Gary Radnich interviews Tara

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Hannah looks ahead

By Judy Richter

With a major in earth systems, Hannah Donaghe probably will have several career paths that she could pursue when she leaves Stanford. Before the senior guard makes her choice, however, she has several more immediate paths ahead of her.

Academically, she has applied for Stanford’s coterm program, which would allow her to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees simultaneously and graduate in 2012. She also has applied to go to Australia during the year to fulfill a study-abroad requirement. She fulfilled an internship requirement when she spent six weeks in Mexico last summer.

Athletically and more immediately, she wants to help her Cardinal teammates continue their quest for another Pac-10 championship, a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Final Four and, finally, the national championship.

She won’t be on the playing floor, however. During a practice early this season, she tore her left ACL for the second time. It was a huge disappointment because it didn’t allow her to end her basketball career on her terms.

“It has taken me a little longer to be OK with that,” she said during a recent interview at Maples. Instead of playing, she had surgery Dec. 15 and has been rehabbing since then. “It’s going surprisingly well,” she said, noting that she knew what to expect after undergoing surgery and rehab during the latter part of her sophomore season and the first part of her junior year.

She was cleared to play last January and saw her first action on Super Bowl Sunday in February.

“We need what Hannah does,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said while introducing the team at the awards dinner last spring. She has a great jump shot, the coach added.

Hannah scored a total of 14 3-pointers in the 50 games she played at Stanford.

“I’ve come to terms” with the situation, she said. Now she wants “to be there for my teammates” and to be a good listener, especially for the freshmen. “They’re sweethearts,” she said.

While the starting five players huddle just before the tipoff, the other players have their own huddle for some motivating words from fifth-year senior guard Melanie Murphy, recently returned from knee surgery and rehab herself. Then Hannah follows up. “I usually go for a one-liner,” she said with her ready smile.

She hasn’t been traveling with the team during regular season play, but she’ll join the entourage for the Pac-10 and NCAA tournaments. During home games now, she feeds the ball to teammates during warmups and does the high-five honors when one of them makes a 3-pointer during a game.

Hannah, who hails from Atascadero in Central California, has an older sister, Haylee, who played basketball at UC Davis. Haylee graduated in June and is headed for med school. “She’ll be a great doctor,” Hannah said.

Hannah has detailed her Mexico experiences in her recent team blog on the Fast Break Club website. She offered some more information during the interview.

The six-week internship was offered for credit by the Stanford biology department. She and her fellow students spent the first two weeks in a protected forest region in Huatulco and the final four weeks at the Chamela Biological Station near Oaxaca south of Puerto Vallarta. She primarily worked with a Ph.D. student who had two faculty advisers. It was her first experience with field research.

The area is called a tropical dry forest because it’s only about 19 degrees north of the Equator and gets little rain, mostly during a four-month period between early July and early November.

Stanford’s earth systems program is an interdisciplinary environmental science major. “Students learn about and independently investigate complex environmental problems caused by human activities in interaction with natural changes in the Earth system. Earth systems majors become skilled in those areas of science, economics, and policy needed to tackle the globe’s most pressing environmental problems, becoming part of a generation of scientists, professionals, and citizens who approach and solve problems in a new way: a systematic, interdisciplinary way,” the program’s website says.

It has five focus areas: biology, energy, environmental economics and policy, land management and oceanography. Hannah has chosen the latter, so one of her classes involved studying satellite data from remote areas of oceans to formulate research questions. She also has taken classes in physics, chemistry, calculus, ecology and biology.

One class looked at the correlation between the environmental changes and emerging diseases. Her senior seminar is focusing on Tesla Motors, maker of electric cars, and the sustainability of its business model. She also has taken a negotiations class, and one of her hobbies is photography.

If she goes to Australia through a Stanford partnership with the University of Queensland in Brisbane, she hopes to see a variety of ecosystems to “get a sense of every different direction” that she could follow. She remains open to possibilities and “is trying things out and seeing what catches my interest.”

After she leaves Stanford, “I have no idea (what I’ll do). There are so many avenues,” she concluded.

Dishin' & Swishin' with Kayla

Listen to David Siegel (Dishin' & Swishin') interview Kayla on Women's Streaming Talk Radio Network.

Dishin' & Swishin' with Jeanette

Listen to David Siegel (Dishin' & Swishin') interview Jeanette on Women's Streaming Talk Radio Network.

Team’s top conditioner

By Judy Richter

Fans may notice him when timeout is called during a game. As the Stanford women’s basketball team clusters around the coaches, he’s the young man in the suit and tie standing quietly on the perimeter.

Fans who arrive an hour early, just when the Maples doors open, will see him wearing more casual attire as he gets the players ready for action through a series of stretches and warm-up exercises.

He’s Devan McConnell, the team’s sports performance coach, a.k.a. intercollegiate athletic development specialist. His overriding goals are to prevent injuries and improve performance. He works toward these goals by helping the players get into and stay in tiptop physical condition. “Poor movement patterns increase the chance of injury,” he said during an interview in the 2-year-old Arrillaga Gymnasium and Weight Room.

Consequently, he puts each player through a series of movement tests when she arrives on campus in the fall and periodically thereafter. Those tests include a body weight lunge, one-leg stand, core stability, shoulder mobility and hamstring flexibility. He then works with individual players to correct any problem that might have shown up.

Center Sarah Boothe, who missed all of last season while rehabbing from foot surgery, gave kudos to Devan during the press conference following the Texas game on Nov. 28. “He really helped me get a lot stronger,” the red-shirt sophomore said.

The players spend about two hours a day with him in the weight room. “We use all the tools available to us in the weight room, from the various weighted implements (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.) to foam rolls, medicine balls, turf space, Keiser functional equipment,” he wrote in a subsequent e-mail. “Any tool which will help in the athletic development of the athletes will be utilized if and when appropriate,” he wrote.

He supervises them in the use of weights, stressing that technique is more important than the amount of weight. Any work he does with injured players is determined by the medical staff.

“Running becomes part of the conditioning plan during the second half of the summer and into the preseason,” he wrote. If the players need more conditioning during the season, he usually has them riding the exercise bikes instead of running, which involves more pounding.

Another part of his job is to urge the players to eat healthful foods, “to make wise choices,” he said in the interview. They should “know what they’re putting in their bodies and how it affects them. Real food is a big key.”

He stresses pre- and post-workout nutrition to fuel the body and help it recover. The players have a meal about an hour before a workout or practice. Then it’s important for them to refuel with carbohydrates and protein within 30 minutes after the session. That’s why chocolate milk is available in the locker room, but “the timing is more important to optimize the recovery process.” Some players might have a snack such as a bagel or energy bar at halftime.

On game days, the team eats together before the game. He might help a few players stretch after the meal. Warm-ups start about 75 minutes before the game. It’s a set routine involving dynamic flexibility through various exercises and the use of exercise bands.

After the game, “usually the players will do some basic foam rolling and stretching,” he said in an e-mail. However, during the first half of the season, “due to the random scheduling,” the players sometimes go through what he called “a full lift.” That post-game session “is the only time which allows us to stay on or close to our ideal training schedule and to take advantage of the players being warmed up. (It) gives us more recovery time than if we had waited until the next morning to work out,” he wrote.

If the team is on the road, the players dine together after the game.

Besides nutrition and conditioning, Devan preaches the value of rest as a way to recover and regenerate. He doesn’t get too concerned about a player’s weight. “There’s no ideal weight,” he said. “We’re concerned about how they play,” not what they weigh.

He’s in constant contact with the coaches, who might ask him to work with a player on the movements involved in a particular aspect of the game, such as defense. Basketball skills themselves are the coaches’ arena. “I try to increase (the players’) athleticism, speed and power,” he said.

Now in his third year of his year-round job at Stanford, Devan also works with the men’s and women’s volleyball teams.

“Conditioning for the two sports is more the same than different,” he wrote in the e-mail. “What will change slightly are the work-rest ratios, as these are generally different between the two sports. Basically, during conditioning I am concerned with the physiological response and adaptation of the different energy systems driving the body, not necessarily the sport specificity of movements.”

Devan grew up in Seattle and attended Fitchburg State College (near Boston) on an ice hockey scholarship. After graduating with a degree in exercise science in 2008, he worked for Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning in Boston, considered one of the best in the nation. He also did some work with the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks. He holds several professional certifications, including Performance Enhancement Specialist.

In a Sept. 27 article, Recovery for Basketball, which he wrote for Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group, Devan went into more detail about how he helps players during the year. Besides the techniques he discussed during the interview, they include hydrotherapy, self-myofascial release, lower body elevation and breath work, cobblestone mat walks, yoga, and flush rides on the bikes after games.

Asked about one of the biggest banes of women’s basketball – ACL injuries – he said, “I’m always looking for new research and breakthroughs.” So far, no one has come up with a foolproof prevention, but Devan knows that improving the way a player moves can help to prevent injuries.

As for his overriding goal this year, beyond preventing injuries and improving performance, he had just three words – “the national championship.”

Eileen Roche – The puzzle pro

By Judy Richter

Like the performers in “Beach Blanket Babylon,” San Francisco’s long-running, satirical musical revue, Eileen Roche wears many hats.

As assistant athletic director and director of basketball operations for the Stanford women’s team, Eileen is in charge of scheduling games, facilities and team events. She oversees community service and fundraising. She’s the liaison to the Fast Break Club and director of summer basketball camps.

She assists the coaches when needed and this season served as assistant tournament director when Stanford hosted the first round of the NCAA tournament. Once a month she meets with the administrators from all the other Stanford sports.

Coming up with the schedule

Nowadays, the hat she wears most often is her game-scheduling hat. She’s trying to line up next fall’s schedule, but doing so is a challenge akin to assembling a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle or solving a super-hard Sudoku puzzle.

She has most of the pieces, but as of early May, she was looking for one more team to fill either a home slot in November or a home or local away slot in December. Once she finds one, she might have to make adjustments elsewhere to fit everyone in.

Even after she thinks she has all the pieces in place, she can’t publish the schedule until all contracts are signed. Luckily, she’s about to begin her sixth season in the job, so she feels confident that everything will work out. “It takes a great deal of patience, and you can’t panic,” she said during an interview in her office.

Lining up games can begin years in advance. Right now Eileen has a thick notebook filled with possibilities and contracts through 2013. That’s where she starts the process, looking at the contracts involving home and home games (they play here, we play there) and one-time games.

She considers several factors when looking beyond commitments. “Tara and I work (together) daily. … We want top 25 teams,” she said, referring to head coach Tara VanDerveer’s goal of playing the toughest pre-conference games possible to prepare her team for the caliber of competition it’ll face in the NCAA tournament.

Another goal is to play an away game within the vicinity of every player’s home at least once during her four years at Stanford. At the same time, Eileen tries to schedule at least one more opponent that’s reasonably close geographically on the road trip.

Likewise, Eastern and Midwestern teams journeying to Stanford want to schedule a team that’s fairly close, but that involves finding one that has both the desire and the time slot.

There’s another complication. “It’s tough to get teams to play (Stanford). They don’t want to lose,” she said. Maybe a team is too young to face the likes of the Cardinal, or maybe a coach is afraid that too many losses, despite the level of competition, could get her fired. Likewise, another Western team might not want to host an elite team that’s visiting Stanford.

Luckily the Pac-10 season, which starts just before or after the new year, is a given with flexibility mainly in game times. Usually the first game of the week is Thursday night. Stanford prefers playing the weekend game on Saturday to give players a much-needed day off to rest and focus on class work Sunday. The second preference is a 2 p.m. Sunday game, especially if it’s at home.

How the NCAA influences schedules

NCAA rules play a major role in scheduling. A team can’t start regular practices before 5 p.m. on the Friday closest to Oct. 15. Before that, coaches can supervise team conditioning or physical fitness activities for no more than eight hours a week after the start of the academic year. This year it starts Sept. 20 at Stanford.

Because Stanford is on a quarter system, its classes start later than most semester system classes. Then, because of the required interval between the start of classes and the two allowed exhibition games against non-Division I teams, Stanford’s exhibitions must be scheduled between Nov. 1 and the second Friday in November, when regular games may begin.

A team may play a maximum of 11 nonconference games -- nine if it’s in a multi-team tournament (Stanford isn’t in one this year) -- until its conference season starts. Here’s another issue – Stanford doesn’t play during the week before exams and exam week itself. This year, that time off is Nov. 29-Dec. 10.

All of this adds up to a tight time frame for 11 games, especially since Stanford prefers at least five or six of them to be at home. “It’s a huge puzzle to put together,” Eileen said.

One of the places where she’s looking for one more game this fall is website Basketball Travelers, Inc. It allows teams to advertise schedule openings, say what they might offer visitors in the way of money and hotel rooms, and list contact information.

She has posted Stanford’s opening and checks the site several times a day to see if anything new catches her eye. She also sends out hundreds of e-mails during the scheduling process. Both she and the coaches do a lot of networking, too.

Looking ahead to hoops camp

In addition to her current focus on scheduling, she’s getting things squared away for the four sessions of Tara Hoops Summer Camp in June and July. This popular event attracted about 600 girls last summer. One corner of her office is devoted to the camp with a separate desk, computer and phone. Her camp director duties started late last fall when she secured the dates and facilities and updated the Tara Hoops website.

She arranges for all of the equipment and supplies and hires staff, including trainers and counselors. The goal is to have at least one staff member for every 10 campers. Staff members include some current Stanford players.

After the last session of hoops camp, she can take off in August, which the NCAA designates as a dead period with no recruiting or other activities.

Plunging into the season

Once the season starts, she has other responsibilities, including the weekly FBC newsletter and any flyers for the FBC table before home games. If the team is at home, her work day starts about 9 or 10 a.m., when she greets the visiting team and makes sure they know where everything is. The visitors arrange for their own meals.

Even before they arrive, Eileen has prepared them for their visit. In early September she sends them a packet of information about hotels, restaurants, parking, etc. They request practice times, so she coordinates their needs with those of her own team as well as the men’s basketball and women’s volleyball teams, which share facilities with WBB.

Later on game day, if there’s a pre-game chalk talk by Stanford’s scouting coach, Eileen arranges for the necessary equipment at Kissick and starts the scouting tape 45 minutes before tipoff. She also makes sure that either Kissick or Dallmar is ready for the post-game FBC gathering. She and associate head coach Amy Tucker work together in lining up a speaker, if any.

Her next stop is Maples, where she meets with the ball girls for that game. Usually they’re girls who were at hoops camp or who won the chance to serve as ball girls at a school auction. She explains their duties and gives them their T-shirts and mops.

After meeting the game officials and giving them their paychecks, she’s free to watch the game. Assuming Stanford wins – going back to 2008-09, it has a 46-game win streak at Maples – she has the pleasure of opening a bag of 50 victory balls provided by the marketing department. The players love the tradition of tossing them to the fans, she said.

Then it’s off to the post-game event, where she usually speaks for a few minutes before the speaker or a coach arrives. She stays until everyone except the custodial staff has left. “I’ll be the last one out,” she said.

Then it’s home to her son Christian, 17, a junior at St. Francis High School in Mountain View. Her other son, Conor, 21, is a junior at the University of Oregon. The other two members of her household are Ace and Nike, her fluffy white, 10-pound Maltese dogs.

Both of her sons play water polo and other sports. During the summer, they work at hoops camp and often play pickup basketball games with members of the Stanford women’s team who happen to be on campus.

Eileen travels with the team post season. Her duties include making all road trip facility arrangements such as game day shoot times and practice times, which take place at the host school or other facilities near the team’s hotel. She also works closely with office administrator DeeDee Zawaydeh, who handles the details of transportation, lodging and menus in the team’s hotel (healthful food only), along with the travel itinerary.

Background in basketball

Born in Brooklyn, Eileen grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Ohio Wesleyan. She was an assistant basketball coach at Virginia Tech for a year before serving in a similar capacity from 1982 to 1985 at Stanford. (Tara arrived in 1985.) She then became head coach at West Valley Community College for a year.

Before returning to Stanford in her present capacity in 2005, she was event coordinator and championship director for the California Interscholastic Federation’s Central Coast Section High School Athletic Championships in basketball and volleyball.

“The most enjoyable aspect of my job is working with this incredible staff,” Eileen wrote in an e-mail following her interview. “Tara is brilliant! A consummate professional. A master of game strategy. Simply the best!

“Amy is an outstanding recruiter, has great knowledge and experience combined with being a dynamic teacher,” she wrote.

Assistant coaches “Kate (Paye) and Bobbie (Kelsey) have created a dimension of alumnae pride, laser-focused determination with gut-wrenching laughter mixed in. Their game preparation is phenomenal,” she continued.

“…This highly successful staff combination speaks for itself. Everyone works incredibly hard with one goal in mind: the skillful, progressive cultivation of a team capable of winning a national championship.

“I enjoy my role as the background administrator to this incredible program and having the opportunity to interact with this staff, the team and all the wonderful fans I have met in the past five years on my second tour on this staff,” she concluded.

No wonder all of Eileen’s hats suit her so well. She’s part of a great cast of professionals who know what they’re doing, where they’re going and why. No wonder the fans can sit back, enjoy the show and applaud mightily.

Jennifer Azzi ('87-'90), USF head coach

Michelle Smith interviews Jennifer Azzi on the occasion of her being hired as USF’s new women’s basketball coach.

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.