Video interview with Sebnem Kimyacioglu ('02-'05)

An engaging 10-minute interview with Sebnem Kimyacioglu, one of Stanford's all-time leading 3-point shooters, who played for the Cardinal from 2002-2005. After Stanford, Sebnem played professionally for 4 years in Turkey where her family is from. Thanks go to FBC terrific videographers Don Fidler and Christine Forter for re-connecting us with Sebnem.

Video interview with Katy Steding ('90), Stanford Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist

Katy Steding, member of the Stanford Hall of Fame and an 1996 Olympic gold medalist, played for the Cardinal from 1987 to 1990, including the "magical" year when the 1990 team won the NCAA national championship against Auburn in Knoxville.
Katy talks about that team scoring over 100 points in one-third of its games; the teamwork displayed when all five starters were in double-digits in scoring; Tara's changing assessment on the importance of mental versus physical play; the joys of relationships built in post-Stanford overseas play; the thrill of winning the gold in the '96 Olympics; comparing the ABL to the WNBA; and her current delight in coaching women's basketball at Columbia University in New York.
This 10-minute video was produced by Stanford FBC members Don Fidler and Chrstine Forter.

Jayne on KPIX-5

Jayne appeared on the KPIX-5 Gameshow program Sunday night, taking part in an interview by sports anchor Kim Coyle. The telecast has been posted to the internet. You can watch it here.

Joslyn still has Montana in her heart

Here is an interview with Joslyn published in the Missoulian, her hometown newspaper.

JJ talks to Michelle after Oregon game

From Michelle Smith, LeftCoastHoops:

Stanford senior guard JJ Hones talks after Thursday's home win over Oregon about her knee, her playing time and her being part of the Senior Day celebration on Saturday.

Ros chats about UCLA at LAX

From Michelle Smith (LeftCoastHoops) : Sharing a gate with the Cardinal (and as it turns out, the Cal Bears) at LAX Sunday night and Ros was kind enough to indulge my new venture. Gold-Onwude, the fifth-year senior established a new career high with 18 points in Stanford’s 65-61 win over the Bruins.

Nneka's post-USC-game interview

Michelle Smith conducted this video interview of Nneka following Stanford's 82-62 win over USC in Los Angeles.

Tara on KPIX-5

Tara appeared on the KPIX-5 News Sunday night, taking part in a live cross-talk with sports anchor Dennis O'Donnell. The telecast has been posted to the internet. You can watch it here.

Fundamental fun with Morgan, Krista and Matt

By Judy Richter

Getting the ball through the hoop is the ultimate goal of the game of basketball, but getting it there requires a variety of skills and techniques.

Stanford is helping youngsters learn the fundamentals in clinics led by Morgan Clyburn, ’09, and friends. Open to girls in grades 3 through 8 and boys in grades 3 through 6, the clinics take place in the Arrillaga Practice Gym 90 minutes before the start of some women’s basketball games.

Morgan was unavailable for the second of five clinics on Nov. 29, but a former teammate, guard Krista Rappahahn, ’07, and former practice player, Matt McEvoy, ’09, led the 27 girls and three boys through their paces, starting with a jog around the playing floor, followed by stretches and an air-sea-land game to test reaction time.

Krista had the kids dribble the ball, then toss it high and clap while it’s in the air. Matt led another dribbling drill, this one through the legs. Passing was next on the agenda.

After a water break, the kids got some shooting tips. “The first thing is balance,” Krista said. To shoot a 3-pointer, “Use your legs to get the ball up there.” Keep the elbow under the ball and lined up with the knee. Leave a window between the ball and the hand and keep the non-shooting hand straight. The kids then practiced shooting while the coaches circulated among them to offer individual help.

A dribble-pass relay requiring individuals from each of two teams to run around three cones got the kids’ competitive juices flowing with lots of cheering.

Attending a clinic like this and going to a WBB game gives the kids “a goal you can aspire to,” said Cindy Leonard, a coach with the Cupertino Hoops League. She was there with a friend’s daughter along with about half of their team of 4th through 6th graders. She also said she appreciates the individual attention the kids get and watches for enjoyable drills to incorporate into her team’s routine.

The clinics are organized by Sarah Boruta, video coordinator and marketing liaison for Stanford WBB. Coach Tara VanDerveer, who conducts summer basketball camps, got the idea because she saw the new practice gym as a good place to “reach out to local youth by holding pre-game clinics,” Sarah said in an e-mail. She asked Sarah to “promote the clinics, maintain a data base of registrants and recruit coaches to work,” Sarah said.

Morgan and Matt, who both have coached at the summer camps, developed the format with Tara’s input and approval.

Although Morgan wasn’t at the clinic, she answered some e-mail questions about what she has been doing since graduation. She’s a development engineer at Autonomic Technologies, a start-up in Redwood City. Her duties include working on the design and prototype of the medical device company’s first product, “an implantable neurostimulator to treat headaches,” its web site says. “As with any start-up, “there’s a lot of versatility in position,” Morgan said.

Morgan, a center/forward, did not play during her senior year because of extensive surgery on both feet. “I got to see basketball in a different perspective – from the sidelines,” she said in her e-mail. “It made me really appreciate the coaching aspect of the game. I love kids, and this has been a wonderful opportunity to combine both.

“Ultimately, I’d like to coach at the high school level, but I don’t have the time to commit to a team five days a week,” she said. In the meantime, “I really love my job. I’m hoping to be working in the industry for a long time to come.”

Sarah’s title as marketing liaison marks an expansion of her duties from last year, when she became the video coordinator. Those duties are the same, primarily filming practices and arranging video exchanges with other schools. She also asked fans to record post-season games last year – something she said was helpful and much appreciated.

“As technology advances, I am able to do more to provide for the video needs of our team,” she said. A file encoder that shrinks file size has allowed her to put game files from the past three seasons and this season “on a portable hard drive to take on the road with us. This allows the coaching staff to watch games from the past three years whenever,” she said.

She became involved in marketing because she has an undergraduate degree in graphic design and helped to design promotional materials last year. “Tara asked me to take a bigger role in this because of my creative background,” she said.

Her two primary duties are to create the design elements and graphics for the theme (Game: On) that brands the team this season and to “increase attendance by building awareness of Stanford WBB throughout the community.” She did the design work during the summer, but the other duties are ongoing:

• Work with the marketing department to generate promotion ideas and aid in promotion.
  
• Work with student managers to increase student awareness of WBB.
  
• Set up game day events for groups.
  
• Work with area elementary and middle schools to set up player visits and campus visits.
  
• Set up community service events and public appearances for the team.

Krista, who spoke to the Fast Break Club last season, is a second-year medical student at Stanford. Matt is an intern for Catholic Community at Stanford. He’s in charge of undergraduate programs such as retreats, dinners and Bible study. His undergraduate major was human biology, so – like Krista – he wants to become a doctor.

The clinics continue at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 16, 11:30 a.m. Feb. 7 and 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20. The cost is $10 per child. To register, e-mail Sarah Boruta at sboruta@stanford.edu.

Teamwork keeps team healthy

By Judy Richter

Dr. Elaine Lambert is the team doctor, but she’s quick to credit the other professionals who help to keep Stanford’s women’s basketball players healthy.

“Taking care of a team is definitely a team approach,” she said. “I’m only a small part. There’s a whole group of us that are involved.” Elaine, who has been volunteering her services to the team for 10 years, named staff members like trainer Marcella Shorty, strength and conditioning coach Devan McConnell, and others.

She also has served the women’s volleyball team for 17 years. She has worked with other sports, too, but right now she’s with just those two women’s teams.

Elaine is one of two local physicians (the other is Gerry Keane) who volunteer their services to Stanford athletes. An internist specializing in rheumatology, she maintains her practice at the Sports Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Medicine Associates, or SOAR, clinic in Redwood City – frequently working 12-hour days, even on weekends. Among her SOAR colleagues is Michael Dillingham, who was the San Francisco 49ers’ doctor and Stanford team doctor for many years. The 49ers job has since gone to Stanford.

Even though she’s a volunteer, Elaine is an adjunct clinical professor of sports medicine and rheumatology at Stanford. She’s on campus at least twice a week, working in the sports medicine clinic that cares for the university’s hundreds of athletes. In addition to the two volunteers, the clinic is staffed by eight Stanford physicians along with three full-time physical therapists. A sports psychologist is available for consultation. “We function like their student health center,” she said.

Game routine

Attending all of the women’s volleyball and basketball home games, she usually starts her routine by checking with players who have been ill or injured to make sure they’re OK to play. She has few responsibilities during a basketball game because Marcella takes care of most problems. “Marcella’s awesome,” she said. She’s the first person to assess an injury. If it appears to be serious, she calls on Elaine, who also ministers to opposing players. (NCAA rules require the home team to have a physician on site to serve both teams.)

If a player needs more care than can be provided on site, the sports medicine clinic is less than a block away with X-ray equipment. The Stanford Hospital is nearby.

Elaine’s duties don’t include fans. That responsibility goes to the EMT who’s there with an ambulance. However, she has helped out on occasion.

She doesn’t travel with the team during the season, but she does accompany the team to tournaments. “They’re very good to include me,” she said, adding that the coaches and staff can call on her, too.

Although Elaine isn’t on campus every day, she stays in daily contact with Marcella via phone or e-mail. She regularly confers with the coaches and talks to parents. “Our players have very supportive families,” she said.

If a player wakes up one morning and feels sick, she’ll probably call Marcella, especially if the team is on the road. Or she can call the sports medicine clinic for an appointment, usually that same day. There’s “almost walk-in ability,” Elaine said. If she’s at the clinic that day, she’ll see the player.

Elaine treats some of the less serious injuries like sprains and will refer more serious problems to specialists if necessary. They include staff orthopedist Marc Safran, who performs surgery as needed. “We’re in pretty constant communication,” she said. “We share the responsibilities.” However, during Marc’s three years at Stanford, “he’s been way too busy,” Elaine said, referring to the torn ACLs and other injuries that have plagued women’s basketball.

Professional background

A graduate of Baylor University in Texas, Elaine received her medical training at the University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas and did her residency in internal medicine at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She then received a fellowship in rheumatology at SCVMC and Stanford and worked at the university from 1990 to 1996.

She got involved with athletes when her Stanford mentor, Dr. Jim McGuire, became the men’s lacrosse coach and wondered why the Palo Alto Medical Foundation rather than the university had cared for its athletes for more than 30 years. Getting the blessing of the athletic department, he started the sports medicine clinic and invited Elaine to join. He also recruited Dr. Dillingham and his staff for the sports medicine group.

One of the changes she has seen during her 10 years with women’s basketball is that “so many of our athletes play all year round,” she said. Their conditioning is better, but they suffer more injuries such as the torn ACLs. Therefore, she and her fellow professionals have put more focus on prevention.

She credited Devan, the strength and conditioning coach hired last fall, for helping to prevent injuries. She also praised Brandon Marcello, director of sports performance, for his nutritional knowledge. “He’s awesome.”

“There’s a lot of preparation and thought” that goes into individual players’ weight room routines, shoes, cross training, rehabilitation and other regimens, especially during the off-season. “We’re trying to get everyone healthy,” she said. Such extra help is hard to achieve during the season because the players are so busy with practice and games. Moreover, “They’re students first.”

Factor in recruiting

Because Stanford provides such outstanding care for its athletes, the sports medicine clinic is part of recruits’ tours. “There’s not a better one in the country,” Elaine said. “That’s got to be a draw,” she said, adding that parents have told her that medical care was one of the reasons for choosing Stanford.

Moreover, “Dr. Gordon Matheson, director of sports medicine, has recruited an international staff and added the Human Performance Lab to allow for individualized testing and improvement of the athlete’s performance as well as research projects in … sports medicine,” she said.

As for her role with women’s basketball, she said, “These Stanford athletes are just the best of the best. It’s really a pleasure to work with them. They’re an easy group to help” because they listen and follow advice. “It’s really a great job.”

Her take on this year’s team? “I think we have lots of talent.”