Ask The Bruins - Dec. 9, 2010
December 09, 2010 | Gymnastics
Dec. 9, 2010
UCLA Gymnastics head coach Valorie Kondos Field will be answering your questions every Thursday over the course of the season. To submit questions for future Q&As, CLICK HERE.
This week's questions/answers:
Lynn (Woodland Hills): In previous years, there would be a Meet the Bruins event. I noticed on the schedule that there isn't one scheduled for this season. Are fans going to get a chance to meet the team and get autographs?
Miss Val: Yes, we will have our poster available for autographs after our second home meet, which is on Monday, Feb. 21st at 1pm (Monday is a holiday). We are not having a Meet the Team this year because of some of the repercussive issues that have cropped up with the renovation to Pauley. We are putting together a Meet the Team for our website, which will include short interviews with our student-athletes and footage from our intrasquads.
Melissa Brownell (Eau Claire, WI): Will UCLA compete against Golden Gophers at U of MN in the future? Also who do you see filling in the shoes of Anna Li? Thank you!
Miss Val: We don't have Minnesota on our away schedule, but the last time we were there, we had a great time. Jim and Meg ran a wonderful meet, and I got to see one of gymnastics' all time greats and a friend of mine, Henrietta Onodi. I will never forget, YEARS ago ... I was in my office working, looked up, and this beautiful woman was standing there with stunning blue eyes. I couldn't believe Henrietta Onodi was standing in my office. She had been attending a small college in Texas and was hoping to transfer to UCLA. She ended up not being able to transfer because she was over by ONE class unit. We became quite close through all of that.
Regarding Anna Li, I don't see it as trying to find someone to fill her shoes. It's more a matter of recognizing each individual athlete's strengths and figuring out how to utilize them as to what's best for the team. That's one of the most interesting aspects of coaching a team. Each team is unique because even one person can totally change a team's dynamic. By really analyzing what each athlete brings, it allows us to come up with different scenarios that we might not have considered in the past. A perfect example of what I'm TRYING to say is the decision we made last year mid-season to switch Anna to the starting position on balance beam. That decision wasn't something that I had made with previous teams. However, that one decision changed the entire synergy of our beam team. But I'm not necessarily going to go find my best beam worker this year and put her first up. I might, but it won't guarantee the same result that we got with Anna. And if it doesn't, I need to find another equation that will give us better results. (Wow that answer got really deep and convoluted.)
Sylvia T. (Santa Barbara, CA): Miss Val, for choreography inspiration, do you watch TV shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" or attend Cirque shows? You are an amazing coach!
Miss Val: Thank you. I watch everything I can that has a movement component. This may sound weird, but I even enjoy watching how animals move on National Geographic. When I was dancing, I used to study the last few steps an animal takes before they spring into the air so I might get some extra hang-time. It worked!
Kristi (Reseda): I really enjoyed the floor routines last year. Are you done choreographing everyone's routines this year yet?
Miss Val: I just finished choreographing floor routines. I'm about 3 weeks late this year getting them all finished. That's mainly due to the fact that Zam wasn't able to do much of anything on her foot for a good month and I scrapped Elyse's routine and started over.
Lori (Northridge): Any chance we can see behind the scenes video of the team on You Tube (like other gymnastic teams)?
Miss Val: Yes, this will be coming out with our Meet the Team via website next week.
Brett (Costa Mesa, CA): I'm glad you are including teams known for artistry in the schedule this year, including Denver and esp. Minnesota! Intentional? I appreciate it!
Miss Val: I hadn't thought about that, but I agree.
Simon (Los Angeles): At what point does the John Wooden worship teeter into indoctrination/cult of personality?
Miss Val: I guess the answer to this would be - whenever one thinks it does. If you're asking me personally, I don't worship Coach Wooden. I respect him and enjoyed his friendship immensely. There are two major things that come to mind when I think of what I got from being around him so much. One was to never Try or Want to be someone I'm not. One time a reporter made a comment to me in front of Coach, "It appears you're the next John Wooden." Before I could respond, Coach said, "Goodness gracious, why would she want to be another John Wooden when she makes a perfectly wonderful Valorie Kondos Field?" I simply looked at the reporter and nodded. The second thing that I always marveled at (that I wish I was better at) was his ability to be very sardonic, witty and honest without being demeaning, insulting, or judgmental. A lot of people don't know that he had a razor sharp wit and was often quick with his analogies, but his intent and words were never disrespectful. He walked that fine line better than anyone I've ever met.
Charlene T.: Since you are the choreographer for the team, who are your best dancers and easiest to teach? I love your team's floor routines every year.
Miss Val: Thank you. Our best dancers are not always the easiest to teach. The easiest to teach are the athletes who will try ANYTHING, the ones who will continue playing with movement while I'm choreographing so I can use what comes most naturally to them, and the ones who aren't inhibited. The athletes I've worked with who understand movement quality the best would be Stella Umeh, Kim Hamilton, Tanya Service, Anna Li, and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs. Oh, and Aisha Gerber. And Alison Stoner, Niki Tom and Lena Degteva. Obviously, I'm forgetting quite a few. I believe I've mentioned in years past the athlete who I absolutely HATED choreographing for was Leah Homma. She was a total pain in the neck. I adored her every other minute she was on the team except when I had to give her a new routine. She'll agree. I'll never forget showing her some choreography and she just stood there looking at me and said "... You think that looks pretty?" ... I kicked her out of the gym.
