Weekly diary by Valorie Kondos Field, head coach for UCLA's women's gymnastics team.
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Note: With three NCAA titles in six years, UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field has positioned her Bruins as the premier program in collegiate gymnastics. Not only has she consistently recruited the top talent in the world, but she has produced the results. In the past seven years alone, Kondos Field has led UCLA to three NCAA titles and one runner-up finish, six Regional titles and four Pac-10 championships.
January 12, 2003
So far - so GREAT! One of our goals this season is to go undefeated, which is something we haven't accomplished in previous years. Yes, it is a great feeling to open in Hawaii with such a solid meet, and to then travel to Utah and compete well enough to beat the Utes at home. However, the most gratifying feelings come from the personal growth of our student-athletes and coaches.
Due to neck "issues", I was not able to travel with the team to Utah. As Chris Waller put it, this was a "brilliant" tactic. For the past few weeks we have felt that although talented and extremely hard-working, our team lacked the leadership needed from each team member to ensure a successful season. In Hawaii, we had a lengthy team meeting discussing this fact. As Chris explained, once the team realized that I wasn't going to make the trip to Utah, they each stepped it up a notch and took on added responsibility toward their team's success. It was one of those situations where they could have easily used me not being there as an excuse for not competing well. Instead, they implemented our motto, "No outs, No doubts, No excuses" and "Charged the Hill and Planted the Flag" (another one of our mottos).
To be honest, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that our team wouldn't rise to the occasion. Talent aside, each individual student athlete on our team is extremely conscientious and tenacious. Combine that with the fact that our coaching staff and I took the utmost care to make certain that our team was well-prepared physically, mentally and emotionally for the beginning of this season ... It was a prideful evening for me to sit back on my heating pad and know, without a doubt, that our team and assistant coaches would rise to the occasion.
As a wonderful and wise friend of mine so eloquently stated, "Winning isn't as important as preparing to win."
In summary, starting off our 2003 season 2-0 is a great feeling. However, all of the growth due to underlying issues is what is truly exciting and the key ingredient we need to see this season through successfully.