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12/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2000
By Jay Reddick
If anyone reading this has connections in television or films, Olivia Dardy would like to talk to you.
Dardy is hopeful of jump-starting an acting career when she graduates from Wake Forest next spring. She caught the acting bug after taking a class in mime from James Dodding, and during that semester. she moved from not being sure what she wanted to do with her life to wishing for her one big break.
"I'm just hoping that maybe one day I'll start talking to some of the right people," Dardy said. "If I did know anyone, I'd call them in a heartbeat."
Dardy's love for acting may have grown from her tendency to be a comedian in the locker room and during practices, helping to keep her women's basketball teammates positive and loose.
It's worked for them: four Deacons called her "the teammate who makes me laugh the most." And, most importantly, the team was 5-2 heading into the exam break.
Dardy says her antics, which include everything from imitations to virtual stand-up routines, have served as a sort of icebreaker to bring people together.
"This year, we have had the closest team," Dardy said. "I think it's been one of the keys to winning. Winning doesn't just come from things on the court. You have to develop a relationship outside of that to know what people like and what they don't like. That energy is brought onto the court."
Wherever it comes from, Dardy always brings plenty of energy to the Deacons' games. Through seven games, she has found herself among the team's leaders in scoring -- all this despite coming off the bench all season.
But then, with only three career starts, Dardy's used to that. She's just happy to be playing at all after missing all but 10 games last season because of knee surgery. Healthy now, she has returned to her customary role as sixth person, and she's loving it.
"We need a spark from anywhere -- off the bench, wherever," Dardy said. "We have to keep that energy level up. I do what I think can benefit us in the long run."
On a team where just about everyone is receiving significant minutes, Dardy is among the most indispensable pieces. As the top reserve at both power forward and center, the 6-foot-2 Dardy brings an inside-outside game her bigger teammates don't have, along with the passing game needed to get others involved. She has shown a special knack for connecting with the team's four freshmen and often appears on the court with several of them at once.
"I think the freshmen look up to me," Dardy said. "That's not to say they don't do the same with others, it's just different. A whole bunch of it is based on laughter. They're comfortable with me, on and off the court. I don't consciously say I play better with the freshmen, it just works out that way."
Another part of that bond may come from the fact that Dardy remembers what it was like at the bottom rung of the ladder. She started to play basketball in kindergarten, at her older brother's urging, but it was years before she got serious about it. During that time, she would try to get into her brother's games with older friends but would be picked last or not at all. She values that time for teaching her what it took to get in the game.
Dardy also knows from experience that freshmen have plenty to contribute -- she averaged 8.1 points a game as a first-year player herself, leading the team in field-goal percentage at .483. As a sophomore, she led the Deacons in rebounds and steals, but she felt her performance didn't live up to standards. A lost season in 1999-2000 only stoked the fire she had to prove herself this time around.
"I used to be concerned with what others said, but with my knee injury, I felt I had to change something," Dardy said. "I had an OK freshman year, sophomore year I didn't do well, and junior year I was hurt. I was still worried about all that. Now my attitude is, what am I thinking and how can I change to make myself happier? You can't let things bother you. Is it really stopping me from going on with my day? If not, I let it go."
Of course, victories play a big role in that positive attitude.
"You get a different look when you're winning," Dardy said. "You're more confident, very optimistic and more willing to put in the effort, whereas if you were losing, you start thinking, ?Why are we still doing this?' It changes your whole perspective on things."
All of it -- the acting, the senior status, but most of all, the victories -- have Dardy looking forward to what the future holds.
"I'm just happy," Dardy said. "I get the opportunity to play another year. And to know that we're winning now and I'm healthy and can be a part of it --- it's a whole different feeling."