Victory in Arizona balanced by team-building experience

Monday, January 26, 1998

Victory in Arizona balanced by team-building experience

W.GYM STORY Coach takes pride in rewarding win; Fong, Norman
cherish an unforgettable meet

By Christie DeBeau

Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team posted their fourth win of the
season against the University of Arizona, in Tucson on Friday with
a team score of 192.875 to the Wildcats season best 191.550. While
the Bruins team score is not their highest of the season, they had
an unforgettable meet that cannot be understood by their marks
alone.

"The meet went great and I would have to say it was one of the
best meets I have seen of my 15 years at UCLA," UCLA head coach
Valorie Kondos said. "It’s not the best scores we have received, we
did have some falls, but it was the most rewarding meet."

One of the reasons for Kondos’s adulations about Friday’s meet
was Andrea Fong’s performance in all four events. For UCLA senior
Fong, this meet was one she had been preparing for each season,
without knowing when she would be asked to perform on any given
event. Fong primarily has competed on vault, but at the Arizona
meet she competed in every event and individually placed third in
the meet with a total of 37.500.

"Andrea Fong has really only competed on vault and floor, she
has not been on beam for years," Kondos said. "To see her compete
in all-around and do so well was truly a great coaching experience.
Andrea has been preparing five years to compete in all-around and
we needed her to and it was imperative, she competed and was
phenomenal."

"I am really happy with the meet because I competed on some
events that I have not done since club, which was three to four
years ago," Andrea Fong said. "My coach told me in the middle of
the week that I would be competing in all events and so I really
prepared for those two days up until the meet."

Every member of the team practices to compete in all-around at
the beginning of the season, but often this aim is lost as the
gymnasts concentrate on their strongest events. At the Arizona
meet, Fong showed that her moment to be an all-around gymnast had
come.

"This meet was one of the best experiences I have had at school,
to actually compete in every event and not just contribute to the
team by cheering," Fong said. "Being a senior, I really wanted to
make an impression and I think I did it in this meet."

Fong achieved her goal of having a strong showing on all events
amidst many other successful performances by her fellow
teammates.

"The strongest routines were probably from Heidi Moneymaker and
Lena Degteva on floor, but these athletes are used to this," Kondos
said. "But Andrea going all-around was the most memorable. The
freshman don’t get it. They need to practice all the time like they
will be competing in all-around and some just are not ready for
this. It was great after the meet because at the beginning of the
season we had talked about (how) this time would come."

Friday’s meet was also an important one for freshman Alexis
Norman.

Newcomer Norman internally "struggled fall quarter with deciding
to stay with gymnastics, although she loves UCLA and the team,"
Kondos said. However, after a successful second meet of the season,
Norman is feeling more reassured about sticking it out with the
UCLA team.

"We felt that once she got into the season that she would stay
on. At her first performance she competed on floor and did a
wonderful job. At this meet she competed on floor and beam and did
a really great job. After she was done competing I could see a
sparkle in her eyes as she finished beam. After the meet at our
team meeting, she brought it to a halt and said she had something
to say. She went on to thank the coaches and everyone on the
team."

For the Bruin gymnastics team, placing first in the meet came
only second to the team building experience that this meet awarded
them.

"This meet was a real coaching experience," Kondos said. "No one
on the outside can really tell how rewarding it was."

DERRICK KUDO

Kiralee Hayashi begins her vault routine during Friday’s meet
against the Wildcats.