Jennifer Fleischer is all smiles once again.
After graduating from the Penn basketball program last season, the 22-year-old center will now continue her playing career, this time in the professional ranks. She has signed a contract to play for Anda Ramat Hasharon, a pro team in Israel, an Israeli players agency announced.
For Fleischer, playing overseas after college was the objective all along. "I've known I wanted to play overseas since I was about in eighth grade," she said. "I had played in the Maccabiah games last summer, and because of that a lot of the teams in Israel had seen me play and knew what I was capable of doing."
Commonly known as the 'Jewish Olympics' and recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the Maccabiah games gave Fleischer her first taste of foreign competition. All she did was lead the U.S. to a gold medal, putting up 20 points and 18 rebounds in the Americans' finals win over -- who else? -- Israel.
Now, she may have a chance to help a team to the Olympics, as she will also join the Israeli National Team in addition to her pro commitment. The Israeli players agency which announced her hiring boasted in a statement that she "is expected to make a major impact."
Fleischer said that the National Team offers her a great chance to sample a new level of competition before the professional regular season starts, mentioning Turkey, Finland and Bulgaria as future venues for that team.
For the 6-foot-3 Fleischer, though, competing in Israel wasn't the only option. "Originally, I had actually wanted to explore my options," she said. "So I ended up getting an agent who could help me." That agent, one of several recommended to her by Penn coach Pat Knapp, helped her land a contract with Ramat Hasharon.
"As long as she wants to follow through with it, it'll be a great two, three, four years, whatever she wants to do with it," Knapp said.
He was quick to add, though, that her commitment would not be an easy one.
"These clubs are very serious about winning and losing," Knapp said. "What Jen was shooting for and what [her agent] was shooting for was a high level, a Division I level of play in Europe. ... It's serious business -- if the Americans don't do their job, they send them home. If the coach doesn't do [his] job, they fire the coach."
Fleischer will need only to look on her own bench for evidence of that, as she will be playing for legendary coach Orna Ostfeld, coming off a Woman of the Year nod by the IOC last year. Also competing on the squad are three-time WNBA All-Stars Cheryl Ford and Deanna Nolan, both of whom won a WNBA title with the Detroit Shock in 2003.
Other international flavor on the team includes Bess Greenberg of Binghamton University and Ana Jokovic of Serbia and Montenegro. Fleischer will be playing for the team under the label "Israeli," though, not as a foreign national.
Fleischer said that right now her focus remains squarely on taking advantage of the opportunity presented to her.
"As there is in college basketball, there are different levels of professional basketball, and I definitely took that into consideration," Fleischer said. "This particular team that I signed with ... is one of the best teams there is, and that was a big question for me because it is going to be a huge jump."
She will likely be matched up against a higher level of athleticism overseas than she faced in college, and both she and Knapp point to her quickness, her court awareness and her offensive game as areas to work on in the coming months.
As for Knapp, he couldn't be happier for his former player.
"I think they have a strong league: it's competitive, and it's well attended. They get great crowds," he said of the Israeli basketball scene. And on top of that, "they're probably paying her a nice chunk of change."
And does Fleischer want to continue playing for as long as possible?
"Right now, that's the plan," she said. "I have a degree in bioengineering. I know I'm definitely coming back to that, but right now I'm just interested in becoming the best basketball player I can be."
