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 Tara Van Derveer |
Maria Calderazzo (Danville, CA)
My basketball team is good at defense, but is having some trouble withoffense. What makes a good offense?
Coach Van Derveer: Good fundamentals. Good funadamentals makes good offense. Passing ability,shooting ability, ballhandling, screening, and instincts, reading thedefense -- that's good offense.
Alison Obr (Vermillion, SD)
I live in a small town in the Midwest (SD); what can I do to be seen byDivision I coaches?
Coach Van Derveer: Go to the camp of the school that you're really interested in. You can sendthem letters, you can send them videotapes. Mostly the top schools you'reinterested in. Send articles about yourself. And do really well. If you'rea great player, people will come find you wherever you live.
Carrin Richards (Boise, Idaho)
If you could choose only one of Lindsey Yamasaki's talents that make hersuch an outstanding athlete and so personable what would it be? Also howmany hours a day do college students practice? Great job with the team thisyear!!!
Coach Van Derveer: I think that probably Lindsey's jumping ability would be the thing thatmaybe sets her apart. We practice about three hours a day, six days a week(practice or games).
Dave Black (San Jose, CA)
I have two questions for you. First during a regular practice how much timedoes your team utilize in practicing free throws? My next question is Ihope you can explain to me why teams have so much difficulty defensiverebounding whenever a 2-3 zone defense is utilized? Thank you for theinformation. I enjoy watching your team very much!
Coach Van Derveer: Obviously we practice free throws every day. We do a variety of drills:shooting after people are winded, you know, running a sprint and thenshooting free throws. We shoot one-and-ones, pressure free throws where oneperson shoots and everybody lines up. We shoot 12-in-a-row free throwsevery day. As for rebounding, it's because you're counting on jumpingability maybe, or position or size. You're not boxing someone out. It'sharder to box out out of a zone. People don't think about it. So we don'tlike to play it too much.
Mike Tanaka (Honolulu, HI)
Being from Hawaii where volleyball rules, got to see Lindsey Yamasaki playhere recently. Rooted for Stanford but was happy for Penn St. There is alot more sportsmanship in womens athletics. My question is whether youthink she is a better basketball or volleyball player at this point and ifyou will advise her to focus on one sport. Could she be another KristinFolkl?
Coach Van Derveer: I would start out by saying there's only one Kristin Folkl. I think it's apersonal choice. It's hard to be a master of one sport if you're playingother sports. That just has to be a personal decision. She seemed to enjoythe volleyball season and they did very well. It's going to be somethingthat she's going to have to decide. It does make it hard for someone to getinto basketball shape and to come in when the train's already moving. Sheplayed just basketball last year and she's playing both this year andshe'll have to decide which one she likes better.
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