Sara takes on a new role

By FBC reporter Judy Richter

Sara James of the Stanford women’s basketball team is known as a student-athlete, but now she can add something else to that designation – researcher.

Fulfilling one of her requirements as a human biology major, the junior guard is spending her summer on an HB-REX (Human Biology Research Exploration program) research project that studies hip joint injuries in college athletes in all sports. She expects to continue working on it during the coming academic year.

The project had its inception in a Stanford doctor’s observation that athletes were suffering more hip injuries than in the past and that these injuries were often diagnosed as hip flexor strains.

Her job has entailed “a lot of tedious steps in the beginning,” Sara said during a recent interview at Jimmy V’s sports café.

Right now she’s collecting data on the injuries from both the Stanford and the NCAA data bases. Then she’ll compare the two. She’ll look for differences between sports, divisions, genders, practice vs. competition, surfaces and other variables that might be implicated. Ultimately, the project aims to find ways to prevent the injuries.

She’s being paid for part of the summer, while the rest of the time will count toward an internship requirement in her major. She believes the project will give her valuable experience in research and help her make connections in her field.

She’s working under the supervision of her mentor, Dr. Garry Gold, a Stanford School of Medicine radiologist, along with another Stanford School of Medicine physician, Dr. Marc Safran, an orthopedist who has treated several Stanford women’s basketball players.

Looking ahead, she wants to go into nursing. She’s inspired by her mother, who has worked as a nurse in pediatric oncology. If Sara were to pursue a nursing career, she would have to go to school elsewhere because Stanford doesn’t have a nursing program.

As an alternative, she’s considering human performance, which is her area of concentration. This profession would prepare her for work like that done by Susan Borchardt, the team’s assistant sports performance coach, a.k.a. strength and conditioning coach.

In addition to her summer research project, Sara is honing her basketball skills and conditioning. She and her nine teammates who are in summer school have workouts with Susan most weekdays at 6 a.m. and sometimes in the afternoon.

After summer school ends in mid-August, her teammates will leave campus until the new term starts in September, but she’ll stay a while longer to work on her project. Even then, though, she’ll have a packet of individual workout instructions from Susan, as will her teammates.

Her basketball goals this summer have first and foremost included recovering from a foot injury – which she has done. She’s also working on defense, ball handling and shooting in addition to getting more experience playing.

She can work on the latter goal during the afternoon pickup games that she and her teammates have with anyone else who happens to be available. There’s no formal organization, and they don’t run plays. They just play. They’re on their own during the summer because NCAA rules don’t allow the coaches to work with them as individuals or a group during the summer.

Being in summer school has also allowed her and her returning teammates to help out at head coach Tara VanDerveer’s hoops camps. In addition, the returnees can become acquainted with the three incoming freshmen and help them adjust to college life. Playing in the pickup games gives the players a feel for everyone’s individual skills, Sara said, adding that the freshmen are doing well.

Then on weekends there’s time for some fun like going to theme parks or relaxing at the beach. She even hiked Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.

She and the others can benefit from the change of pace. “We have a group that works incredibly hard,” she said.