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Valorie Kondos Field

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Valorie Kondos Field
Biographical details
Born (1959-08-20) August 20, 1959 (age 65)
Sacramento, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1983–1990UCLA (Asst.)
1991–2019UCLA
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA national championship (1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2018)
Pac-12 championship (1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2018, 2019)
Awards
NACGC/W National Coach of the Year (1996, 1997, 2000, 2001)
Pac-12 Coach of the Year (1995, 2000, 2003, 2012) Pac-12 Coach of the century

Valorie Kondos Field (born Valorie Kondos; August 20, 1959), often referred to as Miss Val, is a retired American gymnastics coach. She was the head coach of the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1991 to 2019, leading the Bruins to seven national championship titles. She is a four-time Conference Coach of the Year, the 2018 West Region Head Coach of the Year, and the Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Century.[1] She is the third most-winning NCAA gymnastics coach, behind Suzanne Yoculan and Greg Marsden.[2]

Early life

Kondos Field grew up in Sacramento, California. Kondos Field was a professional ballet dancer at Sacramento Ballet, Capital City Ballet, and Washington, D.C. Ballet.[3][4] In 1982, at age twenty-two, she retired from dancing to attend the University of California, Los Angeles.[2] In 1983, she became an assistant coach and choreographer for the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team. She graduated from UCLA in 1987 with a degree in history.[1] Kondos Field is also an accomplished pianist, and director and producer of live shows.

Professional career

Kondos Field was appointed head coach of the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team in 1991. In 1997, the team won their first national NCAA championship title, she was the fourth coach in NCAA Gymnastics history to win a championship. The team won again in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010 and 2018, for a total of seven wins under Kondos Field's leadership. Additionally, the team won nineteen Pac-12 championships, the first in 1993 and the last in 2019.[5] and 16 NCAA Regional titles. In 2010, Kondos Field was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. She is known as one of the premier balance beam and floor exercise choreographers. She has choreographed 16 NCAA Championship beam and floor routines. She also earned the choreographer of the year award at the Canadian National Championships for choreographing Kate Richardson’s floor and beam routines. She was voted NCAA Coach of the Year 4 times by her peers and in 2016 was voted the coach of the century by the PAC12 Conference.

On September 20, 2018, she announced her retirement as the head coach of the Bruins gymnastics team,[6] with her final meet on April 20, 2019.[7]

Kondos Field continues to work with gymnastics clubs all over the world as a consultant, helping them with their mental preparation as well as consulting on choreography.

Along with coaching at UCLA, Kondos Field worked as a freelance choreographer and director with the entertainment department at SeaWorld, San Diego for 30 years helping them create their summer shows. Two of her shows, Riptide and Cirque De La Mer won the IAAPA, which is an international award for theme park shows. In the summer of 1991, Kondos Field also choreographed a summer acrobatic festival held in Lennestadt, Germany.

Publications

Kondos Field's book Life is Short, Don't Wait to Dance was published by Hachette Book Group in October 2018. The book is an autobiography that contains self-help and leadership advice based on Kondos Field's experiences as a gymnastics coach.[8]

Controversies

Kondos Field controversially dismissed Alyssa Beckerman from the UCLA gymnastics team in 2003. Kondos Field claimed this was due to Beckerman's "subpar training and lack of enthusiasm," which Beckerman disputed. Although Beckerman had been injured, she was a two-time national champion as a member of the Bruins.[9]

In 2019, in the aftermath of the college admissions bribery scandal, the Los Angeles Times revealed that Maria Caire, a member of the Bruins gymnastics team, had no previous competitive record. She was admitted to UCLA as a scholar-athlete despite this, raising concerns that she had used personal connections to pave her way: Caire's uncle is a longtime friend of Kondos Field. UCLA officials claimed that Caire was admitted based on her athletic potential.

Personal life

Kondos Field is married to retired UCLA Associate Athletic Director and former football coach, Bobby Field.[4]

In May 2014, Kondos Field was diagnosed with breast cancer, but is now cancer-free. She opened up about this on a February 2016 edition of UCLA Bruins gymnastics' YouTube online web series Bruin Banter, hosted by Danusia Francis.[10]

Kondos Field is Greek-American and Eastern Orthodox.[11][12][13]

Kondos Field was portrayed by Jennifer Beals in the 2015 film Full Out about former UCLA Bruin gymnast Ariana Berlin.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Valorie Kondos Field - Gymnastics Coach". UCLA. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  2. ^ a b "UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field's storied (and unconventional) career comes to an end". ESPN.com. 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  3. ^ "Power Panelist". Alumniday.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  4. ^ a b http://www.uclabruins.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=30500&ATCLID=207914419
  5. ^ "UCLA Wins 19th Pac-12 Gymnastics Championship". UCLA. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  6. ^ https://twitter.com/OfficialMissVal/status/1042775912591187968
  7. ^ "Valorie Kondos Field's last dance with UCLA gymnastics ends with third place in NCAA championship | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  8. ^ https://www.amazon.com/Life-Short-Dont-Wait-Dance/dp/1546077146
  9. ^ "Gymnastics: Beckerman questions dismissal". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  10. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMO61PYkfi0
  11. ^ Kolasa-Sikiaridi, Kerry (January 17, 2019). "The Legendary Greek-American Coach of the UCLA Gymnastics Team". USA.GreekReporter.com.
  12. ^ "Hall of Fame Gymnastics Coach Valorie Kondos Field Leads UCLA Women's Team to National Championships". The National Herald.
  13. ^ https://twitter.com/OfficialMissVal/status/1122545736510390277
  14. ^ "Full Out" – via www.imdb.com.
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