Live life large

Tara was a student at Buffalo Seminary about 40 years ago. She remembers listening to alumnae addressing the student body and thinking that she would never do that.

But she was the one on the stage yesterday, speaking to the students about leadership and dreams.  "This will be you someday," she said. "It goes fast. I encourage you to live your life large." Read more...

Summer National Senior Games

The 2009 Summer National Senior Games are not associated with Stanford Women's Basketball, but most of the events will take place at Stanford and one of the sports is women's basketball*.

The Senior Games offer lots of entertaining things to do. If you have some free time the first two weeks of August, you can participate as an athlete, as a volunteer or as a spectator.

Athletes

14,000 athletes will compete in the 2009 Senior Games. There are 18 medal sports in which the athletes qualified at a State Senior Games Championship last year.

But there are also seven demonstration sports (Equestrian, Fencing, Lawn Bowling, Rowing, Sailing, Soccer and Water Polo) that are open to any athlete who is at least 50 years old on August 1, 2009. This is How to Register Online for Demonstration Sports.

Volunteers

4,000 volunteers are needed — 300 have signed up so far.

Have you ever wondered if managing the time clock at a basketball game is really rocket science? Here's your chance to find out.

Here's a sampling of other volunteer opportunities and how to register online.

Spectators

All sports events are free and open to the public. Watch your favorite sports or some you've never seen before. All you need to do is be there. Here's what, when and where:

• The sports (each includes the venue and a schedule)
• Complete schedule
• List of venues
• AstraZeneca Athlete Village at Stanford
• Bay Area map

There are also lots of special events from the flame arrival ceremony on Aug 1st to the Farewell Party on Aug 15th, with food/entertainment each night in between ($15 - $25 per person).

* Note: Basketball at the Senior Games is three-on-three half court. If this game is before your time or beyond your memory, see page 15 of the NSGA Rule Book.

More about Super Softball

If you haven't been following the softball action this season, here are a couple of articles from the Stanford Daily to bring you up to speed:

• Koplitz — Threat at third
• 'Cat fight

Enjoy the games!

Super Softball

It's not basketball, but it is a women's sport played by a very good Stanford team.

The Stanford Softball Team has advanced to the third round of the NCAA playoffs — the Super Regional, which is softball's Sweet Sixteen. Each pair of teams plays at a different location this week in a best-of-three series.

Stanford plays Arizona at the Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium, which is between Maples and El Camino Real, just south of the Sunken Diamond. The first game is on Thursday at 6:30, the second on Friday at 5:30, and the third (if required) at 8:30. The winner advances to the Softball World Series in Oklahoma City next week.

Unless this post generates way more interest than I expect, you'll be able to buy tickets at the stadium. You can also buy tickets on-line, but the added charges make that considerably more expensive.

Stanford and Arizona are closely-matched rivals. They've played three times this season, Stanford has won twice. Stanford is #4 in the Pac-10, Arizona #3. Stanford's NCAA RPI is #10, Arizona's is #7. Each team has four players that earned All-West Region honors this season.

Three of Stanford's outstanding players are:

• Senior pitcher Missy Penna ranks among the top 10 pitchers in the nation. She pitched her 1200th career strikeout two weeks ago — the first active pitcher in the nation to do that. She pitched her 50th career shutout last week — the most in Stanford history. She was a 2008 All-American.
• Junior outfielder Alissa Haber leads Stanford in nearly every offensive category for the third year in a row. She is hitting .439 with 79 hits, 21 doubles (third-best in the nation), 54 runs, a .722 slugging percentage, a .500 on-base percentage and 18 stolen bases. She was an All-American in 2007 and 2008.
• Freshman shortstop Ashley Hansen is hitting .397 with 19 doubles, five triples and four home runs. She is the Pac-10 Freshman Player of the Year.

So: Smith Stadium at 6:30 on Thursday and 5:30 on Friday — it's a lovely way to spend a Spring evening!

Wacky basketball from the Ducks?

Last month the University of Oregon announced a rather surprising choice for women's basketball head coach — Paul Westhead, who had previously coached WNBA, NBA and various men's basketball teams.

Westhead is known for executing an exciting brand of run-and-gun basketball. Read more about Westhead in the announcement of his hiring.

Jake Curtis, Stanford Cardinal Basketball Examiner, suggests that Westhead's wacky brand of ball could eventually pose a threat to Stanford's dominance of Pac-10 women's basketball. Or not. Tara and her talent base and incoming recruits should keep the Cardinal on top for the forseeable future. Read more...

In any case, it's likely that Cardinal/Duck basketball games will be more entertaining and exciting than they've been in many years.

Stanford women's basketball best player ever

Jake Curtis, Stanford Cardinal Basketball Examiner, completes his series of articles about Stanford's alltime best women basketball players by revealing his top two choices: Candice Wiggins and Jennifer Azzi. Read more...

Kayla, Jeanette, Jayne. Sarah & Nneka all make first cut

Kayla, Jeanette and Jayne were named today as three of the 14 finalists for the USA Basketball World University Games team. They will return to Colorado Springs on June 18 and train through June 25, when the team is expected to depart for the 2009 World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. The 12-member roster will be announced prior to the team's departure. Here is a full report and quotes from the finalists.

Sarah and Nneka were named today as two of the 14 finalists for the USA Basketball U19 World Championship team. They will return to Colorado Springs on July 9 to begin training for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, which will be held July 23-Aug. 2 in Bangkok, Thailand. The eventual 12-member team will be finalized prior to the team’s departure for Thailand. Here is a full report and quotes from the finalists.

News from Colorado Springs

Jayne, Kayla, Jeanette, Nneka and Sarah are no doubt all working hard at the USA Basketball team tryouts in Colorado Springs this weekend. Here's a little news about them.

Nneka, Sarah, Jayne and Kayla are four of the 14 the contenders who earned gold medals in prior USA Basketball competitions. Before the first trial session, these players were asked about their medals, their memories and their experiences while wearing red, white and blue.  Read more...

Here are some video clips from the team trials. They include:

• Jayne in Friday trials action.
• Jayne running the floor, getting a great pass and scoring
• Sarah scoring for the U19 blue team
• Kayla scoring during the World University Games trials

Stanford alltime women's hoops - first team

Jake Curtis, Stanford Cardinal Basketball Examiner, has selected what he thinks are Stanford's alltime best women's basketball players. These are three of his selections for the first team -- he will reveal the top two and the alltime greatest player in Stanford history next week:

• Kate Starbird, G
• Val Whiting, C
• Nicole Powell, F

Read Jake's article...

Stanford alltime women's hoops - second team

Jake Curtis, Stanford Cardinal Basketball Examiner, has selected what he thinks are Stanford's alltime best women's basketball players. This is his second team:

• Jayne Appel, C
• Kristin Folkl, F
• Sonja Henning, G
• Trisha Stevens, F
• Katy Steding, F

Read Jake's article...