UCLA's six-time NCAA Championship winning coach, Valorie Kondos-Field.Copyright Christy Linder 2014
 
It's a Classic Episode with UCLA's ballet-dancer turned six-time NCAA Championships winning coach, Valorie Kondos-Field. Miss Val chats with Dvora Meyers, Blythe Lawrence, Jessica, and Uncle Tim about:

The power of an athlete identity as retirement looms
Collegiate gymnastics as one big life skills class
The problems with basing self-esteem on performance
Incentivizing artistry
Her most embarrassing moment as a dancer
Why so many of her athletes have the desire to go back to elite after college
The actual dollar amount and experiential cost of losing NCAA eligibility
What advice she gave Jordyn Wieber about going pro
We discover how Miss Val and her former roommate inspired one of the creators of the television show Will and Grace
Why Canadians thrive in NCAA
Lastly, she tells the story of the amazing wedding gift she gave to a fan


The Bruin Gymnastics YouTube channel. 15 years of UCLA routines, including the fan favorite, "Floor Files"; individual playlists featuring each gymnasts' routines for all four years.
Miss Val on Twitter.
UCLA Gymnastics website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.


69: 2009 World Champion Kayla Williams & Alabama's Sarah Patterson
65: NCAA Judge Dean Ratliff, Early Recruiting & Saving Temple Men's Gymnastics
Episode 56: Preventing Abuse in Gymnastics
Episode 43: The First Ever Panel on LGBT Issues in Gymnastics
Episode 17: Growing Up In The Soviet Gymnastics System And Training At Round Lake
Episode 5: Growing up at WOGA
Episode 3: Russian Regime Change, Fashion Code and a Chat With Anna Li