The 2007-08 season is coming soon and I am anxious to get started!

We have 9 letter winners back from last year's team that went 29-5 and won our seventh straight Pac-10 regular season title, and all of them are doing a fantastic job in the gym and the weight room preparing for the coming season. Three-time Kodak All-American Candice Wiggins, 2006-07 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Jayne Appel, junior Jillian Harmon and the rest of our returners will be joined by a talented four-player freshman class (Ashley Cimino, Hannah Donaghe, Kayla Pedersen and Jeanette Pohlen) that will make us fun to watch in 2007-08!

I am also excited about a department fundraising change that took place this summer. Instead of our program having to annually fundraise to support our basic operating budget, these funds will now be provided to us from the money raised by the Buck/Cardinal Club.

In our new system, a gift to the Buck/Cardinal Club in the name of women's basketball will automatically gain you membership into the Fast Break Club. Gifts to the Buck/Cardinal Club at other levels will include a media guide, season parking pass, and exclusive events with myself and other coaches in the department.

All annual solicitations you receive will now come through the Buck/Cardinal Club. This change is a good one for program, because it allows us to spend less time fundraising and more time coaching our current student athletes and recruiting future student-athletes.

This change will in no way affect the activities, events and camaraderie enjoyed by our loyal members of the Fast Break Club!

We are alreay in the process of scheduling our Fast Break Club post-game gatherings, auction and other functions for the 2007-08 season. In addition to the budget support that the Buck/Cardinal Club will provide our program, events like the auction will help us generate revenue for special projects such as foreign tours and locker room renovations.

I am biased, but our Fast Break Club is the most loyal, positive and knowledgeable women's basketball group in the country. Thank you for all you do for our program and all of Stanford Athletics and I can't wait to see all of you at Maples Pavilion this fall.

Tara VanDerveer - Head Basketball Coach