clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Stanford reportedly mulling ‘Olympic Village-style’ setting upon return

Women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer said the team, school may opt for a bubble-like environment on campus

By Cam Mellor
USC v Stanford Photo by Cody Glenn/Getty Images

The Stanford Cardinal are already thinking ahead, you know, making a plan.

“It’s my understanding ... I think Stanford has a brilliant idea, if it works,” Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer told ESPN.com.

The idea, you ask? Well it’s rather simple, actually. Bring the student-athletes who return to campus this fall to get ready for the 2021 seasons, place them in a bubble-like environment, similar to how Olympic Villages are constructed.

“They’re going to try to do what we call an Olympic Village,” VanDerveer continued. “They know that the kids are going to socialize. So any teams that maybe want to be back and train, they would house them in the same area. Our team would get housed in the same area, and would get single rooms. Stanford has 97% of students living on campus, so it’s a very dorm-heavy population.”

She continued on to tell ESPN that she felt that the 2020-21 season was going to be unlike any previous season for the Cardinal, saying she started to feel that way as early as May. The thoughts on how to bring the student-athletes back safely in preparation for the season came to fruition after the conference announced the cancellation of the fall sports season and postponed any athletic competition until January 1, 2021.

VanDeveer said that she’ll have to wait and see about when she can expect her student-athletes to return to campus.

“We just have to do what we’re allowed to do, and I totally respect the decision that the presidents made,” Vandeveer said. “The No. 1 thing is the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff. We’ve gotta beat this thing.”

The Pac-12 women’s basketball coaches are meeting to discuss what the 2021 could look like.

Either way, formulating a plan is a smart idea. A plan for protecting the health of our student-athletes and guiding safe living environments is a great idea.

Too bad the NCAA didn’t think about a plan for the fall, you know, back in March, when they were first presented with the global pandemic.