Busy Summer:  Nadine Fahoum Transfers to Duke from ODU

 DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University women's tennis head coach Jamie Ashworth announced the addition of Nadine Fahoum to the 2010-11 roster. Fahoum is a senior transfer from Old Dominion who will be joining the Blue Devil tennis squad.

"Bringing someone into our program with as much experience and success as Nadine has had will be a great thing," Ashworth said.  "We have been fortunate enough to see her play quite a few times and the fight and determination she has on the court will help guide our team throughout the year.  We are looking forward to seeing her compete as a Blue Devil and know that she will be a great addition to the Duke community both on and off the tennis court."

Fahoum, born in Haifa, Israel, joins the Blue Devils coming off of a stellar season last year at Old Dominion. She was the 2010 Colonial Athletic Association Co-Player of the Year in 2010 and earned first team All-CAA in singles and doubles in both 2009 and 2010. Fahoum earned a trip to the NCAA tournament in doubles play each of the past two seasons.

Last season, Fahoum finished the season ranked 37^th and led ODU to a 15-10 record. She started at No.1 singles and posted an overall record of 37-6 in singles and 25-11 in doubles.

In her sophomore season, Fahoum was nationally ranked and led ODU to a 19-7 record and a national ranking. She started at No.1 singles and posted an overall record of 29-8 and was 21-4 in duals. In doubles in 2008-09, Fahoum earned a trip to the ITA National Indoor Championships after winning the ITA East Regional Championship. She finished the season with an overall record of 35-11 in doubles.

Swimming / Power pair of the pool

U.S. college students Gal Nevo and Guy Barnea spearhead Israel's drive for an Olympic medal

By Uri Talshir, Ha'aretz        

  Israel's most accomplished swimmers have little room for doubt when taking decisions that affect their careers. As youths, they are housed and nurtured in a special boarding school run by the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports, where they are subjected to rigorous instruction by famed swimming coach Leonid Kaufman. Later they fly to the United States, where they enroll at colleges and universities that enable them to develop professionally while also earning an academic degree along the way.

Gal Nevo and Guy Barnea, the two most talented swimmers that Israel has produced in this generation, and will be representing the country at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest this week, fit this pattern. The only choices left for them to make is where they wish to practice and what they would like to study.

"The elite athlete status that I received from the army gave me the option of going out and realizing my dream," says Barnea, who was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley and is pursuing a degree in business administration. "I got there at age 19 and knew it wouldn't be easy for me to be so far away from home, getting accustomed to studies in another language and acclimating to a new social environment. But my goal was to become a better swimmer and knew that [Berkeley] was one of the best programs in the world."

Nevo ended up in Arizona State, but after two years there decided to transfer to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where he reunited with a group of five Israeli friends. "I missed being around Israelis, and there was a coach [at Georgia Tech] who came highly recommended," he says. "From an academic standpoint, it is also a better school [than Arizona State]." Nevo is working toward a degree in economics.

              Guy Barnea (left) and Gal Nevo 

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