August 28, 2009

August 27, 2009

Jillian withdraws from Tall Ferns

The Manawatu Standard reported today that Jillian has withdrawn from the Tall Ferns squad that is preparing for the Oceania World Championship series. She withdrew because Comense, the Italian club team she will play for this season, "insisted she arrive when requested".

August 13, 2009

Kathy Levinson, senior athlete

In the mid-1970s, Kathy Levinson competed in three varsity sports at Stanford — basketball, tennis and field hockey. This was about ten years before Tara VanDerveer was hired as women's basketball head coach, and a couple of years after Title IX was passed.

Off the court, she was active in the Organization of Stanford Women Athletes, which pushed for more experienced coaches, better uniforms and equal access to Maples, where only men were allowed to play. Levinson's teammate Mariah Burton Nelson wrote about this period at Stanford in "Escaping from Roble — Stanford Women's Basketball Then and Now".
This week Levinson was again an athlete at Stanford, playing racquetball in the 2009 National Senior Games. Shaun Bishop, Daily News Staff Writer, wrote about Levinson in this article.
She did win her next two matches, and earned the bronze medal in Women's Singles 50+ Racquetball.

August 12, 2009

Jillian rejoins Tall Ferns

Basketball New Zealand reports that Jillian is one of six Beijing Olympians who have joined a Tall Ferns training squad that is preparing for the FIBA Oceania Championship for Women later this month.
The squad will begin a week-long training camp next Sunday, August 23 before taking on the defending world champion Australia Opals in two games  — in Porirua, New Zealand  on August 31 and in Canberra, Australia on September 2.  Read more...