I kind of see myself as a basketball sponge. If there's a ball bouncing, I'm in the gym watching who it is, what they're doing.

You know, I listen to games on the radio, watching great players, watching great teams since I was a really little girl.

And I don't know why. I just love it.

Hi, this is Alice. And that's Tara Vandervere.

She is one of the greatest basketball coaches in history. It was just something that never felt

like work to me, but it was always something that, you know, like Malcolm Gladwell, we'll talk about,

you know, 10,000 hours. I mean, I passed 10,000 hours when I was 14. I probably would

have flunked out of junior high with all the games that are on television now. I was a basketball,

and I am a basketball junkie. I'm crazy about the game. Tara Vandervere was the head

women's basketball coach at Stanford University from 1985 until her retirement in 2024.

38 seasons. During that time, she led the team to three NCAA championships.

She also led the women's national basketball team to an Olympic gold medal in 1996.

The Americans take the gold here in Atlanta in dominant fashion.

Tara Vandavir leads the USA to victory.

In January of 2024, Tara Vandervir personal milestone, 1,203 game wins,

beating out Mike Shoshesvsky's record as the head coach with the most victories

in college basketball history, men's or women's. She held those bragging rights for 10 months

when Gino Oriama coach of the Yukon women's basketball team passed her record. But as many

wins as there are attached to her name, winning, she said, was never quite the point. Coach Tara Vandervere joins us on this

episode of What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance from the Academy of

Achievement. I'm your host, Alice Winkler. At a me, this child is gifted.

And I heard that enough that I started to believe it.

...