April 14, 2011

Practice, Press Conference, Tournament Banquet Photo Gallery

UCLA Head Coach Valorie Kondos Field
Opening Statement:
"I want to thank Cleveland State and Kent State for hosting and congratulate Kent State for qualifying. We were excited to see that happen. It is great to be back because the thing that we, as college coaches are doing very well, is to find ways to create parity around the country. It is getting harder and harder every year to get here. Where you used to be able to take it easy a bit on the first day of competition and know that you were going to be able to save some athletes for the Super Six, that is not the case now. In fact, if you move down the ranks to the regionals, which is the first stage of the national championships, they have gotten extremely exciting. I think our sport is definitely going in the right direction. As far as our program, this year we have had a lot of ups and downs. I'd like to say that we've had a nice easy road, but we have not. It has been tumultuous at times, but the fun part for me as a coach has been to help keep them (the Bruins) on the path and keep them prepared to be able to contend again for the championship title. I can honestly say that despite all of the downs that we have had this year, we have never had a low. The team never got low and for those of us who have been coaching as long as we've had, you can really appreciate that when you don't have to dig them back up. So that's been a pleasure. I'm thrilled to have Brittani McCullough up here, she is our fifth-year senior. If you don't know her story, go online and look it up because it is a great story and I couldn't be more proud to have her up here."

On the venue and whether an underdog can win the championship:
"I get so excited when I think about the teams are here. I really think that it is the year that a team can come up and take it away from the four teams that have won the championship in the past. If you know the history of those teams. . . you have a team that has been ranked number one all year and they didn't have a great regional and they've got to be hungry. I see Jay Clark (Georgia coach) in the back and those Bulldogs are ready to go. They want it, they want it bad. Arkansas tends to be the spoilers of the country. Don't ever, ever let your guard down when Arkansas is in the house because they are going to take it (the title) away from you. The same thing for all of us up here. This is an exciting, very exciting time for collegiate gymnastics. It is an exciting championship, it is exciting to be in this venue. When you are at home, or you compete at home, it has a tendency to either spark your team or it can get you too tight. If you are looking at a kind of neutral venue, this is a neutral venue, we are all as excited for Kent State to be here as we are for ourselves to be here. For the Bruins, this will not only be our 7th national championship (jn gymnastics) but our 107th championship (overall) for UCLA so there are a whole lot of exciting things going on. It is going to be a great weekend."

On what is like to enter the championship as the defending champion?
"The team is very different from last year. We aren't coming in as the defending national champions, we are coming in as a brand new team. All that noise about being defending national champ is great for the media and the fans, but I feel that as a coach, you don't bring that into it. We are a totally different team. This team is extremely different from any team that I have been a part of in my 29 years at UCLA. The biggest thing that hit us was when Vanessa Zamarripa went down with her Achilles in November. We knew that we had four spots that we needed to fill. Those were the nines and a guaranteed 10 that we could count on. That's what has really been exciting for us, to see where our depth is, where our weaknesses are and those weaknesses showed up fast. But it was good for us to work on our weaknesses and get to where we've gotten this season. Defending national champs is great for everybody else to talk about, but we don't talk about it."