UCLA gymnastics team ready to redeem last year’s close loss to Utah
Senior Anna Li returns from an injury-riddled 2009 season to lead the women’s gymnastics team this season. The Bruins will face No. 2 Utah in a rematch of last year’s preliminary round of the NCAA championship in Pauley Pavilion this Saturday.
By Mansi Sheth
Jan. 7, 2010 10:43 p.m.
The UCLA gymnastics team opens its season in a dual competition against Utah on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The No. 5 Bruins will battle the No. 2 Utes in a rematch of last year’s preliminary round of the NCAA championships, in which Utah narrowly defeated UCLA in a tiebreaker for the final slot in the Super Six team finals.
With four intrasquad competitions already under the Bruins’ belt, coach Valorie Kondos Field believes that her team is well-prepared for a tough matchup against Utah, who won last year’s season opener by one-tenth of a point, 196.175-196.075.
Kondos Field understands that Utah’s clean gymnastics translates into high scores but adds that the Utes’ team performance cannot affect how well the Bruins execute their own routines.
“The team has gotten better and better and better with each intrasquad, so we should be able to come out and do really beautiful big gymnastics.” Kondos Field said.
“It would be nice to hit 24 for 24 routines, I don’t anticipate doing that, but that is always our goal. I think that we are going to be able to come out and compete well,” she added.
As a top-five team, Utah represents a competitive start to the season that the Bruins hope will help them adjust quickly to Pac-10 competition in the upcoming weeks.
Saturday’s competition will also be the Bruins’ only home meet in the next three weeks.
Kondos Field believes that a season-opener against Utah is advantageous since it requires a distinct kind of preparation.
“Utah is a great start for the season because anytime you go against one of the top five teams your first meet out, you prepare differently,” she said. “Just emotionally and mentally you prepare differently. You may prepare the same way physically, but it’s a different emotional game.”
With almost the entire 2009 team returning for this season, the Bruins are more experienced and unlike last year, will be less dependent on incoming freshmen.
“The bulk of the competition will be on the sophomores, juniors and Anna (Li),” Kondos Field said. “We have got two freshmen that will be competing for us, but we are going to ease them into the lineup. They are not going to have the pressure that the freshmen had last year.”
Since the departure of Ariana Berlin and Melissa Chan, the Bruins have turned to senior Li for leadership. Kondos Field believes that Li’s comeback from an injury-riddled 2009 season has significantly enhanced the team. Li was only able to compete on the uneven bars last year but this year has returned to competing as an all-arounder.
“The biggest improvement of this year’s team is our senior Anna Li. She struggled the last three years, (yet) she made a huge change this last summer,” Kondos Field said.
“She is in better shape than she has been in her entire life. She used to fall on beam all the time, and nowshe has hit more than 150 of her beam flipping series in a row. So talking about the power of the mind, she is a perfect example for all the younger student-athletes to emulate.”
Li personally feels prepared for the upcoming season and especially for Saturday’s competition against the Utes.
“I’ve worked really hard this past year,” Li said.
“I’m really excited this year to go out and especially during our first home meet. I’m just ready to go, and as a team I feel like we are really prepared. We have been training really well,” she added.
