Growth spurt in women's hoops

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Gender equity has reached new heights in basketball.

UH's Callie Spooner (6 feet 2), Christen Roper (6-5) and Natasja Allen (6-2) participated in the Tall Women's Camp. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Only in Monterey could Christen Roper, a 6-foot-5 fixture in the post for the University of Hawai'i the last three seasons, get lost in the crowd.

"All the girls there were pretty tall," recalled Callie Spooner, the Rainbow Wahine's 6-2 freshman. "I looked over and 'Rope' looked little compared to all the girls in line."

UH senior Natasja Allen picked Roper out at the 6-foot-3 and taller workouts by looking down: "Somebody asked me, 'Where's Rope?' " said the 6-foot-2 Allen. "I said, 'Oh, she's the short one over there.' "

Newell's Big Man Camp has taken on legendary status since he started with one player 25 years ago. Graduates include Shaquille O'Neal, Ralph Sampson, Vlade Divac, Kiki Vandeweghe, Hank Gathers, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen and Bill Walton.

Vandeweghe now works with Newell, along with former Chaminade coach Merv Lopes. Vandeweghe also has a move named after him. After four days and $450 worth (including room and board) of her first Tall Women's Camp, Allen called "The Kiki" her favorite.

"It's a step-back," she says. "I always use it in practice because I don't want to go inside on 'Rope.' "

Every action in the camp has an equal and opposite reaction, or six. It is a place for post players to concentrate on footwork and agility. Sessions start with a fundamental move and add options by the hour and day.

"You learn a move, then a fake," says UH coach Vince Goo. "Then you use the move, or use the fake. Or use the move and another fake. He just adds things on to a very basic move."

Newell has been coaching fundamentals with frills for most of his 87 years. Newell, Dean Smith and Bob Knight are the only coaches to win NCAA and NIT championships and Olympic gold medals. Newell coached San Francisco, Michigan State and Cal and has hardly slowed since he retired ... particularly at the women's camp.

Newell has more coaches help at his Big Man Camp, which is run over five days with collegiate players in the morning and pros in the afternoon. But he is always in the middle of the action at the women's camp, which has three sessions on each of three days.

This year he was on his feet so much he had to go to the hospital because fluid built up in his legs. But he enjoyed those 60 college players (there is a high school girls camp a week earlier) as much as any at his men's camp.

"The women do the same damn stuff we do with the NBA guys," Newell said. "But the women do it better. They don't have that 'don't mess with my game' attitude."

What they do is drill, constantly. "I felt like I was in the eighth grade again," Allen said.

Players go 1-on-1, 2-on-2, 3-on-3 and, the final day, 4-on-4, always halfcourt. They start out on the wing, where there are even more options, and work their way in to "the block."

"It's just pivoting at first, really basic," Spooner says. "As the day progressed, it got more complicated. You learned more options off what you had learned the day before."

Goo was enthused by the improvement he saw in Roper's footwork, balance and composure after she went to last year's camp. He encouraged Allen and Spooner to try it with Roper this year and has already seen a boost in their confidence.

There were half a dozen other players at the camp that will be in Hawai'i after its season opens Nov. 23 — two from NCAA finalist Oklahoma and one each from Denver, North Carolina, Nevada and UNLV.

Roper says the atmosphere is friendly and the sessions are about simplicity.

"It's not hard to learn," she insists. "The only thing that's hard is when you are thinking too much about where your feet are supposed to be and that's your own fault.

"Pete tells you what to do, he shows you, he talks you through it as you do it. He really is a very good teacher. ... When you stop thinking is when you can do it."

For those who are frustrated, Newell shows a tape of his NBA camp.

"Those guys are making the same mistakes we're making," Allen says. "I knew I wasn't a complete geek for not making the move because people who are getting paid millions of dollars can't do it."

It sounds as if Newell would rather coach amateurs anyway. After two camps together and a long chat here this summer, he is as big a Roper fan as she is a Newell fan.

"Christen has a great attitude, she really works hard," Newell says. "She'll go through a wall for you. And she is really competitive."