Going Pro in Something Other than Sports
Oct. 13, 2008
By Todd Merriett, Bucknell Athletic Communications There is a commercial that airs during the NCAA Basketball Tournament that states there are 380,000 student-athletes and just about every one of them will go pro in something other than sports. That statement is particularly true of student-athletes at Bucknell, especially Gabriel Heiber. Instead of following in the footsteps of recent Bison graduates such Sean Conover (football), Hope Foster (women's basketball) and John Griffin or Charles Lee (men's basketball), who obtained outstanding educations and still signed professional contracts, the men's water polo senior has his eyes focused clearly on becoming a doctor. In the summer of 2007 the entire men's water polo team, even a newly graduated senior, took an overseas training trip to Eastern Europe. The whole squad was there, except Heiber, who was stateside completing an internship in a pre-med program at Yale University as his junior year approached. Heiber, a co-captain on this year's Bison squad that is 9-10 after this past weekend's competitive SoCal Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif., can appreciate the value of education since it was taken away from him as he was growing up. When Heiber was 16, he and his family went on vacation to visit his grandfather in Miami, Fla. At the time Venezuela was experiencing plenty of political unrest and Heiber had not been attending school because they were closed. That vacation has now lasted six years and Heiber has still not returned to his home country on a permanent basis. The first six months Heiber was in Florida he lived with his grandfather, but then his mother, Simy Bendayan de Heiber, made the move to help him out as he progressed through high school. Heiber's father, Dario, continued to live in Venezuela, but made many trips back and forth from the South American country to southern Florida.
"It was a tough time, especially for my mom," remembers Heiber about the transition to the United States. "My brother left home pretty early too, so my leaving made it tough on her. But, it all worked out great"
Part of the reason the situation worked out was Heiber's remarkable water polo ability. Despite hailing from a country known for producing baseball players like John Santana (Mets) and Bobby Abreu (Yankees), Heiber was first exposed to the sport in sixth grade. After moving to Florida he joined the team at Miami Beach High School and helped the talented squad to back-to-back state titles in 2003 and 2004. Heiber was not the only Division I prospect on the team that won more than 60 consecutive games at one point and was coached by a 1972 Olympian. Heiber's teammates scattered to UCLA, Stanford, Fordham and Redlands, one of the best Division III water polo programs in the nation. "Coach was relentless in making us achieve what we were going for, which was a state championship," recalls Heiber, who is trying to help Bucknell to its first conference title in more than 20 years. "We had an outstanding group of guys who had outstanding chemistry and went on to great places." One of those great places was Bucknell, Heiber's home for the last four years. Coming out of high school he knew he wanted to attend a school with great academics to pursue his pre-med goals and one that had very good water polo. Bucknell was the perfect fit. "I knew about Bucknell because of water polo," explains Heiber, who is one of three seniors on this year's young team that features 10 freshmen and sophomores. "I came and visited and liked it. I knew there was a great group of guys here and it was a great school and it has worked out." Among the veterans who Heiber knew from previous encounters in the small water polo community were Brad and Kyle Roslyn and Aaron Platshon. After filling a secondary role to many talented veterans like the Roslyns or Jason Rechel or Mark Masterson, Heiber has been forced to step into more of a leadership role this season. "Gabriel is as passionate a leader as I have ever seen on a team," praises first-year Bison head coach John Abdou, who joined the program as an assistant just prior to Heiber's freshman year. "He has had that passion for water polo from day one and it is special to see how that passion has been focused into leading this team." While Abdou has seen development from Heiber, the center forward claims he has not changed much as a senior. That claim does not show up in the statistics where Heiber surpassed his career high in goals this past weekend and is well past his previous career high with 36 points this season just two-thirds of the way through the regular-season schedule. A veteran of 111 career games, Heiber broke the program record for ejections drawn earlier this year and now has 163 in his four years, including a team-high 44 this year. Known as a physical player, the solidly built Heiber can often be seen thrashing around in front of the goal. His improvement over the years can be partly attributed to Abdou's presence. The California native worked closely with Heiber and classmate and fellow captain Alex Lampley when he was an assistant coach. Abdou held down the center forward position during his playing days at UC Irvine. "It is easy to say we have the best center tandem in the CWPA this year," lauds Abdou. Heiber's freshman campaign at Bucknell was Abdou's first as an assistant, helping them develop what will likely be a long-lasting relationship. "Coach Abdou is many things to me," says Heiber with sincerity. "He is a big brother, a mentor, a friend and a coach. There's definitely a special bond. A coach always gets to see his athletes go through a four-year cycle. For him it was different because he was going through the cycle with us." That cycle will conclude later this fall when the Bison conclude their campaign and Heiber is not looking forward to it, but he knows it is inevitable. "My biggest goal is to finish the season with no regrets, knowing we have done as good as we could have done and trained hard throughout the year," explains Heiber, who has gotten used to the familiar 6 a.m. practices in Kinney Natatorium. "At first I thought it was tough and that I would never get used to such a thing, but now I am used to it," Heiber smiles. "This morning was crazy. I had my alarm set for 5 a.m. and at 4:50 a.m. I was already awake! For the past two months I haven't slept past 6:30 or 7:00. As athletes we aren't really normal college students." While Heiber, who is a biology major with a grade-point average well above 3.0, has adjusted to the morning workouts, it remains to be seen if he will thrive in the late-night study sessions that are sure to be part of his life in the upcoming years as he pursues his medical degree. Based on his success at Bucknell, it is almost a guarantee Heiber will pass with flying colors. Now he just has to figure out where he will be taking those classes. |
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