University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA Official Athletic Site - Women's Gymnastics
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.
2002 National Gymnastics Championships - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
April 20, 2002
Imagine hitting 22 of 24 routines with near-perfection, not having to count a fall in your final team score, and competing with the perfect combination of enthusiasm, aggressiveness, poise and confidence.
Imagine going into your locker room with the team after your meet and venting the frustration of hitting a better meet than we did last year at the NCAA Championships but with much different results.
Then, imagine your team asking you to make sure that all of our fans sincerely applaud the Alabama team for the awards presentation, acknowledging that Alabama hit a great meet.
In my opinion, these are the qualities of true champions. Our Bruins' character came out in full force. I am most proud of this team for their ability to not measure their worth by their place on the podium.