 Dainora grateful to all, including a loving husband
Nerijus' all-around play understated, but appreciated
Advertiser Staff
It has been three years since Nerijus and Dainora Puida first decided to go one-on-one. The winner that fateful night was the University of Hawai‘i.
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| Dainora and Nerijus Puida found love and basketball when they came to America four years ago. The couple will graduate in May 2002 and hope to play professionally in Europe.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The date was Valentine’s Day, 1998. The place was Weatherford, Texas — a far piece from paradise, but not nearly as far as Lithuania, where both were born and raised.
The occasion called for flowers, candy and balloons and Nerijus had all waiting, in abundance, in Dainora’s room after her basketball game.
"I knew if I didn’t start something I would lose her," he says now. "A lot of guys were looking at Dainora."
The two had known each other seven years at that point.
"We were different," Dainora says. "It just took me a while to get to know him better. It took a long time, but I knew he would be a good boyfriend."
She hadn’t exactly made an instant impact on Nerijus either. "I like how she looked," he recalls, "but not how she acted."
In the women’s game, her look is imposing. Dainora is the 6-foot-4 post player from the big city (Siauliai), who is a ferocious rebounder and feathery shooter. He is the graceful 6-foot-5 small forward from a small town (Sakiu Raj), who has an uncanny ability to make everyone around him better.
They were married July 10, 1999, a few months after committing to Hawai‘i’s basketball programs as a "package deal." It was an American ceremony in Weatherford.
"Lithuanian weddings take two, three days," Nerijus says. "This was too long."
Their families met for the first time that day in Lithuania, celebrating long distance. Dainora and Nerijus plan to go back this summer, for the first time in three years.
But this week they are together with their teammates at the Williams Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. It is an end and a beginning for the seniors, who will both graduate in May 2002 and hope to play professionally in Europe.
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