Stanford basketball is having its best season in years. They're currently 12-1 (with the '1' being a close game against second-ranked Tennessee) and ranked sixth in the Gballmag.com weekly poll. Though there aren't any juniors on the team, this year's Cardinals are a well-rounded team--what Lindsey Yamasaki calls a "deep" team.

As a senior guard/forward, Yamasaki is having her best of four very good years. Last year, while helping to take the team to their 10th Pac-10 Conference Title and the second round of the NCAA championships, Yamasaki averaged 18.5 points per game. She came off last season ranked 13th in Stanford history for points per game and 23rd for overall points. She made Conference Player of the Week last season after a game where she tied the school and conference records for three pointers in a single game, with nine.

Last year was also the first year she devoted all her energies--apart from rigorous classwork--to basketball. Before that, she was a star player on both the university's basketball and volleyball teams.

Sure, being recruited to play basketball for Stanford is hard enough, but getting on the volleyball team is even tougher (Stanford was the national runner-up in volleyball when Yamasaki was a sophomore; this year, they claimed the national title). Yamasaki got there with impressive stats and years of topping state--and national--player of the month and player of the year lists in both sports.

Gball recently spoke with Yamasaki about her years playing two sports at the elite level, her decision to focus on basketball, and the 2001-02 basketball season so far.

Gball: You've been very successful as both a volleyball and basketball athlete. In 1999, you played for the national runner-up volleyball team and even had to miss the first seven games of the basketball season. But last year, you decided to focus on basketball. What were your major considerations in making that decision?
Yamasaki: It was a lot of things. I decided I was going to focus on basketball and in order to do that I needed to be committed the whole year to basketball--improving my game and helping my team become a better team. So, when it came down to it, it became a matter of what I wanted to do with my future and how committed I was to it.

This year, of course, the Stanford volleyball team took the national title--a record fifth national title. Are you still able to follow that game or stay in touch with the team? Or was it important to you to make a clean break?
No, I make sure to go to all the home games. I still have a lot of friends on the team. I definitely stay in touch. Yeah, it was hard to watch. The basketball team watched their game in the locker room after practice. It gave me goose-bumps and made me all teary-eyed. We all called a few girls on the team and left messages. It was really fun. I definitely had to give up something to get what I wanted, but I'm really happy with basketball right now, and things are going really well.

A lot of our readers do play more than one sport. How was that for you, to try to maintain playing two sports through high school and into college?
I think high school was the most fun I had. I did miss out on a lot of high school social life, but I think it was worth it. I played high school volleyball that went into high school basketball that went into club volleyball then club basketball. They all overlapped, alternating, year-round. That was really exciting.

But it was a lot easier to do that in high school than in college. Although there was some overlap, I never missed any games. I was able to go from one right to the other with no problem, and it was a lot less hard on my body. It was a good experience. I would advise girls to do that and stick with it in high school if they like more than one sport, because I think it can be good for them.

What got you started playing either game?
My family's a very volleyball-oriented family. They all played in high school and college. They grew up in southern California playing. So, that's where my volleyball background came from. My dad played at Fresno State, and my mom was kind of a beach bum and played a lot of beach volleyball. My brother played in high school and college and now plays for a club team. So, it's always been around.

But basketball was in my blood too, just because I loved it. There was a lot of focus on basketball in my hometown. You enter my town and it says "Welcome to Oregon City, the Home of the National Championship Women's Basketball Team." So I started playing basketball, organized, in kindergarten. It's really fun growing up in that environment. It's definitely something you can't avoid.

Do you think it helped you as an athlete to play more than one sport for so long?
I think there are a lot of similarities between one game and the other. I don't know that it was too helpful. Sometimes, it was hard to adjust back and forth. But I do think playing as many sports as possible is helpful both mentally and physically. It kept me in some sort of shape year-round, and it kept me excited to be playing.

Stanford's had other basketball/volleyball players, including WNBA star Natalie Williams. Does the school do anything in particular to promote that or even help make it possible?
I think Stanford was very open to recruiting two-sport athletes, and that's what I wanted to do. And what better place to do it than a top-10 place in volleyball and basketball? But I think it just didn't work out. It was a lot more mentally draining and political than I expected. There was just too much that I had to deal with.

Stanford is both academically tough and competitive on a national level in many sports. Is that fun for you as a student-athlete or does it make life even more stressful?
It's both, it's stressful and it's fun. I think now as a senior I've figured out how to handle things--what I need to do to be ready for my classes and get my work done. It was hard in the beginning, adjusting to trying to get everything done and trying to fit in all my reading and all this and all that. My grades definitely improved over time! But it's nothing I couldn't handle. You get used to it. It wasn't 'fun' very often--it's a big challenge.

At Stanford overall, you're surrounded by excellence all the time. In my freshman dorm, I lived down the hall from a concert pianist and everyone was president in their high school and the valedictorian. And then there was the championship water polo player. Everywhere you turn, there's someone who excels in whatever they do. And that's exciting.

I've seen your stats for last year. And this year, it looks like you're doing even better, in terms of points per game and things like that. Are these kinds of numbers important to you as a player?
I think, game-by-game, I just want to improve. I don't really look at stats that much. It's nice, and it can be helpful and keeps things exciting for me as an individual player. But, especially this year, we're doing so well as a team, and we're so deep. I may have 10 points and someone else will have 25, or I'll have 25 and someone else will have seven. We all step in and do what needs to get done. Once in a while you may see that your stats are falling and that could be a boost to improve. But in the end, it's about the final score of the game.

Last year, Stanford won its 10th Pac-10 Conference title and got to the second round of the NCAA Finals. This season, the team is looking even better. You were undefeated until your game with Tennessee. At this point in the season, are you thinking about how far you can go or are you trying to maintain the focus on each game?
Tennessee was our first test and there were times when I think we could have pulled it out. This team is so new. Even though we have experience on the court, we don't have a lot of experience doing so well. So, yeah, we have to keep our focus game-by-game. Coming out ready. And we're focusing on being consistent.

Going back to last summer, you were a member of the U.S. World University Games Team. That did two things for you, it took you to China and you brought home the gold medal. What was that experience like?
It was exciting. More than anything, I wanted to bring back that championship feeling. It was nice to get away and regroup and focus on what I was going to bring back to the team. I wanted to come back and give people a taste of what it felt like. It was a really good experience, playing under a new coach and with a new team.

Now, looking to your future a little bit, Coach VanDerveer recently answered a question from a fan chat on-line through Stanford asking if she thought you'd make it to the WNBA. Without any hemming and hawing, she answered, 'Yes, I do.' Is that where you'd like to go next?
That's something that's definitely in the back of my mind. I think for me, I really have to focus on this season and have a really good season, improving my game and really contributing to my team. As for my future, I haven't really been recognized that much, so it is crucial for me. But, it's something that I don't like to talk about. I guess I don't want to jinx myself. I want to play well and have a great season. 

Interview conducted by Gball Associate Editor Guillermo Metz.


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