Developing ‘life champions’ through sport
Despite have no coaching experience when she was hired, Valerie Kondos Field led the UCLA women’s gymnastics team to seven national titles during her 29-year career.
OK, I’ll admit it: I didn’t have a clue.
I had never heard her name before this week.
Wasn’t aware of her impressive resumé.
Didn’t know she had made such an impact on so many young lives.
Had no idea she was such a WINNER.
So, of course, I became curious when a coaching friend retweeted an image that featured her picture and the following information:
How does a head coach with NO gymnastics experience achieve all of this?
Seven national championships
18 conference championships
Four national Coach of The Year honors
519 career victories
Named PAC-12 Coach of the Century
Wait, what? Who IS this person?
Her name is Valerie Kondos Field, better known as “Miss Val.” She retired in 2020 after 29 years as head coach at UCLA.
For sure, all those big numbers in her bio are pretty special. But just in case you glossed over it earlier, let me repeat the phrase that captured my attention:
NO gymnastics experience.
You read correctly. Miss Val never tumbled, flipped, or flopped while growing up. Never even competed in organized sports.
“I have never done a cartwheel,” she joked. “And I can’t even teach you how to do one properly.”
Wait, what? Who IS this person?
That’s what I kept asking, so I took the bait. I sat in on her virtual Master Class earlier this week to find out. I’m a sucker for a story with a unique twist, and she did not disappoint. What follows are some highlights and takeaways from her hour-long discussion:
Her early years …
Ballet was her first love, and she immersed herself in dance while growing up in Sacramento, California. Her dream was to become a professional dancer. Through hard work, determination and boldness, she landed a spot with the Washington Ballet in D.C.
My takeaway: You want something? Go get it.
Getting hired at UCLA …
She longed to move back to the West Coast and learned that UCLA was looking for a dance coach for their gymnastics team. She wasn’t offered a salary, but the school did entice her with a full scholarship. Since she hadn’t gone to college, it seemed like a perfect fit. So she retired from dance and became a coach.
My takeaway: Do what you can, with what you have, right where you are.
On-the-job training …
She choreographed routines for the team for nearly a decade, instilling her own artistic flair to their performances. She left UCLA for a brief period in 1990, but when the head coach resigned that year, administrators knew who to call. Yes, the lady who had never coached gymnastics before.
My takeaway: If you are in leadership at your company, NEVER fill a position. Instead, find the right PERSON and build the position around her.
On becoming the head coach …
“I laughed out loud when they offered it,” she said. “I told the administrators, 'You understand I don't know the first thing about gymnastics, right?' But they observed how she worked with the student-athletes, and they admired her unique relationships with them. “We trust you’ll figure out the rest,” they told her. She accepted the position.
My takeaway: No matter what we do for a living, we ALL interact with people. When we put people over position or power or prestige, others notice.
On her inexperience …
Miss Val knew her limitations better than anyone, and through the years she’s surrounded herself with high-level assistant coaches such as Jordyn Wieber, who’s now the head coach at Arkansas, and Chris Waller, who replaced Miss Val at UCLA.
My takeaway: When you’re the leader, you don’t need to be the smartest person in the room. You just need to be the leader.
Her coaching style in the early days …
“Since I didn’t have any actual experience, I mimicked other coaches who had success. I just tried to ACT like a coach,” she recalled. And that meant yelling. It meant belittling. It meant pushing and prodding and punishment. But she was miserable. And so were her athletes. They called a team meeting to share their concerns. They cried. And for more than two hours, they pleaded with her to guide them as human beings. “They gave me examples of how my arrogance was hurtful and demeaning,” Miss Val continued. “They explained to me that they wanted to be supported, not belittled. They wanted to be coached up, not torn down. They wanted to be motivated, not pressured or bullied.”
My takeaway: When we ACT like someone we’re not, our players see right through it. They want YOU to connect and direct, not dictate.
How she changed …
After the meeting, Miss Val was actually ready to resign. But on her way to tell the athletic director, she passed the student bookstore and noticed “On Leadership,” the best-seller by legendary basketball coach John Wooden. She picked it up. Then she couldn’t put it down. She was floored by how Wooden defined success: "Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." Miss Val read that definition over and over again. “It made so much sense to me. That was my big ‘aha’ moment.” She chose to continue coaching.
My takeaway: Did you do your absolute best yesterday? That’s success in any field.
On developing champions …
“Sport is a master class for teaching some really tough life lessons. You can’t teach losing gracefully in a classroom. You can’t teach poise or how to get back up after you fall. But you can teach all of those things on the floor,” she told herself. “We’re not going to focus on wins. We’re going to focus on developing champions in life through gymnastics. If I do that well enough, it’s going to translate to the sport.”
My takeaway: Our sport is a platform for coaching the WHOLE athlete. Coach the heart, not the talent.
How she got her athletes to train, and compete, to their fullest potential …
“I have found that once a student-athlete trusts that I really care for them primarily as a human, then as an athlete, that's when the magic happens. That's when you can ask them to do the hardest conditioning challenge, and they'll put more intention, more intensity into it, because you've developed this bond.”
On redefining success for champion Katelyn Ohashi …
“I will never forget a team meeting we had halfway through her freshman season. Katelyn stood up and very clearly and unapologetically said, ‘I just don't want to be great anymore.’ My first thought was, ‘Then why the heck am I going to honor your scholarship?’ Thankfully, I didn't say it out loud, because then I had clarity. Katelyn didn't hate gymnastics. Katelyn hated everything associated with being great. Katelyn didn't want to be a winner, because winning at all costs had cost her her joy. My job was to figure out how to motivate her to want to be great again, by helping her redefine success.”
My takeaway: Why do we play? We do we coach? The answers to those questions will go a long way toward crafting our own definition of success.
On her friendship with Kobe Bryant …
“He taught me to never take the joy out of the process of learning. Even during his 4:30am workouts, he would experience joy because he was mastering his craft. He took great pride in that. He would tease me because his daughters would watch Katelyn Ohashi’s floor routine over and over and over again. And then he would sit down and watch it because Katelyn exuded such joy. He loved that aspect of sports.”
My takeaway: Of course, I had not seen the clip before and so I veered over to YouTube to check it out. I was blown away. Not only by Katelyn’s performance, but by the enthusiasm of her teammates. Then I noticed it’s been viewed nearly 150 million times. Yes, it’s THAT good.
To watch Katelyn Ohashi’s incredible floor routine from 2019, click here.
And then Miss Val’s story took a twist I hadn’t anticipated. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.
“When I received the news, there was so much noise and fear and mental chaos,” she remembered. “Then in the midst of it all I heard very clearly: ‘Be anxious for nothing, but but grateful for all things.’ I knew it was God speaking to me.”
She arrived home and delivered the news to her husband. She also told him about the voice she had heard.
“My husband said, ‘you know, that’s from the Bible. Go ahead and look it up yourself.’ So I did. I had never read the Bible. I thought, this is not a suggestion, it’s a commandment. I choose to obey that commandment.”
She also chose a new perspective.
“I just lived by that mantra, ‘be anxious for nothing.’ I can honestly say I did not worry that entire year when I was undergoing chemotherapy. I would wake up in the morning and go through each of my blessings. And when you’re counting your blessings all day long, you’re not thinking, ‘Oh, gosh, what if.’ …”
Miss Val is now considered cancer-free.
She closed her Master Class by sharing another blessing. A years-long friendship with Wooden himself.
“You know, he would always leave me with what his dad told him a long time ago: ‘Make each day a masterpiece.’ He lived 99 years and 9 months and certainly most of those days he did just that. But one time I asked him if he had any regrets.”
Wooden paused and grew pensive.
“I lost my wife Nellie 35 years ago,” he told her. “She loved to dance but I would never dance with her. I was never a good dancer and I was too shy to get on the floor with her.”
Wooden removed his glasses to wipe a tear from his eye.
“Years later, I finally realize that when people would have seen us dancing, they wouldn’t see an awful dancer,” he reflected. “They would just see two people who love each other enjoying each other’s company.”
The name of Valerie Kondos Field’s new book?
Life is Short: Don’t Wait to Dance.
Miss Val with her mentor and friend, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.
(Tim Kolodziej is the author of this piece and founder of EnspireU.com. When he’s not behind a laptop, he can be found inside a gym helping young athletes create their own unique future — one rep at a time. Click here to connect with him by email.)