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 Tara Van Derveer |
Dave Black (San Jose, CA)
My question has to do with recruiting. What are the most importantqualities that you look for prior to recruiting an athlete? Thanks!
Coach Van Derveer: We look for skill, quickness, academics.
Ann DeFraga (Martinez, CA)
Will Lindsey Yamasaki join the team after volleyball finals? What is thefirst game that you expect her to play in? Will she be a starter? Good luckthis season. We come to most of the home games and have really enjoyed theteam so far this year; such fun to see the improvement of some of theplayers. They must have worked very hard indeed over the summer.
Coach Van Derveer: Thank you. A lot of people have worked very hard. Lindsey is planning on joining the team after Christmas, so it would be for the St. Mary's game, that's when she would be eligible. I don't know what to expect: how quicklyshe picks up what we're doing and how healthy she is. She hasn't playedbasketball since last season. She will not start for us. We're hopingshe'll be able to contribute off the bench.
Mary Johnson (San Bruno, CA)
Hi coach! Thanks for taking questions from the fans! Where do you feel theteam has improved most this year? I also wanted to know what Olympia Scottwas up to these days. Is she playing in the WNBA or overseas?
Coach Van Derveer: Olympia is playing in the WNBA in Detroit. Olympia also had a little babygirl named BreAzia. I feel like we've really improved on our defense andwe're working real hard to improve our rebounding, and our offensiveexecution I think has improved too. We have more depth and more experience,and we're playing with a lot more confidence.
Rick Benitez (Aptos, CA)
Coach, it seems women's basketball peaked in popularity from 1996-1998(with the help of your gold medal team - congrats). At the time (around1996), it seemed that the sport was finally getting the recognition itdeserves, but with the recent success of the U.S. women's soccer team, thatmaybe it was just a fad (as soccer will probably be in another year or so).Do you feel this is the case? Also, how damaging was the loss of the ABL?Thanks coach and best of luck!
Coach Van Derveer: I feel that the success of women's basketball probably helped other women'ssports, especially team sports. And the success at the Olympics was reallyinstrumental in helping the professional leagues get established. Thesuccess of soccer is good for all women's sports. I don't feel it's a fad,but we need women's sports scores and more articles just mainstream --television and newspaper. I don't feel that basketball's popularity haspeaked. We still have a lot of growth and there's a lot of improvement.
Dylan Woodrow (Los Angeles, CA)
What are your impressions of the Pac-10 as a whole and how do you seethings shaking out come March?
Coach Van Derveer: Really, I have not seen a single Pac-10 team play, with the exception ofUCLA on television twice. I just know that we have great enthusiasm in thePac-10 and there'll be some really exciting games. I hope that come Marchwe have at least five teams in the NCAA from the Pac-10, and I hopeStanford's one of them.
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