Casting a Shadow of Her Own Now

Her nickname is “Paws,” and a simple handshake proves why. Bev Oden’s hands are as wide as waffle irons, her fingers as long as licorice sticks. We compare digits, and hers extend a full inch or so past mine. No wonder a volleyball looks so modest in her hands, as if someone had forgotten to properly inflate it.

These are hands destined for greatness, say those who have watched Oden develop into the national high school player of the year while at Irvine. These are hands bigger than those of her sister Elaina, a two-time volleyball All-American at Pacific; and of sister Kim, captain of the 1988 U.S. Olympic volleyball team and two-time National Collegiate Athletic Assn. player of the year.

They are bigger, yet are they better? And isn’t that the problem with family legacies anyway: the constant comparisons, the unending “Elaina would have done this,” or “Kim would have done that?”

“People would say, ‘She’s an Oden, she should be awesome,’ ” said Joe Sagula, head coach of Oden’s U.S. Olympic Festival East team.

But that is Oden’s fate. It is the penalty of being born into the first family (well, maybe second or third) of volleyball. It is also the fine paid for choosing the same sport and, to make matters more interesting, the same school (Stanford) as the superstar Kim did.

Oden could have gone anywhere. You name the university and Oden probably can find the matching letterhead, what with her many stacks of recruiting mail. But in the end, there was little doubt that Palo Alto would be her next mailing address. In this case, logic triumphed over emotion.

“At first, I didn’t want to go there because Kim had gone there,” she said. “I didn’t want to have to follow in her footsteps for another four years like I did at Irvine. But I got to the point where I decided I should make a decision for where I wanted to go, not because my sister was there.

“Anyway, I’m getting so used to the comparisons, it’s not that big of deal to me anymore. I think I can handle it for four more years.”

Truth is, Oden will have to dodge shadows for the rest of her playing days, Stanford or no Stanford. She is too well known, too prominent to slide through high-profile competitions, such as the Olympic Festival, as anything other than an Oden sister.

“I never thought I would actually be able to follow in my sisters’ footsteps when I started volleyball,” she said. “I thought I was going to be a mess because of all the expectations.”

Instead, she is on the verge of becoming a star.

At 6-foot-2, Oden certainly has the physical dimensions to make an impact. Less predictable is her playing disposition. Opponents, it seems, begin their assessments of Oden with, “She can be a really good player, but . . . “

But what? This is the player of the year we’re talking about here. This is the next generation of U.S. volleyball. Isn’t it?

“She has the potential to be a dominating force internationally,” Sagula said. “But she doesn’t control the situation yet. She has to say, ‘I own this court. I own this net.’ She doesn’t have that personality yet. I haven’t seen that aggressiveness.”

Said Natalie Williams, who has played against Oden, most recently at the Olympic Festival: “She’s really a timid player.”

Picky, picky. After all, there are worse predicaments than to be this good and yet, according to those in the know, untapped. As is, Sagula said, Oden could exert half the effort on her jumps “and still beat everybody here.” And how many players have to move away from the net so they can properly hit a kill shot? Oden does.

“If someone can light a fire under her, she could be devastating,” Sagula said.

Oddly enough, Oden half agrees with those who hesitate to call her the best thing in volleyball since kneepads. But that’s why she’s here, she said, to better her game, to earn a certain measure of respect.

Part of the problem was the rigors of a long and demanding high school season. Two consecutive state championships don’t come without a price. In this case, it was Oden’s desire that suffered.

“It got tiresome and monotonous,” she said.

Sufficiently recharged, Oden has since grown fond of the game again. A veteran of a previous Festival in Raleigh, N.C., Oden said she couldn’t wait to play in another one.

This time, however, she came prepared with a checklist of needed improvements, including shot blocking--”I’m definitely going to have to work on that,” she said; serving and “conditioning and stuff,” which makes you wonder just how she won player of the year in the first place.

But then comes a match, in this instance, an earlier meeting between the East and West teams. Oden is positioned in front of the net on the right flank. There is a pass and then another, this one toward Oden, who adjusts her aim in midair and cranks the ball past the arms of two would-be blockers. It is a devastating shot, enough to make the proud Oden name shine a little brighter.