Andric Is an Import With Extras

Whether leaping across volleyball courts or flying across continents, one thing is always clear: Vladimir Andric is going places.

In the immediate future, Andric, an exchange student from Zagreb, Croatia, is headed to the second round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs with the Laguna Beach volleyball team. He will lead the Artists (14-2) against Huntington Beach (16-1) at 7 Tuesday night at Laguna Beach.

After that, there are bigger things in store for Andric.

He recently signed a letter of intent to attend University of the Pacific this fall and has the ability to be an impact player at the NCAA Division I level.

“When I first saw him play . . . I said, ‘[Whatever college] gets this guy will win the final four,’ ” Laguna Beach Coach James Felton said.

Andric, a 6-foot-8 senior outside hitter, has played with Croatian junior national age-group teams the past four years and competitive club volleyball in his native country.

Recently, Andric decided he had to choose between trying to play volleyball professionally in Europe or continuing his education.

He chose the latter.

“If you are going to play volleyball [professionally in Europe], you have to make a big commitment and it is quite impossible to go to college and do that,” he said with a slight British accent from years of learning from British teachers in Croatia.

The United States, however, offers the best of both worlds in NCAA competition. Andric is not the type to squander the opportunity.

He came to the United States in September with a Washington-based student exchange program called Education U.S.A. He has received A’s in every class he has taken and also earned the highest grades in his class in biology and American history.

“He can sit down and converse with an adult on any facet of anything, art history, geography. He can talk about astronomy or philosophy. He has had a wonderful [education] and he remembers it,” said Fran Duda, who is hosting Andric during his year-long stay.

Andric is an anomaly in a community where young people think much more about MTV than world politics.

“He is much more mature and much more aware of what’s important in your life . . . [and] what’s important in your culture. He is not whimsical. He [sees] that college is more important than becoming a pro volleyball player. He is looking to the future in a very adult way,” Duda said.

It is possible that Croatia’s war forced him to grow up fast.

Andric declined to discuss much about his experience with the war except to say, “occasionally, it wasn’t very safe” and that sirens often sounded, warning about Serbian attacks and sending people scurrying into bomb shelters.

“I think it has impacted him,” Duda said. “He doesn’t talk about it a lot either because it is so significant or maybe he is just trying not to think about it.”

Andric, reserved and thoughtful, often surprises people with his politeness.

“A couple coaches from Croatia were coming out and he asked a couple days in advance if they could watch practice,” Felton said. “We have people come into our gym all the time and half the time I don’t even know who they are.”

Andric is not the first outstanding foreign player to grace the Artist gym in recent years. Last year it was 6-6 Peter Kodacsy and in 1994 it was 6-10 Szilard Kovacs, exchange students from Hungary. Kodacsy is a freshman at Pepperdine and Kovacs is a sophomore at USC.

Andric has given Laguna Beach, which returned only one starter from last season, a much-needed boost. Playing outside hitter, Andric’s involvement in the match is maximized.

“To get somebody as big as he is in that position is huge,” Felton said. “It [is] like having Magic Johnson at point guard. Because he is so big, he can do so much to influence the game.”

Newport Harbor (9-7) noticed that Friday, when Andric had 47 kills to lead Laguna Beach to a five-game victory in the first round of playoffs.

The Artist volleyball team isn’t the only beneficiary of Andric’s visit to Southern California.

Duda and her husband, Steve Reynard, doctors in Laguna Beach, have hosted four exchange students during the past four years. Duda and Reynard were exchange students and wanted to return the favor. They also say hosting exchange students has benefited their children, John, a junior at Stanford, Brent, a freshman at California, and Tyler, a sophomore and starter on the volleyball team at Laguna Beach.

“These young people are wonderful. They give us more than we ever give back to them,” Duda said.

Andric finds Laguna Beach very different from Zagreb--his eyes widen when he talks about the spacious homes here. He also said he finds people slightly more superficial than in Croatia, but pleasant nonetheless.

“What I like [about the United States] is that everyone is kind and people are very open-minded and have a lot of goals and creativity,” he said.

Likewise, many people in Laguna Beach find similar qualities in Andric.