UCLA gymnastics dominates Arizona with season-high score
Coach Valorie Kondos Field explained that it’s a mental toll that exhausts gymnasts, and that she’s pleased with the team’s mental improvement.
(Katie Meyers/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Zachary Lemos
March 3, 2014 12:53 a.m.
After seeing her gymnasts run through what she described as a lackluster warm-up in Tuscon, Ariz., coach Valorie Kondos Field sat her athletes down. The longtime gymnastics coach told them that the meet would be over in two hours, and that they needed to find a new source of enthusiasm if they hoped to be competitive for the entirety of the meet.
“They’re really only competing for about five minutes over the course of two hours; the reason why they feel so exhausted after meets isn’t the physical toll; it’s the mental toll,” Kondos Field said. “But that’s what determines champions: the mental strength to stay focused for four events.”
Kondos Field’s athletes came out of the locker room to dominate the Wildcats in every rotation, posting nine individual scores of 9.9 or higher – out of a possible ten – and never trailing throughout the course of the meet.
No. 9 UCLA topped its previous season-high by more than half a point, scoring 197.500 and beating No. 20 Arizona’s 196.250, along with taking the top three spots in the all-around competition.
Though the meet was generally positive, with only one off routine, Kondos Field said there are still aspects of the Bruins’ performance that could be improved.
She pointed to unstuck landings as the focal point for future improvement, but said she was pleased to see the team’s improved mental strength, noting that their ability to stay strong for all four events could represent a turning point for the team going forward.
“There has been a mental turn in the character of the team. They set out to win and they stayed in it to win.”
Compiled by Zachary Lemos, Bruin Sports reporter.
