She quickly bonded with fellow classmates Cheryl "Kix" Prideaux and Andi "Gizmo" Coleman, close friends who would also become key players for BLU.  Initially, Sanan was intimidated by the older players, but she found inspiration in Anna Nazarov.  At practice, she would stand behind her whenever possible because she wanted to throw like her. 

Taz credits much of the team’s success and her personal development to the leadership’s commitment to a strong work ethic.  "Everyone wanted to work hard because it was more fun to improve.”  She attributes the team work ethic as a reflection of coach Alex Korb, who “cared so much about the team and the practices that it made everyone want to care equally."

She describes her play as a rookie as being fairly unremarkable but she had great experiences that motivated her to become the player she is now. 

"During freshman year, we put a lot of teams up on a pedestal, like Colorado.  At Regionals in Boulder, I only played one point that game [double game point loss to Kali in the semis].  Even though we didn't qualify, some of us went to Nationals to watch.  I remember watching the semifinals – University of Washington vs. Texas – and we were awed by Miranda Roth."

The next season, when Sanan came back from the summer, her development was noticed by her teammates.  In typical fashion, she still didn't think of herself as being particularly good; however, it was clear that her throws and confidence had improved greatly.  Her hard work peaked with a breakthrough performance in the finals against Stanford at the 2006 Nationals.  She fondly remembers that game as one of her favorite memories. 

Last year, UCLA was loaded with talent and poised to supplant Stanford as champions.  With strong performances at the Cultimate tourneys (including a win at the Stanford Invite), they entered Nationals as the number one seed and consensus favorite.  Sanan notes that the team definitely felt that it was their time to win, and with that came a lot pressure and a different set of expectations they weren’t used to.  For instance, after winning the 2007 Stanford Invite, there wasn’t the same excitement there had been when they were just breaking onto the national scene – winning was something that was expected of them and the pressure was great. 

Their loss to Santa Barbara in the semifinals was hard on the team – the loss came at the hands of their main rivals, and more importantly, it was the last game for the extremely talented senior class that had formed the core of BLU.  Arguably, it was one of the best classes in the history of women’s collegiate ultimate.  Led by 2007 Callahan winner Anna Nazarov, the class included 2006 Callahan runner-up Pooja Shah, Lisa Vampola, Holly Schwarz, Sierra Simmons, Annie Skaron, Jen Chen and others with a great balance of good fundamentals and athleticism. 

Sanan versus Oregon at the Stanford Invite -photo by Anna Nazarov

In particular, the departure of Nazarov, Vampola and Schwarz gutted the team of a deep handling line on which Sanan’s main role was to play the third handler.  She came into this year with the tough task of rebuilding the handling corps.  She and Alex Korb spoke early on about her assuming a leadership role and the responsibilities that would go along with it.  She focused on the play of the young handlers, giving advice to them wherever needed and writing emails detailing strategies on how to improve.

On a bigger scale, the entire team had to adjust to a new situation – returning only eight players, BLU had to retool their roster with at least ten new players.  Fortunately, they were able to pick up a lot of players from their B team Midas, who had a successful year as well, finishing fifth in the region.  In the decision-making process, Sanan explains that they "had a longer tryout period… in the previous years, we only had a couple roster spots to fill… this year, we wanted to take our time and get a good look at everyone."  They had a focused tryout period during the winter quarter (January-February) and even ran a tryout tournament to give players every opportunity they could to step up and prove themselves. 

Once they made their decisions, Sanan and team captains Coleman and Prideaux had the additional challenge of getting the entire team to mesh.  Essentially, the task was akin to merging two teams.  They employed several smart strategies in order to promote team unity, including holding a weekend retreat before the Stanford Invite.  Sanan feels that another key to their success this year was coming into the season with lowered expectations that took the pressure off the younger players. 

One area where Sanan has improved tremendously over the past two years is in the same area that has set UCLA apart from most programs this year – the mental game.  Very early on, Sanan established herself as a very good thinker of the game.  She is very strong at analyzing the game and thinking critically about the team’s play and her personal game.  She attributes much of her success to never accepting that any element of her game is good enough – she is always looking for ways to improve – a mentality that she credits Korb for having cultivated. 

Her mental toughness has improved tremendously, thanks to her conditioning regimen.  She credits track workouts with sharpening her focus and developing her ability to block out pain and distractions.  Another key element in developing her mental game has been learning how to accept criticism better, seeing it as an opportunity to improve and not letting the criticism get her down. 

The mental work has paid big dividends this season – UCLA tied UBC for first in the inaugural National Collegiate Ultimate Series (losing on a tiebreaker), and they are on the short list of favorites to win it all in Boulder, the perfect place for Sanan’s career to come full circle.  Sanan deserves a great deal of the credit for BLU’s success in bouncing back from their massive personnel losses and disappointing end to their 2007 season.  The success of this season also signifies that UCLA is firmly in place as one of the elite programs in women’s ultimate. 

After this weekend’s Socal Sectionals, UCLA has a 38-5 record and will be the number one seed going into the Southwest Regionals.  Sanan is a senior and plans to move to San Francisco after graduation and look for work in the biology field.