An Exciting Visit from Dusty Baker!

Our team was incredibly fortunate to get to hear from legendary major league manager Dusty Baker before we took the court against Sacramento State last week.

He is an inspiration and a role model for all athletes and coaches! We were lucky to get advice from one of the all-time greats. In the end, as with most things in life, obtaining success on and off the court comes down to preparation, persistence, and hard work.

As a major leaguer, Dusty hit nearly 250 home runs and had more than 1,000 RBIs. His Dodgers won the World Series in 1981. And as a manager, Dusty has won more than 1,400 games in his career. He led the 2002 San Francisco Giants to the National League pennant, and last year his Cincinnati Reds won the NL Central division. He definitely knows what he's talking about!!

Here are a few photos from the pre-game visit.



Now we're getting ready to travel to Logan, Utah, to play Utah State on Wednesday.

Hitting the Road with USF for Thanksgiving

We recently returned from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we played in a Thanksgiving tournament. We had to travel on Thanksgiving — tough to be away from family for staff and players, but thankfully we get along so well that is was a pleasure to spend the day with them.

Boston Market catered our meal, which was ready when we arrived at our hotel. After saying what we were all thankful for, we got into a heated game of Guesstures. We divided into 3 teams — Staff, Freshman and Sophomores, and Juniors and Seniors. Unfortunately, we placed last! Juniors and Seniors won. They are quite a competitive group!

On the court, our first game against New Mexico didn’t go too well for us. NM is a really good team and very well coached. Thankfully, we had a chance to redeem ourselves the next night against Rhode Island. We were down 4 points with about 12 minutes to go in the second half, but we were able to outlast Rhode Island in the final 11 minutes of the game. I was really proud of my team’s effort and composure to never give up and do a great job executing down the stretch.

Albuquerque is at 5,400 feet above sea level. Part of what helped our team’s performance was having a strong conditioning base, and drinking a lot of water as we traveled and staying hydrated all three days. As a coach, it can be tough to keep up with my own workouts, but I was able to get in a run while we were on the road and I ran as soon as we landed in San Francisco.

I feel much more effective and energetic as a coach when I also take care of my health. I also take USANA everyday, everywhere I go. Health and conditioning will continue to be an emphasis for our team and our program at USF.