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.
Dec. 13, 2001
Fall 2001 has been quite a memorable time for us all. I have been extremely proud of our team this fall because they had a difficult time the first month after September 11th finding their motivation to go into the gym every day and train "gymnastics" - something they felt was trivial compared to what had occurred in our country this September and what has continued to occur around the world. After many discussions about "freedom" and appreciating what "freedom" really means to us in this country, our young women decided they wanted to dedicate this season to the victims of September 11th and to those that continue to fight for our freedom.
They constructed a banner that reads, "Tribute - To the victims and those devoted to the relief effort: Your courage, strength, compassion and humanity fuel our fire and rekindle our passion for gymnastics. We dedicate our season to you and commit to take every day as a gift." Alyssa Beckerman took this banner to Ground Zero over Thanksgiving break and hung the banner alongside all of the other offerings that people have brought in honor of those who fell and those who continue to fight for our freedom.
We've talked a lot about what this dedication means. "Dedication" to something doesn't just last a day or a week when you're in the heat of the moment. To be truly dedicated to something means that it burns inside of you every day, becoming the motivation for your daily actions.
Our Bruins were also involved in "Bruins for Relief," which was an athletic department-wide venture that included athletes from every sport at UCLA. They met at the Rose Bowl for one of our home football games and collected donations from the fans. The money that was raised will be going to a college fund set up for the children of victims of the September 11th tragedies.
It was a tremendous lesson for them to hear the different responses from people when asked for donations. Responses ranged from, "What a great cause. We can't do enough." To, "And who exactly is going to pay for my children's college educations?"
Soliciting donations from 80,000 people, and getting almost as many different responses was an education in itself on the effects of socialization. While we raised close to $50,000, it was the great feeling the student-athletes had from doing "something" to help those less fortunate that was the real gift of the event.
As we head into the Holiday Season, our team is (for the most part) healthy and doing extremely well academically. Even more importantly, their maturity seems to have blossomed over these past few months. They seem to view their world in a much broader scope. There isn't as much drama attached to the little daily inconveniences of life. They seem to be holding true to the challenge of their dedication - to appreciate all we have, every day.
When asked "Why is it important for us to continue with our daily routine of life?" the answer is simple … "Because we can."
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| Photo courtesy James Thorn |