FRONTLINE: IN THE GAME (TV)
Summary
One in this documentary series. This edition profiles the women's basketball team of Stanford University during their amazing run to the NCAA Championship during the 1989-90 season, and the many struggles women athletes face in trying to gain recognition. This program includes interviews and comments from the following: head coach Tara VanDerveer, assistant coaches Amy Tucker and Renee Brown, Stanford's athletic director Andy Geiger, and players Trisha Stevens, Jennifer Azzi, Sonja Henning, and Katy Steding. Topics discussed include the following, among others: changes in the styles and athletic abilities of female basketball players over the years; the reason VanDerveer took the coaching job at Stanford after her successful run at Ohio State; the challenge of recruiting athletes based not only on their athletic ability but their scholastic qualifications; Stanford's commitment to the law pertaining to women's athletics, known as Title IX, which was enacted in 1972; the reason the women's basketball program only receives half the money of the men's program; the academic pressure that players must tackle in order to keep their scholarships; the type of superstitions to which the players and coaching staff subscribe; the experience of playing every game at such a high level of intensity, especially with the approaching NCAA Tournament; the players' feelings about their first loss of the season against the Univ. of Washington; the way VanDerveer handles the different personalities and egos on her team; the untimely way that preparation for the tournament occurs during final exams; the way the Final Four is overshadowed by the University of Oklahoma's announcement of the termination of the women's basketball team; the team's feelings about competing for the championship against an underdog; concerns of the coaching staff during halftime at the championship game, where the score is tied; the way Stanford dominates the second half of the game; the team's feelings about returning to Stanford with the championship trophy and the school's anticipation of their return; the decision some players make to put away the basketball when their four years of college are over; and the way Stanford continued to win back-to-back championships. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1997.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WGBH Boston, MA
- DATE: March 29, 1994 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:44695
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Basketball; Women in sports
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1983-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Fanning … Executive Producer
- Martin Smith … Senior Producer
- Michael Sullivan … Senior Producer
- Becky Smith … Producer, Director, Writer
- Wah Ho Chan … Associate Producer
- Nancy Thompson … Associate Producer
- Jennifer Gross … Researcher
- Patricia White … Researcher
- Jay Unger … Music by
- Molly Mason … Music by
- Alfre Woodard … Narrator
- Jennifer Azzi
- Renee Brown
- Andy Geiger
- Sonja Henning
- Katy Steding
- Trisha Stevens
- Amy Tucker
- Tara VanDerveer