Postgame Quotes: UCLA 1, Maryland 4 (Los Angeles Regional Game Four)Postgame Quotes: UCLA 1, Maryland 4 (Los Angeles Regional Game Four)

UCLA Official Athletic Site - Women's Gymnastics

Gymnastics

Weekly diary by Valorie Kondos Field, head coach for UCLA's women's gymnastics team. Previous Entries January 20, 2004 For any future coaches out there: The coaching world is definitely

Between the Bars
Weekly diary by Valorie Kondos Field, head coach for UCLA's women's gymnastics team.


Previous Entries


January 20, 2004

For any future coaches out there: The coaching world is definitely not for the weak of heart, mind or resolve. I've had more unsolicited input these last few weeks from gymnastics fans (not necessarily UCLA fans) about my choice in line-ups than I've ever had in my 14-year tenure as the UCLA head gymnastics coach. It's actually rather insightful to get other people's perspective on why I've made the decisions I made.

Quite simply, this was our plan:

We start by looking at our ultimate competitive goal, winning the NCAA Championship. Then we work back from there in determining the line-up for our meets. Please keep in mind that regardless of how many returnees a team has, every team is different from its teams of the past.

Factors going into our competitive line-up decision:

  • This year, unlike the last four years, there isn't a clear distinction between who our top six competitors are on every event.
  • While we would love to go undefeated during our regular season, it is more important that we give every athlete an opportunity to compete so that we can see who our top competitors and scorers are. Example: Jamie Williams came in and competed well for us on two events at Georgia. Had she not had the opportunity to prove herself in Arizona, we would have probably not thought to compete her at Georgia, and she would have missed out on a huge opportunity to compete in that type of an environment, which is crucial in her growth as a competitive athlete.
  • Keeping our athletes healthy is imperative if we are going to vie for the NCAA title in April. Example: Jeanette Antolin has a lot of back problems and often is laid up for a few days after every competition. She had the best meet of her career yesterday in Georgia, where she won the all-around. She came up to me at the end of the meet and said, "Miss Val, thank you for resting me this weekend by not having me compete in Arizona. My back felt great today. It was so nice to be able to compete without pain."
  • Every athlete on our team who trains well during the preseason and meets her individual goals by our intra-squad in December deserves the opportunity to compete. That's why athletes train... to compete.
  • "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." - John Wooden. The equation for us in preparing properly to win an NCAA championship is thus: Keep our "guns" healthy; accumulate a high regional qualifying score to ensure a trip to the Regional (NCAA first round) championships; make a national statement about the competitive quality of our team; and give ample competitive opportunities to our entire team in case we need to call on them to compete at our championship meets so that they will be mentally, physically and emotionally prepared.

    The intangibles that result in following this philosophy are as great of rewards as "winning". Having two of our upperclassmen, Jamie Williams and Christie Tedmon, compete in Arizona as our top two athletes of the meet gave them an opportunity to feel what the Jeanette Antolins on our team experience. It was a great feeling for them to experience being a team leader, a veteran, the one chosen to be the "rock" for that meet.

    To be able to offer opportunities that instill that feeling into athletes further down in our line-up makes our entire team stronger, makes our weekly workouts re-charged with purpose and excitement and is vital to building a team unity in which everyone is living up to their end of their responsibilities. This experience for them would have been diluted if we would have competed our "guns" intermittently throughout the events.

    In a not-so-small nut shell, these are the thoughts that went into our game plan for our first three meets this season. While a devout sports fan can argue that our record is still only 1-2, the energy surrounding our team right now, because of everyone's involvement these past three weeks, is extremely positively charged and exactly what is needed for the long haul of our competitive season.

    ~miss val