Kondos' Korner
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 five 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 six years alone, Kondos Field has led UCLA to three NCAA titles and one runner-up finish, five Regional titles and three Pac-10 championships.

March 4, 2002

"Charge the Hill and Plant the Flag"
… continuing the charge full steam ahead!

We competed in two meets this past weekend. Friday night up at Washington, we competed every able student-athlete on our roster and ended up scoring a 197.05 (a 9.85 average.) It was extremely exciting to be able to compete all of our student-athletes and to have them perform with a confidence born from their preparation in training and a competitive responsibility to their team. They all had an undeniable sense of Bruin Pride.

As the end of our team creed says, "No Outs. No Doubts. No Excuses. All as one." For our athletes who don't see that much competition time, imagine how great it felt for them, having trained hard this season to be confident enough to come into the line-up and hit as our seasoned veterans do.

On Sunday, we returned to Pauley Pavilion for our last home meet of the season. We always talk about the "magic" of Pauley - with reference to it being the athletic home for our "legend", Coach Wooden. We truly feel the honor that comes with being able to compete in that arena. We also make sure to remember that the "magic" just doesn't happen on its own. It's up to us to create it and fuel it from event to event.

With that said, we whipped up some pretty powerful stuff on Sunday:

• The last home competition for our two seniors, Lindsey Dong and Valerie Velasco, always a special event for our team.
  
• A school record of 198.35
  
• A tremendous crowd that cheered like a home basketball crowd.
  
• The mystique of Hollywood with the presence of Neve Campbell.
  
• And the support and love of Coach Wooden, who clapped for every routine (not just the Bruins'), who thought every performance deserved a 10, and who enthusiastically handed out awards.

From a personal note, being able to coach on the floor of Pauley Pavilion and see Coach Wooden in the second row cheering on the performers is a coaching memory that I will always cherish. As anyone who knows him will agree, he is as great and as humble as he comes across in his books and in the media. He also shares a wealth of love, humor and compassion with everyone he meets.

Quote of the day: "I knew Jamie Dantzscher would get a 10.0 on floor. She flipped well. She landed well. And she wiggled well." - John Wooden.