March Madness Brag

This mom is going to brag a bit, so buckle up. Two years ago my Tim left his job at Stanford University to take on a new role at the University of California San Diego as the women’s basketball sports performance coach. He didn’t fill all the boxes for qualifications, but a call from Tara Vanderveer (Stanford) to her little sister at UCSD (Heidi Vanderveer) got Tim’s foot in the door for an interview. Tim was hired and made the move 7 hours south to San Diego. UCSD was making their move from Division II to Division I in the sports arena. This allowed them to get a strength and conditioning coach (sports performance) head coach for their women’s team for the first time. Only a couple of weeks after Tim was hired, the entire basketball program went to Italy to play some international teams and to bond as teammates and coaching staff. They were there about 10 days and had a great time despite the heat of the summer. Tim realized upon returning to San Diego and familiarizing himself with the sports science equipment, he was going to have a steep learning curve. There are two main types of sports science equipment and where he had been working with one type for quite awhile, he was now faced with learning the ins and outs of the other type. The head of basketball sports performance (also the men’s basketball sports performance coach) started mentoring Tim and teaching him the new system. However, just a few weeks in and that coach was hired by the Celtics organization (great choice). That position was not filled so late in the preseason, so Tim was left to contact friends and mentors around the country on his off time to figure out how to work the equipment. He also dealt with several female basketball athletes who had injuries and worked their rehab programs. That first year was a steep learning curve for Tim and he spent a lot of his free time learning about how to better himself professionally. If you have ever met Tim, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

When a college decides to change divisions, they have a four-year waiting period before they are able to compete in post season play. Even if they won their conference, they would not get to play in the Big West Conference tournament due to these rules. Tim stayed on for a second year and it was the first year their sports team would be able to compete like everyone else in their conference. The season didn’t start out well…they were 1-8 in the beginning. However, they slowly started gelling as a team and chipping away at their losing record until they were ranked #4 in the conference and won a spot in post season play in the Big West. Last weekend they clawed their way to the championship game of the Big West Conference in Henderson, NV. They were ranked #4 and ended up winning it all! Better still, the men’s team also won the Big West Conference title as well! How about them apples? They made history as both men’s and women’s teams going to the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility. Unfortunately, their run was cut short on the men’s and women’s side quite quickly. Still, so super proud of all they accomplished this year. Here are some photos I stole from Tim’s instagram page. He and their athletic trainer worked so hard for the girls this year. Tim’s a lot more comfortable in his job and now even has other sports performance coaches from around the country contacting him to chat about rehabing their injured athletes and getting them back on the courts. So proud of Tim and what he does, and for the team he works with. Go Tritons!