THE life of a sportsperson is rarely predictable, but in the case of Solveiga (Soly) Stasaityte Cailliere, the last decade and a half have brought more unforeseens than the usual ups and downs of the sports ladders: ending up in Bermuda, working in the hospitality industry and marrying a Frenchman.

Born in Kaunas, Lithuania when it was part of the Soviet Union, Ms Cailliere won the ladies' doubles badminton title in Lithuania's National Junior Championships in 1988, followed by singles and doubles wins in 1990 and 1992.

At senior level, she won doubles every year from 1991 to 1993, and the ladies' singles titles in 1993. These were also the first years of Lithuania's independence, declared in 1990 but gained upon the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

She did not stop her badminton career because of independence, but because she started university. "There was no time," she said.

Even if independence did not extinguish the Lithuanian Badminton Federation, which was founded in May 1962, life and the future did change: when Ms Cailliere left Kaunas University with her degree in Business Administration, life was difficult.

"It wasn't easy for older people to switch, and even for young people, it was very hard. You also have to pay for studies now.

"I never worked in my country at all. I finished university and right away joined a cruise ship," she said.

Once she joined the world's tourism community, choices opened up and multiplied. She had friends who told her about Bermuda, and she also visited the island during the Caribbean cruises she worked on.

"Oh, I loved it from the first time I saw it," she remembered. "Out of all the islands I saw, I loved Bermuda the best. It was clean, and a more European style than the Caribbean islands."

Now working at Blue Juice and Tuscany's, Ms Cailliere previously worked for two-and-a-half years at MEF Ltd, in the Little Venice Restaurants.

She also met her husband here, a Frenchman who has been working in Bermuda for 14 years, and they were married this April in Paris.

"We're not planning to go back to Lithuania," she said. "It's still very tough, really hard, out there."

Her parents had a bad experience of privatisation, with her father losing his bank job and the office building where her mother, a photographer, worked being closed out by the majority buyers, even though the workers held privatisation shares.

"A lot of those things don't exist here in Bermuda. It will take time," she concluded. "For us, life is much better here. Maybe we don't live in a huge apartment, but there is the lifestyle, and we can afford to go out for dinner sometimes."

Another thing keeping them away from Lithuania is climate, she added. Her husband's first impression of Lithuania was of winter-time snow on the lakes at Trakai, and she, too, had acclimatised: "I don't feel like snow!"

The couple may stay in Bermuda for a while, she said, depending on work permits, but their plans for the future, including having a family, are not yet clear.

"I don't want to plan too much. In a couple of years, perhaps settle down a little," she said.

A move to the South of France, was also a possibility, she added, with a small business. "But not anything too big; we don't want to live in debt."

Now at 28, she does continues to do some sport, but her work schedule makes it difficult to have the same commitment as before. "I play tennis a little bit, and a little soccer - I played for the girls' team last year.

"But hours and shifts are always changing. It's hard to have something settled. It's better to do individual sports."