Bud's Video Blog

Aloha from Hawaii!

I am writing to you as we are unfortunately getting ready to depart from the beautiful island of Honolulu, where we just got to spend the last five days! While we did travel to Baylor a couple of weekends ago, this was our first long trip as a team, and my first Thanksgiving away from home. I would say that if you can’t be at home with your family, then Hawaii is definitely the next best option, in fact some might argue it’s an even better option.

I think this trip was great for our team chemistry. As a freshman, it is so nice whenever we get a chance to get to know our teammates better, whether on the court or off and so it was great to be able to travel over a break where we had a little more time to do that. We got to spend some time together soaking in the scenery and enjoying things like the beach and the pool, but most importantly we came together and won three great basketball games. Playing three games in a row can be pretty difficult, but everyone stepped up and helped the team in little ways to make our wins against Purdue, Iowa State, and the University of Hawaii real collective efforts.

Overall, it was an awesome experience to have, and I can’t wait to carry over our success to our next road trip so we can continue our winning streak against the Blue Devils, the Gamecocks, and of course, the Lady Volunteers. We are going to be working very hard over the next two weeks and I know we’ll be ready!!

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and GO CARD!

Grace Mashore

Field trip to Monterey

I can't believe how fast this year is going by. It's already almost Christmas!! 

I thought I would talk a little bit about a field trip I went on recently. I got to go to Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey for my Marine Biology class. It was raining when my class arrived, but after a couple  of hours it cleared up and the water was gorgeous. This trip was the first time I had been to the ocean since I came back to school.

I went on a tour of the station and got to see the different laboratories and classrooms, which all had beautiful views of the ocean from every window! I couldn't ask for a better place to study than the library at the station with its floor to ceiling windows looking out to the ocean! In one of the labs there were huge tanks of water. Some had baby hammerhead sharks in them and others had various types of fish whose populations have declined in the ocean.

My favorite part of the trip was getting to explore the tide pools. One of my professors, Mark Denny (whose daughter played basketball at Stanford), took my class down to the tide pools during low tide and pointed out different organisms and the different types of research he and others do at Hopkins.

I saw lots of sea anemones, which are pretty cool if you ask me, and there were also tons of shells and many types of seaweed. I also saw a couple of sea otters, which was awesome.

I had fun, learned a lot, and managed not to get drenched by the waves. Others weren't so lucky!

Hannah Donaghe

Meeting the challenge

These first few months have been an amazing and exhilarating experience. It has definitely been an adjustment from high school, but I have developed some great friendships on the team and in the dorm. The best part of Stanford is the challenge it offers, both in basketball and academics.

Basketball has been a blast. I have had a great time getting to know my teammates and playing with such dedicated individuals. I am extremely excited for what this team can do this season. The first two games have been exhilarating. It was nerve-racking but it was a lot of fun to finally play in a college game. I am really looking forward to what the rest of the season will bring.

Another plus Stanford offers is the weather. Back in my hometown in Illinois it has already started to snow!

Sarah Boothe

Cheering the team on!

This blog finds me at the start of another season, but this time from a very different perspective. Usually at this point in the year my body’s dying from getting in great court shape, my brain’s overwhelmed with all the plays, and emotionally I’m a mixture of anxious, nervous, and excited.

This year, as a senior and unfortunately, injured, I’m in a little different state. My body is sore but in completely different ways. The physical therapy I do for about four hours a week makes the tiniest of muscles I never knew I had ache. Instead of my hamstrings, quads or calves killing me, the tiny muscle that flexes my second toe is sore.

Fortunately my brain isn’t quite as tired from preseason. After three years, the plays are pretty much engrained forever. I’m hoping that remains the case when I’m back on the court. Something tells me Tara will not cut me any slack if I mess up a play, even if I haven’t been running them.

From an emotional standpoint, I’m extremely excited about this season and anxious to get back out there. I can’t wait to see this team reach its potential. We have great depth and continue to have a lot of the intangibles that made us so successful last year such as toughness and team chemistry.

It’s weird watching everything from the sidelines in that I see things I never realized when I’m out there. I find myself learning from the coaching staff, not in the obvious ways, but watching things such as the sequence of drills, and breakdowns for guards and posts. I see more of the background work and concepts that when I’m out there are just drills. The bigger picture is a lot more apparent when you take a step away.

I’m trying to make the most of my experience on the sideline by learning from Tara about how she coaches. I think I would enjoy coaching as a hobby down the line so I’ve been trying to absorb as much as I can.

From Coach Morgan’s perspective, the team is coming together really nicely. I’m so proud of how well the freshmen especially performed in the exhibition against Chico State. It’s amazing how well they’ve adjusted. I just remember my first week of practice my freshman year I was concentrating so hard on remembering where I was supposed to be in each of the plays I could barely let myself just relax and play. Grace was one for one from three, Sarah dominated on her hook shot, Lindy was bombing, and Nneka killed it on the glass. I’m so proud of them.

I honestly think this team will have a lot to show the country, and while we lost an amazing player in Candice, we have several people more than ready to step up. I can’t wait to be out there playing with them, but in the meantime I’ll be cheering them on in any way I can.

Morgan Clyburn

Sarah Boruta: Stanford has everything

Every season this blog needs a first post. Consequently, this is it. The initial purpose of this post will be to record my thoughts. Specifically, it will be used as a platform to record what I think about the various topics Amy has asked me to write on. However, I hope that my blogging adventure will continue beyond my Stanford career. Perhaps this blog will serve as a launching point for a famous blogging career. Okay, I admit that is quite unlikely…but you never know. 

For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the two Sarah B’s on this team. But please, call me anything but that—it brings back too many memories of kindergarten with all the other Sarahs trying to steal my first name. So, to be exact, I’m Sarah Boruta, and if you’ve seen me around, I’ve probably been armed with a camera and tripod, trying to shoot you. This is because I will be doing the film work for the team this season, with the official title of “Video Intern”.

Now, I’m from Michigan, and what, you might ask, would make a born and raised Midwesterner want to move 2,500 miles across the country to work at Stanford? To be honest, it wasn’t a hard decision. I could sum it up and say that Stanford has everything a person could ever want, but I still have some space to fill, so I may as well list some of my reasons.

• Championship Basketball: Get ready to watch us cut down the nets!         
  
  
• Tara and Her Staff: 700+ wins. 1996 Olympic gold medal. Need I say more? 
  
  
• Warm Weather: In other words, a new wardrobe and an excuse to go clothes shopping
  
  
• California Cuisine: In-N-Out cheeseburgers with toasted buns and a lot of ketchup are just my style… 
  
  
• Entertainment: The Bay Area is a land of opportunity; there’s always something fun to do!

So there you have it—a few reasons for my cross-country move!
…And until next time… Go Card!

Sarah Boruta

I hate the pad!

Wow, what a whirlwind since the first time I set foot back on the Farm since graduating in 1996. I never thought I would be back here at Stanford as an assistant coach working alongside Tara, Amy, and Kate. I love it. This has truly been a blessing in disguise. However, working with the players has been the most special part of my time here. It has always been about the players for me regardless of the school or conference. Of all the places I have worked Stanford by far has the most talent. Candice, Jayne, Kayla, Ros, JJ, Jill, Jeanette, Morgan, Cissy, Hannah, Ashley, Mel, and Michelle have all individually and collectively put a smile on my face throughout the season.

Because I work on the post end with Amy I have had the opportunity to play defense against Jayne, Kayla, Morgan, and Ashley. Now I am 35 years young and not as energetic as I use to be. All of the posts are obviously stronger than me to say the least.

I found this out the first time Tara yelled, “B, get the pad!” Those are the most dreaded words I hear each day. “B, get that pad!” I hate the pad. It is an instrument of the devil. When the girls hear Tara yell for “the pad” they lick their chops. You would think I would love “the pad” but I hate it. One day Jayne lifted me off the floor with “the pad.”

This has been a wonderful season. I would like to think that “the pad” has had a lot to do with it but nothing short of a national championship will change my mind about it. I hate that @*%# pad!!!

This blog serves as my official boycott of the pad. Thank you for your support!

Bobbie Kelsey

The best cheer leader

Finals Week isn’t usually the best time to look forward to for us student-athletes, but what it also means is it's time to gear up for March Madness!

We came off an outstanding performance in the Pac-10 tournament (obviously bringing home the gold), and we are rolling towards the post-season. Everyone has been playing really well, and it’s been a blast getting to cheer the team on in our run towards the final four! I have great expectations for our team as we head into the NCAA tournament. It has been a great learning experience to watch everything unfold from the sidelines. Especially now that NCAAs are approaching quickly, I’m able to observe all the things that you seem to miss when you are absorbed in the atmosphere of March Madness. I’m so excited for our team, because I know we have the potential to cut down those nets!

Now that the brackets are final, we’re gearing up for our first game this Saturday! The team is confident about the position we’re in, and everyone seems determined to accomplish what we’ve been striving for since the off-season.

But we would never look beyond one game at a time in this journey. So, it’s about taking care of business this Saturday before even thinking about what comes next.

Even more importantly, it’s about improving our play and concentrating on turning our weaknesses into strengths. And the most important of all is enjoying the opportunity we have to be playing together as a team and as a family.

Although it’s difficult to be sitting the sidelines during this exciting time of the season, I know that I can still contribute to our success by being the best cheer leader for our team! There might be some fans that would want to challenge me on that, but I doubt anyone could take that title away.

We thank everyone for their continual support for our team and program!

Come out and enjoy a great tournament, and GO CARD!!!

Michelle Harrison

The Greatest Year EVER ...

Ok so initially I was going to discuss the reasons why I think San Diego is the greatest city in the country with substantial evidence to support every claim I made. I have a lot of friends on the east coast who have this crazy idea that the entire left side of the country doesn’t exist, or isn’t important (I know! Crazy right?) For all of us who have the great privilege and luxury of living in this beautiful state, and for the even more fortunate ones who can call Southern California home, it has to be redundant to hear me talk about the many reasons why San Diego is so amazing …

So I decided to instead go into detail about what a wonderful senior year I’m having! (I don’t want to start any controversy and have it turn into catastrophic warfare.)

I got the most touching letter from Susan King Borchardt a few days ago, and it made me start thinking about the last four years of my life at Stanford. She said that no matter how old I got, I would always be “her freshman”. It seems like yesterday Susan and I were racing each other around the track or playing in the sweet 16 against Connecticut. The crazy part is, when I was a freshman I never thought about what it would feel like to be a senior. It’s something that you aren’t able to fathom until the moment arrives, and for me this feeling has made me cherish every single moment of every day with my teammates and coaches.

This year has been so special, and from the very beginning of the year I saw something in my teammates that I hadn’t seen in my four years at Stanford: Youth. I, at the time a 20 year old, was the second oldest player on the team! The youthful energy of my teammates just took over the team in a really good way, and when you carry that type of fearless mentality around, you meet no challenge that you cannot face. And I believe that is what has made our team so successful this year. I just want to take time to reflect on a few moments in games that have really made this year stand out…

Rutgers

This was a very special win and experience for the team. Although it was early in the season, we knew we had a lot to prove to the rest of the world and we did. And Kayla made herself a household name in the process! This definitely was what jump-started our season and let us know that this team had something in them.

Utah

No one really talks about this game, but seriously this might have been the most exciting win of the season! We were down like six points with under a minute left and came back in two overtimes and won. This game completely belonged to Mel. She gets a steal, converts on a pull up to get us within two, and then after they make one of two free throws she has the ball to run a three-point play for me. When I wasn’t open she took matters in her own hands and shot the three and it went in!!! We go into overtime. It also happened to be her first made three-pointer of her career, which makes me so incredibly proud. Unfortunately she has been out since the Virgin Islands with an ACL tear, but its clear that Mel has made a lasting impact on the season with her heroic antics in Utah.

Temple

Another game that doesn’t get discussed, but was soooooo fun! First, it was really cool for me and Jayne to play against Dawn Staley, who coached us this summer and is someone I look up to in so many ways. The game didn’t feel like it was too out of control, and we always kind of felt like we were fine. We were down, but it didn’t feel like that much. Until I look up at the scoreboard after they score and it shows we’re down 19!!! We go into halftime with a 17-point deficit. The amazing thing? Nobody panicked. Nobody was upset; the locker room at halftime was filled with encouragement. We could have easily given up, felt overwhelmed at the probability of coming back, but we stuck together and we had so much trust that we were going to make it through together. The result? A 17-0 run to begin the second half, we ended up winning the game by nine. That was the day I realized that this is not some ordinary team. To me, that win in the Virgin Islands planted the seeds for this year, which has been nothing short of amazing.

Maybe I am getting older, but what I love most about this team is that they keep me young.

Thank you to my teammates, my wonderful coaches, and most importantly the fans!!!!!!!

Candice Wiggins

Preparing for the NCAA Tournament

Now that the Pac 10 Tournament Tournament is over (PAC 10 CHAMPIONS!!!) you may wonder what we are doing. Like many of you who came to the games this weekend at HP and supported us so enthusiastically, our team and staff is tired. Playing (or cheering for) three games in three days is very demanding both physically, mentally and emotionally. I am extremely proud of our team for their outstanding effort this past weekend. Our players had a well deserved day off and all were busy writing papers and studying for upcoming exams. We did not practice Tuesday, but like you the coaches had work to do so we all were in the office to visit with a recruit visiting unofficially and to catch up on things.

Today we are on our regular schedule which means the coaches meet at 1pm to watch video, plan practice, go over upcoming recruiting trips and prepare for the NCAA Tournament. Our team will have a light practice today which will include going over our goal sheet (something we do after every game), watching our game Hi Lites from the Cal Championship game and talking about the beginning of the "third" and most important season!

We divide our season into 3 parts. Our preseason, conference season and post season. Our team has had both a fabulous preseason and conference season and now is the most exciting and fun part -- the NCAA Tournament. At this time of year my job is to focus on doing everything to give our team the best chance of being successful in the NCAA. The keys to our team making a long tournament run are 1) being healthy, 2) being well rested, 3) continuing to improve, 4) playing confidently, 5) preparing for all but playing one game at a time!!!

We are going to the NCAA, and our team is VERY excited about that opportunity. We will all be watching ESPN (ESPN will be here on campus showing our team's reaction!) and we can't wait to see who we will be playing.

We know three things. We are playing at Stanford, WE ARE READY and YOU will be LOUD!!!

Thank you all for your terrific support of our team and program. ENJOY

Tara Vanderveer