As Yarden Garzon stepped on the Xfinity Center court for her first game as a Maryland Terrapin, a single Israeli flagged waved in the first row of the stands. Garzon, born and raised in Raanana in central Israel, has staved off loneliness and despair half a world away from her twin sister and the family she adores during a terrifying two-year war.
When Indiana’s all-time leader in three-pointers entered the transfer portal during the offseason, the decision went well beyond basketball. Retaining a connection to her Israeli roots and Jewish community was a priority when Garzon headed to Indiana. Three years later, and after the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing two-year war, having that dynamic and a safe space became even more vital. Maryland, with 6,500 Jewish students on campus and 25-plus Jewish groups, according to Maryland Hillel, felt comfortable.
“I wanted to go home so bad,” Garzon said about Oct. 7. “And I know so many friends who just wanted to leave everything they do here and just go home and help with something. Just [sitting here] and just living my life like nothing [was] happening, I felt kind of really crazy.
“So I used my platforms as much as I could to do something and raise the awareness and, in my little world, try to still do something for Israel and for the hostages and for our people.”
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The Maryland branch of Hillel, a Jewish student organization operating at over 850 college campuses, has helped offset the anxiousness. Garzon has attended programs and events, including for Yom Kippur. Some 800 people attended a Shabbat dinner in which Rabbi Ari Israel had to introduce Garzon twice, with attendees spilling into two different rooms. She has also connected with the cultural group Mishelanu for people with Israeli backgrounds.
Garzon didn’t want to be alone, and College Park quickly proved that wouldn’t be an issue. Israeli flags have begun to appear inside the Xfinity Center more often, and a large group of Hillel students are planning to attend a game together to show support.
“That is a way that people handle that, for her not to be in isolation,” Israel said. “For her not to be a target. She is a figure, a personality, a co-captain of [one] the top 10 teams in the country, but she’s also a 22-year-old college student.
“People want to help each other. And that we’re finding, in a world where there’s hate and people trying to divide, the answer and the antidote is engaging, expressing help, showing people they’re not alone and being able to withstand that pressure when people attack or try to disparage.”
Still, no one can fill Yuval Garzon’s shoes. The twin sisters shared a bedroom until they were 12. And even afterward, Yuval would slip over to sleep in the same room with her sister. Whether it was trips to the beach or chatting until someone dozed off, the pair were essentially inseparable. Yuval will make her first trip to Maryland near the end of December, and both are giddy with anticipation. They still talk every day, but each has her own life and friend groups. Yuval is eager to meet Yarden’s dog.
“We both feel the most ourself when we’re with each other,” Yarden said. “It’s hard for her to understand what I’m going through. And a lot of times it’s hard for me to understand what she’s going through.”
Yarden also has a brother, Dvir, and an older sister, Lior, who played college basketball at Colorado. But it was Yuval who dragged Yarden to her first basketball practice. Yuval was the one who wanted to play ball but didn’t want to go to practice alone, so she made her twin sister tag along. After one practice, Yuval quit.
There were nerves all around as Yarden headed to Indiana. She’d never been apart from Yuval for that long and she barely knew English. Everything was a culture shock, and a seven-hour time difference made phone calls inconvenient. Yuval was only able to make two trips to Indiana in the three years Yarden was there. Things got easier as Yarden found her community, but then the war began during her sophomore year.
Yarden, who tries to stay aware, gets notices on her phone when something happens so she can make sure her family is headed to a bomb shelter or avoids certain areas.
“Overall, growing up in Israel, as crazy as it sounds, you kind of get used to that,” Yarden said. “Every other summer you have operations. Every time you, like, hear missiles are coming to the south. You hear about people that got killed and you have to, like, deal with it. At some point in Israel, you get used to it. That’s life.
“But since October 7th happened, I suddenly understood how much it [shouldn’t be] and how scary it is being away from home and having everything happening in Israel. I couldn’t sleep for weeks and just got worried about where my family is at.”
According to the Israel Defense Forces website, every Israeli citizen over the age of 18 who is Jewish, Druze or Circassian is required to serve in the IDF in some capacity. Men are expected to serve for at least 32 months and women for at least 24. Yarden said she couldn’t talk about her sister’s involvement.
“It’s scary, but I trust her,” Yarden said. “I’m trying to focus on that, that she knows what she’s doing and she’ll be fine.”
Yuval added, “We are fine and we talk about that every day.”
It’s been a bit of slow start for Yarden on the basketball court despite a 5-0 start for No. 9 Maryland. She’s still trying to find the middle ground between being aggressive in hunting her own shot and facilitating for new teammates. Her scoring average of 8.6 points per game is a career low, along with a 32.6 shooting percentage and a 29.0 three-point percentage. She’s never shot below 40.7 percent from behind the arc for a season and 43.1 percent from the field. Shots just haven’t fallen, but there’s no panic as Garzon knocked down a season-high three triples against Princeton on Sunday. Her average of 3.4 assists per game is a career high.
“I’ve been so impressed,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese said. “I didn’t [previously] see her passing and her IQ, her defense. When you talk about the complete all-around player, she’s been that for us. She just plays the right way. She understands the game at a really high level, makes the right reads. Almost too unselfish to a fault right now as she’s trying to fit in, and plays defense really, really hard.”
“She’s just a dream come true to coach. She’s really competitive but also really mature beyond her years.”
That maturity led Garzon to Indiana, where she developed into an all-Big Ten talent. That maturity then took her to Maryland, where she’s found a new, supportive family and was named a team captain. And that maturity has allowed her to know this is all temporary and that one day, hopefully after a successful WNBA career, she’ll find herself back home on the beach with Yuval.
“I miss her and I’ll never get used to it,” Yuval said. “But if she’s happy and living her dream and everything’s good, I’m happy for her. … I really think that when we grow up we’ll live next door [to each other] and we’ll be together and it’s okay.”
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