Gymnastics
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- vkondos@athletics.ucla.edu
Career Highlights
2018, 2010, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1997 NCAA Championships
2001, 2000, 1997, 1996 National Coach of the Year
2019, 2018 West Region Head Coach of the Year
5-time Conference Coach of the Year
19 Pac-12 Championships and 23 Regional Championships as head and assistant coach
Coached 20 athletes to 38 NCAA Individual Championships as head and assistant coach
2010 UCLA Athletics Hall Of Fame Inductee
Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Century
Overall Coaching Record
843-215-5 (.796)
Valorie Kondos Field concluded a 29-year run as head coach of the UCLA Gymnastics team in 2019, leaving a legacy that included seven NCAA championships, over 800 career victories, induction into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame, and a long list of game-changing gymnasts mentored by her who helped elevate the sport to new levels.
During her farewell season in 2019, she led UCLA to the Pac-12 and NCAA Regional titles, as well as a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Kyla Ross set multiple NCAA records that season, including a streak of 10 consecutive meets with a perfect 10, and captured the NCAA vault and floor exercise titles and Pac-12 all-around, bars and floor titles. Katelyn Ohashi became a world-wide sensation after her perfect 10 floor exercise routine went viral in week two, and the Bruins set attendance records around the country.
UCLA won its first NCAA women’s gymnastics championship in 1997 under Kondos Field and won again in back-to-back seasons in both 2000-2001 and 2003-2004. In 2010, UCLA won its sixth NCAA title with a 24-for-24 performance in the Super Six, and in 2018, the Bruins used a record-breaking performance on balance beam to complete an improbable comeback in the final rotation that catapulted them to their seventh crown.
Named the Pac-12 Coach of the Century in 2016, Kondos Field guided her teams to 15 Pac-12 Conference titles, to go along with 20 NCAA Regional titles.
Kondos Field was selected by her peers as the NACGC/W National Coach of the Year four times (1996, 1997, 2000 and 2001) and was also named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 1995, 2000, 2003, 2012 and 2019 and the West Region Head Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2019. In 2010, she became just the second active coach to be inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2017, she won a Los Angeles Chapter of Women in Sports and Events (WISE Los Angeles) Women of Inspiration Award. In 2019, she received the UCLA Professional Achievement award for her superior achievements in the field.
Kondos Field emphasized a team concept, but her student-athletes also found individual success, winning 32 NCAA individual titles during her years as head coach.
But even with all of her successes on the court, what gave Kondos Field most satisfaction was seeing her student-athletes succeed in all facets of their lives. Academics was a big part of that equation, and Kondos Field’s teams regularly placed members on the Conference All-Academic teams and Scholastic All-American squads, and she coached two Pac-12 Gymnastics Scholar-Athletes of the Year in Ariana Berlin (2009) and Peng-Peng Lee (2018).
With legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden as her role model and cherished friend, Kondos Field’s coaching philosophy stressed balance and integrity.
“Growing up in the classical dance world, I spent the majority of my youth in a very disciplined environment,” she said. “The reward was the self-satisfaction that came from the culmination of months of hard work in preparation for our performances and knowing I did my best to become the best I was capable of becoming. The reward wasn’t monetary or about ‘winning’; instead, it was being able to have pride in a job well done.”
“In a sport as subjective as gymnastics, it’s important to have an honest internal voice that knows when you’ve done your best even if your ‘score’ says you didn’t ‘win’, and conversely knowing when you can push harder even if your ‘score’ says you are the ‘champion’,” she continued. “That inner voice, known as integrity, is vital in living life to its fullest and enjoying the journey in every aspect of life.”
A breast cancer survivor, Kondos Field’s positive outlook throughout her journey resonated profoundly with her student-athletes and with fans, leading to her mantra “Life is Short, Don’t Wait to Dance.” She authored a book with that title, which was released in October 2018 through Hachette Book Group. Her book shares insights and advice on how to use uniqueness and authenticity to achieve success.
Kondos Field’s professional journey was a unique one. A former professional ballet dancer with the Sacramento Ballet, Capital City Ballet and Washington, D.C. Ballet, she initially got her start in gymnastics at Agilites in Carmichael, Calif. by playing the piano for floor exercise music. From there, she became a dance coach, and under the guidance of former University of Minnesota head coach Jim Stephenson, learned the fundamentals of the sport.
In 1983, she was hired to be UCLA’s assistant coach and choreographer. While working under head coach Jerry Tomlinson, Kondos Field helped put UCLA Gymnastics on the map with their distinctive choreography and flair. The Bruins earned NCAA runner-up finishes in 1984 and 1989 and won six NCAA individual titles from 1987-89.
Kondos Field was appointed head coach of the Bruins in 1991 and brought in Scott Bull as her co-head coach. The duo earned West Region Co-Coach of the Year honors in 1993 and in 1994. As the sole head coach in 1995, she earned Pac-10 and West Region coaching honors and guided her team to first-place finishes at the Pac-10 and Regional Championships. Just one year later, she led the Bruins to a runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships, and in 1997 she became just the fourth coach in NCAA history to win a national title.
She was recognized as one of the top beam and floor choreographers in the sport. Under her guidance, UCLA formed a reputation of having the most unique and artistic routines in the nation, and a Bruin floor exercise routine went viral in each of her last four years. Kondos Field choreographed 21 NCAA championship routines on beam and floor, including an unprecedented three consecutive on floor from Kim Hamilton from 1987-89. She also earned the Choreography of the Year Award at the 2004 Canadian National Championships for Kate Richardson’s floor exercise routine.
Kondos Field also came to be recognized for her recruiting ability, signing to national letters of intent Olympic medalists Madison Kocian, Kyla Ross, Samantha Peszek, Mohini Bhardwaj, Tasha Schwikert, Kristen Maloney, and Jamie Dantzscher, along with Simone Biles, Alicia Sacramone and Kerri Strug.
More impressively, however, under Kondos Field’s tutelage, many of these top recruits went on to compete at the elite level both during and after their collegiate careers. Danusia Francis competed at the 2015 World Championships ahead of her senior year at UCLA, and two years after graduating placed 12th at the 2018 Pan American Championships. Francis qualified to the 2020 Olympics as an individual for Jamaica. Anna Li made the U.S. Olympic team as an alternate in 2012, two years after finishing her senior season at UCLA. In the summer of 2010, Vanessa Zamarripa made the U.S. National Team with an eighth-place finish at her first U.S. Championships. In 2004, Kate Richardson became only the second female gymnast to compete at the Olympic Games as a collegiate athlete. She was joined in Athens by another Bruin, Mohini Bhardwaj, who captained the U.S. team to a team silver medal three years after her senior season at UCLA. Both Richardson and Bhardwaj qualified for the floor exercise finals, with Bhardwaj placing sixth and Richardson placing seventh with her Kondos Field-choreographed routine. In 1999, Kondos Field coached then-UCLA junior Heidi Moneymaker at her first USA Championships, and Moneymaker, Bhardwaj and Lena Degteva all represented UCLA at the 1999 World University Games.
A freelance choreographer with extensive experience in the entertainment and gymnastics fields, Kondos Field was the co-executive producer for the 2017 TV special “Jump, Jive & Thrive”, which combined gymnastics, dance and music to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. For 26 years, she helped to create, direct and choreograph Sea World’s Summer Nights shows, and her Riptide show won a national award for Best Overall Production: $1,000,000 - $2,000,000 or More at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) 2007 Big “E” Awards. In the summer of 1991, Kondos Field choreographed a summer acrobatic festival held in Lennestadt, Germany.
Kondos Field is married to former UCLA Associate Athletic Director and football coach Bobby Field, who was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017. The duo are the first married Hall of Fame duo in UCLA Athletics history. Kondos Field graduated from UCLA in 1987 with a degree in history.
