Swing kids

Spiker freshmen begin careers with a bang

Being a massively built volleyball player more than 6 feet tall makes the intimidation of being a freshmen a little easier for 6-foot-6 George Papadakis and 6-foot-2 Steve Aird. After all, they both could unknowingly crush the average frosh under foot while running to class.

These true freshmen began their volleyball careers at Penn State this past weekend in the Nittany Lion Invitational. The lower level competition allowed Papadakis and Aird to get a little taste of their new homes on their own court.

The combination of two seasons with the Greek Junior National Team and appearances in Volleyball Magazine brought him to the attention of the Penn State coaching staff.

Papadakis proved a worthy asset in the tournament. In all four matches played this past weekend, coach Mark Pavlik inserted young players like Papadakis into the third games to test their skills. Papadakis' unlimited energy on the court helped spark his inexperienced Lion teammates to victory in close games.

Fellow swing hitter Aird also aided the Lions in similar situations. He registered an average of 2.5 kills per game, a high percentage considering his limited court appearances. Aird, like Papadakis, was also a strong force on the court.

"Especially (Friday) night -- George and Steve are freshmen -- both came off the bench and just added a lot of fire, which won the third game (Friday) night, and they really helped out the team," said defense specialist Dan Schall.

Along with a strong performance in this season's home opener, Aird shares another common feature with Papadakis -- being a foreigner.

This Canadian from London, Ontario, learned volleyball at Oakridge High School. The Ontario school system includes five years of high school, which allowed Aird to develop his skills longer than the average freshman athlete. He also improved his ability while participating for two seasons with his country's Junior National Volleyball Team.

Both Aird and Papadakis also agree on the difficulty in adjusting to the American style of volleyball.

"It (volleyball) is more physical here," Aird said. "Once you get to the university (level), players are much bigger, stronger and jump a lot higher."

Aird also included the speed of the game as factor to which he had to adjust. Internationally, he said, volleyball is played much slower than in the United States.

Papadakis supported his teammate's observations and concurred with Aird's difficulty in adjusting.

"The game they (Americans) play (is) more fast," Papadakis said. "The practices are more harder than what I did at home."

The adaptation which both freshmen faced did not show in their performances at Penn State's tournament. Their intensity, however, did surface in every play.

"They saw us (the starters) play two games and then they had to go out and play a game just coming off the bench," said middle blocker Sergio Pampena. "They kept the intensity up and have the capability of playing really well."

Though miles away from their homes, Aird and Papadakis appear comfortable on Penn State's home court.