Friday, March 27, 1998
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Naveh Milo attacks the net against
Penn State earlier this year.
Milo comes of age
with the Rainbows
"I wish everybody in Israel
By Cindy Luis
could experience what I've
experienced here in Hawaii..."
Star-BulletinIn a place halfway around the world from home, Naveh Milo has found peace.
Three years removed from living the daily horrors of soldiers dying and bombs exploding in Israel, Milo has found perspective.
The senior captain for the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team knows about life-and-death situations. The former soldier in the Israeli Army also knows that tonight's match against Stanford is not one of those situations.
Defeating the Cardinal tonight and tomorrow would go a long way toward helping the Rainbows win the Pacific Division title of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. And that is the only battle in which Milo wants to be involved.
"The fighting is not as bad as you read in the papers, but to people in Israel, it is a way of life," said the 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Kibbutz-Sarid. "The most terrible thing, in my opinion, is that good people actually get used to it. It's not that the people in Israel are cruel, but when you live in that situation for so many years, sometimes you don't know it's wrong any longer.
"When I came here, I realized that," he added. "I wish everybody in Israel could experience what I've experienced here in Hawaii because then things could be different there. They just have to see that life can be different than having troubles all the time. That's why I like it so much here. It's a different life."
Life in a Rainbow uniform was almost an afterthought. Milo asked Israeli national teammate Oren Sher, who had played at UCLA, what U.S. colleges to apply to.
"I'm writing down these names from Oren of the top programs to send videotapes," Milo said. "At the very end, maybe the 10th school, he says, 'Oh, send one to Hawaii. It's a nice place, nice weather.'
"So I did. It was the last school I sent a tape to."
Out went 10 highlight tapes addressed to "Men's Volleyball Coach" at various schools. Except for a nibble from Penn State, Milo didn't hear from anyone until he received a letter from Rainbow coach Mike Wilton.
"No, it wasn't our normal recruiting procedure," Wilton said. "But the more we got to know Naveh through phone conversations, letters and faxes, it became apparent that he was a real quality person.
"It was obvious from the tape that he was a good player. He's very intelligent, has brought a lot of leadership to the team, even more so this year with so many new players. He's been a real steady player for us, anchors our passing, is having his best defensive year in the back row. He has always been a hammer for us in the left-front (position).
"Where would we have been without him this year? Very lost."
It took a while for Milo to find his way to Hawaii. After being recruited, "I chickened out about coming," the 26-year-old Milo said.
In his place came middle blocker Sivan Leoni, now a senior, and Yuval Katz, a two-time All-American and the MVP of the 1996 NCAA Tournament. His two countrymen convinced Milo to come to Hawaii.
"It's changed my life in every way," he said. "I grew up here. Maybe I thought I was old when I came, but I was a little kid. I grew up in life.
"Everyone has their own individual age when they mentally grow up. It can be the age of 18, the age of 16. For me it happened at the age of 24, when I came here. It was the most important step in my life."
From the first day, Milo fit into the island lifestyle. Katz took him to L&L Drive-In for his first meal; Milo went back to eat every day for a week.
Learning conversational English was a bigger hurdle. Milo admits he only looked at the pictures in the media guide Wilton sent five years ago "because I couldn't read English very well," he said. "I think I had maybe 10 percent. Now it's more like 70 percent of having perfect English."
And Milo is a perfectionist. He was a four-time Israeli national champion gymnast, giving up the sport when he literally grew out of it.
"It was obvious that I would never become a high-level gymnast because I was going to be tall," Milo said. "I'm still short in terms of volleyball, but very tall for gymnastics. But I think gymnastics helped me build strong legs and gave me my flexibility.
"Defense comes to me more naturally. I'm used to throwing myself on the floor. I don't even think about it. For some players, before they dive, it's like, 'Timber!' It's like an event to them."
For Milo, defense is a floor exercise he has turned into a perfect score of '10.' He currently leads the country in dig average (3.06 dpg) and is only the third Rainbow player to record 1,000 kills and 600 digs in a career, joining All-Americans Allen Allen and Carlos Briceno.
"Naveh is a smart player," Leoni said. "Not being that tall, he has to be. He's a very good team captain, too. He shows leadership, sets a good example on the court and in the weight room. He's been a good teammate."
Leoni expects Milo to be a good business partner, too. The pair have several projects in the works for when their eligibility expires in May, and they plan to base their operations out of Hawaii.
Although Milo intends to return to Israel and play professionally in Europe, he also expects to return to Hawaii to live.
"I don't want to quit playing yet, and I want to keep playing as long as I can," Milo said. "But 10 years from now, I would like to be living here. You can be safe. You can be happy."
The Milo File
6-2 senior
10 double-doubles (kills-digs)
Fourth, service aces (90)
Fourth, digs (630)
Ninth, kills (1,045)
Ninth UH player to reach 1,000 kills
Fourth UH players to reach 600 digs
One of three UH players to reach 1,000 kills and 600 digs
1997-98 UH Men’s Volleyball
Schedule and Recordhttp://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
