Catching Up with Coach Stanley

After practice on Wednesday, Sparks Assistant Coach Marianne Stanley hurried off the court. She had ordered pizza from her favorite underground spot at Penn Station for the whole team and wanted to pick it up and have it ready on the bus when the team got on. Being an assistant coach isn’t about making sure the players are fed but a big part of it is showing that you care and going the extra mile when you have the chance.

Coach Stanley has been around for awhile both as a player and a coach and she took the time to sit down with LASparks.com to answer a few questions on the season so far, our road-heavy schedule and what’s fun to do in New York.

LASparks.com: What do you think of the season so far?
Coach Stanley: I still think we’re learning to play together. We’ve had to make a lot of adjustments with players out due to injury or in the case of Candace being out on maternity. We’re still taking steps towards being the team that we’ll be at the end of the year. This year is so competitive league-wide and each step in the right direction is helping us get better as a team.

LASparks.com: How do you like being on the road so much?
Coach Stanley: I think on one hand it’s good because you get tested right away. It’s good from that aspect but it also makes it hard progress. The road has been tough so far and it’s important that we keep the faith that we’re doing the right things and we will end up where we want to be.

LASparks.com: Does having a lot of new faces on the team play into that at all?
Coach Stanley: I think it plays a small part. We do have a lot of new faces and a lot of talent to integrate together. The great thing about this team is that nobody puts their head down, nobody gives up. We’ve had a couple setbacks but we haven’t even had our full roster together yet and the anticipation of that is exciting. This schedule, being on the road can be physically taxing because with the injuries and less than a full roster, we’re practicing with less people. I think as long as we keep working hard and staying positive, things will come together in a big way.

LASparks.com: You have a wealth of experience to draw from, what do you do to help this team?
Coach Stanley: I’ve been around for a long time so in general, at least from a basketball perspective, there isn’t a lot that I haven’t seen. For both Coop and I, we’ve seen a lot. With this team, I try to pay close attention to detail and give the players something that they can use to get better. To me, once you become a professional, you aren’t going to just get better over night. It happens day to day with little improvements and if I can give them something to work on, I’m happy.

LASparks.com: With this team full of stars, do you feel like you’ve been able to do that?
Coach Stanley: We do have a lot of new faces and there are different players who need different things. I’ve tried to look at each of our players and say, “what can I do to help this person be better?” That’s what I try to give this team.

LASparks.com: What’s it like doing the scouting and making a gameplan?
Coach Stanley: I don’t do it alone. Coop and I collaborate a lot. I watch a lot of film, he watches a lot of film and the players watch a lot of film. I think the thing I enjoy most about scouting or putting together a gameplan is just the challenge of we can impose our will on the game. I try to figure out how can we set the tone of the game. I love that part of it and then once you come up with a plan A, you have to come up with a plan B.