Former Israeli soldier has new life in Tucson

Danielle Steinberg had been a competitive tennis player in Israel since she was eight years old. She had always wanted to play at the college level one day and eventually go professional.

But after her high school career was over in Tel Aviv, Steinberg had to do what every other Israeli citizen has to do: serve in the Israeli army. Now she's doing her serving 7,500 miles away on the tennis courts at the University of Arizona campus, where she moved after her two-year army service was up.

She picked Arizona solely based on what she had read about the school and athletic program on the internet and what coaches told her in letters and over the phone.

When Steinberg entered Arizona, she was a 21-year-old freshman, something that is common in Israel, but not in the U.S.

"It's funny," said Steinberg, now a junior. "In Israel my friends are just now starting to think about going to college. When I graduate I'll be 24 or 25, which is old in American terms because here you start at 18, but back home, this is usually around the age that you start college. It was kind of funny for me to be a 21-year-old freshman. I was definitely the oldest freshman there was."

Now at the age of 23, she's established herself as being the team leader. Steinberg comes from a country that doesn't care too much about sports, albeit the occasional Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer and basketball games. Steinberg said the tradition of college sports in America differs greatly from the athletic landscape in Israel.

"The first week I was here, when I saw the facility and the amount of people involved, I was shocked," she said. "As an athlete, I've never been treated with such respect because it's not really a big priority in Israel, especially tennis."

The last time Steinberg was in her home state of Israel was during the summer of 2006 during their war with the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah. Steinberg stayed in Tel Aviv, a beach city which stayed relatively peaceful during the time because all of the bombs were going off in the northern part, mainly Haifa, but she had several family members who were forced to move from that area because it was not safe.

In 2002 Steinberg won the Israeli doubles championship, and in 2004, she was a runner-up at the Israeli Championship.