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Warren's Papadakis is truly enjoying the traveling

Traveling. Girl in the white uniform.

OK, it's actually called a "judo gi."

"I travel, minimum, five times a year out of state," Nefeli Papadakis said.

Traveling is a bad thing in basketball, which Papadakis plays during the winter for Warren's varsity. A 5-foot-4 sophomore guard, she got called up to the varsity about a month into last season. Which suggests that, if she was good enough to earn that promotion, she probably doesn't get whistled for traveling violations often.

Traveling is a good thing when you're an elite athlete who just recently became old enough to own a driver's license.

Papadakis has been driving her judo competitors crazy ever since she tied on a "gi." So while the Blue Devils might not win any championships on the basketball court this winter, they at least have an athlete who's been winning titles since she was a little girl.

Credit Steve Papadakis. He threw, so to speak, his two kids, Nefeli and George, into judo when they were tiny. Nefeli was 4½. When she was 5, she had her first local competition. Two years later, she was competing nationally. The following year, at the old age of 8, she captured her first national competition.

"He signed us up supposedly for recreational purposes," Nefeli, who describes judo as a combination of wrestling with submissions, said of her dad. "But then I started competing and I was excelling, so we kept pushing on and training. I ended up loving it."

In 2010, she made her first Pan-American team and competed in Panama. In 2012, she qualified for the team championships again and won gold in Mexico. Last year, she moved up in age division (Cadet, under 18) and qualified for the World Team Championships in Miami. While she didn't place, she still represented Team USA and was beyond proud of that.

Then last month, Papadakis headed back to Miami and flashed her martial-art skills at the Junior World Judo Championships (under-21 division).

"I didn't place there, but I represented (Team USA) and I gave it my all," said Papadakis, who trained two-plus hours every day in preparation for the event. She trains at her dad's dojo in Waukegan.

Next year's world championships are in Serbia. Last summer, Papadakis traveled to Japan to train for two weeks.

"It was awesome," said Papadakis, who also trained in Greece a few years ago.

She plans on seeing the world some more. In two years, the Olympics take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Come 2020, we could see Papadakis wearing her "gi" in Tokyo, Japan.

"I know I'm young," said Papadakis, who turned 16 last month. "But I'm still going for 2016."

Realistically?

"I'm more likely a 2020 hopeful," she said.

In the meantime, she'll apply what she's learned in judo on the basketball court.

Opposing ballhandlers, beware.

"I found that the best correlation between the two (sports) for me is definitely the hand-eye coordination and body movement," Papadakis said. "Especially when I'm playing defense, I think my quickness and agility are the most beneficial."

Funny, Papadakis has a high school basketball teammate who's also been afforded, thanks to sports, the opportunity to travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Warren senior Brittny Ellis, who accepted a track scholarship this week from the University of Miami, ran the 400 meters in China this summer.

"We both understand how hard you work for something you really love," Papadakis said, "how much you push through, no matter what - the sweat, the frustration, whatever it may be - how much you have to persevere and push through everything and anything to get to the top."

The sacrifices continue this weekend for Papadakis, who travels to Dallas to compete in a judo tournament. That means no basketball for her.

At least she'll still be working on her shots.

Follow Joe on Twitter: @JoeAguilar64

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