not just about the rankings, it’s about the
way they play together. They’re a very, very experienced team
with a lot of maturity.”
The Bruins have the same respect for Hazor’s
abilities.
“Coaching against him, you know he’s going to give
100 percent,” Krikorian said. “He has a strong,
powerful outside shot that can be a problem for us.”
That’s because of Hazor’s determination, according
to his coach.
“I think he’s a very determined young man who took
the risk upon himself to come all the way over here to attend a
school and play in a program,” Asch said. “He had
confidence in himself as an individual.”
Majoring in business, Hazor has been named as an honorable
mention to the MPSF All-Academic team. He also was accepted to
Berkeley’s Hass School of Business.
“He worked very hard academically so that he could get
into that, but he made it in, which is not easy,” Asch said.
“He showed the same determination in academics that he has in
athletics.”
After graduation, Hazor intends to work in the finance industry,
hopefully at an investment bank. Eventually he plans on going back
to Israel.
When he leaves the States, though, he’ll take with him all
the memories of Cal.
“I think it’s a great experience, personally,”
he said. “First of all, being an athlete in college … in
terms of participating in exciting new competitions, traveling,
seeing different parts of America, it’s a great
opportunity.
“I don’t know if I’d have the opportunity to
do that all if I didn’t play water polo.”
Hazor has also had some pretty memorable moments in the
pool.
Like losing to UCLA 12-9 in overtime last year to get knocked
out of contention for the NCAA Final Four. In all his years at Cal
the Golden Bears have not yet made it to the Final Four.
“Being very close, having the feeling that you can make it
““ unfortunately, we didn’t,” Hazor said.
“Hopefully this year. …” he added, and his voice
trailed off.
“That’s the beauty of sports. You can never know,
never predict what can happen in any given day.”
No more than you can predict who will show up on your doorstep
to play water polo.
