MASTER’S WOMEN’S TEAM LEARNING FROM TRUE PRO : Anderson a Real Players’ Coach

Like most women who want to play competitive basketball after college, Susan Anderson had to leave the country after finding success at Texas.

Now 26 and in her first--and only--season as The Master’s women’s basketball coach, Anderson was once a highly touted high school All-American center from Washington.

After graduating from Mt. Baker High about 200 miles north of Seattle, she became a three-year starter at one of the nation’s best Division I women’s basketball programs. Texas has earned 20 consecutive NCAA playoff berths and won nine of 12 Southwest Conference titles.

Anderson believed that her playing days were just beginning upon graduating from Texas in 1991 with a degree in elementary education.

Anderson, 6-foot-4, averaged 11 points and nine rebounds in college. Longtime Texas Coach Jody Condradt remembers Anderson as a solid, all-around player.

“She was very physical and one of the best defensive players I’ve coached,” Condradt said. “She came in here touted as a scorer, but she became the total player by the time she left.”

Anderson was on a roll and she didn’t want to stop playing. There would be plenty of time for work in education. So Anderson signed a contract with a team in a Brazilian professional league.

Brazilians are passionate about sports. It may be difficult to imagine in the United States, but women’s basketball games in Brazil draw thousands of rowdy fans.

“We usually played in small arenas, but they were always packed,” Anderson said. “And when we played against that town’s local team, people really got into the game.”

Anderson played for Lacta, one of the Brazilian league’s top teams. The roster included two Brazilian Olympians and an array of up-and-coming players.

The team was based in Santos, a seaport town about an hour’s drive from Sao Paulo.

“I loved Brazil,” Anderson said. “The people were great and the competition was wonderful. I wish I could have played pro ball in this country, but it was a great experience to go there.”

Anderson also had a horrifying experience in Brazil that forced her to return to Washington four months into the six-month season. She lost about half of her right ring finger in a freak accident that occurred on a trip.

The team stopped for lunch in a small town and Anderson and some teammates were goofing around at the rest stop’s playground. Anderson said she was on a swing when her ring got caught on metal at the bottom of the swing.

Trying to release the ring, she pulled hard and the finger was torn.

“Here we were in the middle of nowhere and I just lost my finger,” Anderson said. “It was pretty dramatic.”

Art Anderson recalls the phone call he and his wife received from Brazil shortly after their daughter’s accident.

“We instantly went into fear and shock,” Art said. “We had real concerns with her so far away. Two weeks later she came home, but it was pretty tense around here during that time.”

The injury also tore flesh in Anderson’s palm and the back of her hand, forcing her to undergo several operations.

Her parents searched for the area’s most reputable surgeons to perform the operations. After the last surgery, Anderson tested her basketball ability the old-fashioned way.

“We went out in the driveway where she had played so much as a kid,” Art said. “She still had stitches, but she wanted to see about her flexibility and what she could do. If she still could be effective.

“It was scary and she was a bit apprehensive at first, but she did great.”

One month later Anderson went to Japan to play for a team that signed her to a one-year contract before the accident.

“At first they hesitated because of the finger,” Anderson said. “But I adjusted well and it didn’t affect my play.”

Competing for a Japanese team was different from playing in Brazil, Anderson said. Japanese players are younger and in better shape than the Brazilians and demand a more rigorous work ethic than the Brazilians, Anderson said.

The Japanese clubs also pay better. Salaries for a six-month season in Japan range from $75,000 to $150,000, Anderson said. In Brazil salaries range from $12,000 to $48,000.

“Brazilians are laid back and they’re like, whatever happens happens,” Anderson said. “In Japan, there’s rigid discipline. They work, work, work.”

Though Anderson preferred the Japanese style of play, she returned to Brazil in 1993 because she loved the country, and played for another season.

This time she was engaged to Brazilian Rogerio Soares, a 6-6 senior forward on the Master’s College men’s team.

Anderson applied for the coaching position at Master’s to be closer to Soares, whom she is scheduled to marry in May. The Master’s women have a 3-19 record.

“She’s a great coach and I like the fact that she plays with us at practice,” Master’s senior guard Deb Orah said. “She’s still in top shape.”

Anderson won’t return as Master’s coach next season because she plans to move to Brazil after marrying Soares. She is looking forward to perhaps a few more seasons of competitive basketball.

“I always thought I would play one or two years of pro ball because I don’t want to live in a foreign country more than that,” Anderson said. “Now it won’t be a problem.”