Goestenkors Cooking Up Chemistry

Team dinners are a culinary challenge for Duke coach

By John Roth

It's way too early to tell what this season holds for the Duke women as they battle rivals North Carolina and Maryland for ACC and national supremacy.

But this much we do know: it's already sent coach Gail Goestenkors scurrying to the book store.
For a cookbook.

As the basketball wars heat up, so is Coach G's kitchen. Though her coaching skills far surpass her culinary talents, Goestenkors has been inviting small groups of players to her house for dinner as a way of enhancing the chemistry within the team.

“I was thinking I wanted to have the team over, but my house is not very big, so I thought I'd have them over one class at a time,” she explains. “Then I thought, why not let them pick what I should cook. So it just kind of evolved.”

The seniors were the first to visit, and they asked their coach to whip up a batch of spaghetti. The juniors followed and requested lasagna. The sophomores are up next, and they've suggested a dinner of chicken and rice.

The fact that Goestenkors can't cook, well, that's just a minor issue.

“I thought it would be a good bonding experience to have my players over, bring them over in smaller groups and sit down and chat with them,” says Coach G. “I also felt it could help me with my cooking skills because I can't make anything, so it would be a challenge for me. It's something I've wanted to do but haven't taken the time to do.

“The seniors were easy on me with spaghetti. I did a good job with that, but I burned the garlic toast to a crisp. For the juniors, lasagna, I had to prepare most of it the night before, because that takes awhile. It took me about two hours to get all the ingredients because I didn't know where to find the spices. And I didn't burn the toast with that group, so I did better.”

Team chemistry has rarely been a problem for the Duke women, whether they've had a bare-bones roster of eight players or a full complement of scholarships. One of the reasons is that Goestenkors works diligently at keeping things fresh and is continually coming up with new ways to motivate and relate to her players. When the team toured Australia a few summers ago, for example, Coach G not only relied on the trip to bring her players closer together, but she also assigned each player some specific reading material to tackle during the long flights and free time to convey personal messages to them.

This idea of small dinner parties has the look of another winner for the team, as it encourages open communication that is not limited to basketball.

“I think it's a really good idea, especially for the younger kids who haven't been exposed to her as much,” says center Ali Bales. “I'm a senior so I've seen pretty much every side of Coach G, but it's nice that it's so personal. It's a small group so you can talk about things that are going on.

“While her cooking skills probably aren't, uh, well she's probably not ready to open her own catering business or anything, the spaghetti was very good. The meat sauce was very good. The toast was black, but the second time around, with the juniors, their toast was good. So she's improving. I really like the idea of meals at her house.”

So far, so good, says the coach. She hasn't yet had to call for pizza to save any of her dinner parties, those she does make this acknowledgement:

“They want to bring their own food as a backup in case mine isn't any good.”

Goestenkors Cooking Up Chemistry

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