Jan. 6, 2011
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:
Vandana (Mumbai, India): Recruiting seems to be so time consuming, do you think it needs to be reformed in some way?
Miss Val: Yes, there is a lot of discussion amongst the coaches and athletic directors regarding implementing recruiting calendars for all sports. I am in favor of anything that brings more parity to our sport.
Marcus (Cardiff, Wales): With so much parity in NCAA, is there a need for more differentiation in the form of execution deductions or by adding more difficulty bonus?
Miss Val: Parity is GREAT as long as our judging remains respectful. I don't believe there should be added difficulty in bonus. I think that would prohibit a weaker team from being able to upset a stronger team. I DO believe that there can be more differentiation in form and execution deductions.
Elizabeth (Los Angeles): How does having two big meets in one weekend affect how you structure your competition lineup? Will you be putting most of your top lineups in the Utah meet or the Pac-10 meet or both?
Miss Val: It obviously wasn't an ideal situation for us to have two of our biggest meets of the year our first weekend out. We agreed to do this to get TV to cover another one of our meets. At this time of the season we have a lot of athletes that can't compete floor and vault Friday and Sunday. Our goal is to compete in both of these meets with as little angst as possible and hit 24 for 24 clean routines. Of course, we'd love to win both of these meets, but we can't risk dinging up any of our athletes for the "W". Samantha Peszek not being able to compete on 3 events changed our line-up substantially. Everyone who is competing has proven to be competition ready on their respective events. You'll see that there are a few athletes who aren't in the lineup now because they aren't "quite" ready. As in Lichelle Wong and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs on bars (although Elyse did hit a solid bar routine including stuck dismount earlier this week ... We'll see). Once they are ready, they should score big! Monique De La Torre and Allison Taylor have upgraded their tumbling on floor and need another two weeks or so of training. We have a lot of athletes who can hit clean routines and score in the 9.7 - 9.85 range right now. Our challenge is getting them all to that 9.9 and higher score and getting all of them enough competitive experience to see who can post the highest scores come Championship season. Should be a FUN and EXCITING season!
Casie (Houston): How do you think the freshman class will affect the line-up this year? You have such a talented group of freshmen, but I haven't heard how they are progressing in the gym this fall.
Miss Val: I have high hopes for our freshmen. I think they'll have a bit of a learning curve, but with consistent competition, they should be able to put up some big scores come March and April. Most people know Sam's abilities. She is rock solid and exceptionally clean. Sydney Sawa is a beautiful dancer with really pretty lines. She needs to clean up a bit and get a bit more swagger in order to post bigger scores. Olivia Courtney makes her routines seem effortless. She also needs to clean up her form and improve her dance transitions, but she has proven to be a tough competitor in our intrasquads. Kassidy Kozai will be beautiful on floor, bars and beam once she gets healthy. She is still recouping from knee surgery she had the year before she came.
Thurman (Berkeley): When the UCLA gymnastics team decide they would use (steal) the Cal chant "Bear Territory" during the UCLA bonfire???
Miss Val: I have no idea. I know that the swimming team has used that chant for years before we did. Considering our history, that CAL was the first UC school and UCLA was the Southern California branch of CAL, hence their mascot being the Bear and ours being the Bruin (baby bear), and their colors being Navy and Gold and ours being baby blue and light yellow, I would think it is a compliment to CAL that we're paying homage to our heritage.
Jessica: How is the 2011 beam line shaping up, will we see any new people? I am hoping to see Sam Peszek on that event, she is so aggressive and fearless!
Miss Val: The beam line-up will be interesting. If Sam were healthy she'd be one of our best competitors on that event, even though we need to get her a dismount she can compete every week. With Sam and Vanessa out, that opens the door for a lot of our depth to come into the line-up. If Lichelle Wong and Tauny Frattone hit, they'll score big. I'm leaning towards keeping them in for the first month or so to give them time to settle in to the event. We did this with Vanessa her freshman year. (Vanessa fell quite often on beam in the beginning of her freshman year. We kept her in because we knew once she figured it out, she'd score big. And she did. She even qualified for beam finals at NCAAs that year.)
Denver: Earlier you mentioned Sam's ankle still being an issue especially for tumbling. Is this continued issue stemming for the injury at the Olympics? It has been over 2 years; why won't it heal? Will she be able to participate in the AA this year? I would love to see her try for 2010. Her attitude is infectious and she is a joy to watch.
Miss Val: Sam's ankle is a classic "nagging" injury. Every time she lands the least bit short, she reinjures it. We're hoping that with this time off to heal her baby toe, she'll be able to get her ankle strong again to at least do vault, bars and beam this year then add floor next season.
Anna (The Netherlands): How is Lichelle doing? Which events will she be competing and is she training for elite level?
Miss Val: Lichelle is doing GREAT! She is on a mission to compete in the All-Around. She needs a bit more training to compete her new bar dismount and will need a lot of competition on beam to "settle in" to that event. It's interesting how competing for a "team' score affects their nerves so much. I especially see it with the Elites. Lichelle has discussed making a run for 2012, but her school schedule prevents her from making all of the training camps that the Netherlands would require of her to make their team. Her father has had a lot of discussion with their federation about this trying to figure something out.
Simon (Los Angeles): Does an athlete have to compete a certain number of routines to maintain their scholarship? For example, if an athlete competes minimally, say 5 routines (0 in postseason) is she at risk of losing her scholarship to non-scholarship athletes who actually do contribute in the postseason?
Miss Val: The only way an athlete can lose a scholarship or not be renewed is by not conforming to team rules. Per the NCAA rules, a student-athlete cannot lose their scholarship based on athletic performance.
Rebecca (San Francisco): Dear Ms. Val, I was so saddened to hear about Michigan State gymnast Kathryn Mahoney fracturing her neck. Does it impact the entire college gym community when such a serious injury occurs? As a college gym fan, she is in my thoughts and prayers.
Miss Val: Any injury affects the entire gymnastics community, especially when it is severe, as is the case with Kathryn. From what I have heard, Kathryn's attitude is amazing. From what Randy (their Assistant Head Coach) reports, the first question she enthusiastically asks her teammates every day is "How was practice today?" Our prayers continue to be with her.
Sara (San Diego): Dear Ms. Val, Thank you for answering our questions! What is the Pac 10 preview you are having? Is it a new event this year?
Miss Val: YES it is a new event. We PAC-10 coaches hoped that offering something new would get us more TV exposure. It did. Fox Sports Net is picking it up.
Bella (New York): Dear Ms. Val, I am always so impressed by athletes like Allison Taylor, who hasn't competed as much as she might have hoped but seems to have such a positive impact on the team and such great spirit. It seems like she has such an important role on the team even without competing weekly?
Miss Val: Allison's positive attitude and energy she brings every day is impressive and extremely motivating for her team. Unfortunately, she broke her back and the navicular bone in her foot the year before she came to us. Both of those injuries have played havoc with her ability to be consistent in college. When she hits, she is beautiful. But her lack of flexibility to arch now, and her foot prevent her from doing the numbers needed to be as consistent as she could be. And, you are correct, her energy and commitment in and out of the gym make her a great team leader.