After Danielle Steinberg finished high school in her hometown of Tel Aviv, Steinberg had to do what every Israeli citizen has to do: serve in the Israeli army.

Two years later, she is now serving in a different manner 7,500 miles away: on the tennis courts at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, Ariz.

A competitive tennis player in Israel since she was eight years old, Steinberg had always wanted to play at the college level and eventually go professional. She chose the UA solely based on what she had read about the school and the athletic program on the Internet, as well as what coaches told her in letters and over the phone, and moved here after her two-year army service was up.

When Steinberg started at the UA, she was a 21-year-old freshman, something that is common in Israel, but not in the U.S.

"It's funny," said Steinberg, now a junior. "In Israel my friends are just now starting to think about going to college. When I graduate I'll be 24 or 25, which is old in American terms because here you start at 18, but back home, this is usually around the age that you start college. It was kind of funny for me to be a 21-year-old freshman. I was definitely the oldest freshman there was."

Now at the age of 23, she has established herself as a team leader.

Steinberg comes from a country that doesn't care too much about sports, besides the occasional Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer and basketball games. Steinberg said the tradition of college sports in America differs greatly from the athletic landscape in Israel.

Even though she won the Israeli doubles championship in 2002 and was runner-up at the Israeli Championship in 2004, she was never treated like a star athlete, as she would have been in the U.S.

"The first week I was here, when I saw the facility and the amount of people involved, I was shocked," she said. "As an athlete, I've never been treated with such respect because it's not really a big priority in Israel, especially tennis."

The last time Steinberg was in her home country was during the summer of 2006, when Israel was at war with the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah. Although Steinberg stayed in relatively peaceful beach city of Tel Aviv, because there was a lot of bombing in the northern part of Israel, mainly around Haifa, several members of her family were forced to move from that area.

"I think her army experience has helped her feel more comfortable in a leadership role," said head coach Vicky Maes. "She was not afraid to take charge, even as a freshman. She saw what needed to be said or done and did it, unafraid of how people would react.

"I believe her background has helped her mature much faster than some other kids would. This has allowed her to adjust quicker and produce immediately. She beat a lot of top-10 players last year, and that speaks for itself."