- Dear Miss Val....
- Five hundred and thirty wins.
- Dear Miss Val....
- For Valorie Kondos Field
it's another conference banner.
- Thank you for everything.
You have touched each and every one
of our lives.
- Now and forever,
the coach of of the century.
- Dear Valorie, at what point did you
become Miss Val?
If you would have told me when
I was 16 years old, "Oh, guess what? You're going
to be a gymnastics coach."
I would have said, "Yeah, no."
If you would have said, "Oh, you're going to be
the head coach of the UCLA gymnastics team."
That would be like going to the moon
with Mikhail Baryshnikov. That was not happening.
I just sit and I shake my head.
How did that happen?
How did it happen?
My dream was to be a ballerina....
But partly because
I wasn't born to be a ballerina.
I was told many times by a ballet
director or teacher that my head
is too big, my neck is too short,
my feet are too small, I have no turnout.
And then they would inevitability
say, "But you can dance."
And it wasn't until someone told me
that I didn't look like that that I would
realize I didn't look like that.
Really clean lines, like when your legs are
supposed to be together, get them together.
Like that part over there ... your heels together
are like this. You know?
Body-shaming can affect someone's life
for a long time. That is the one thing
that I have carried through in all
of my coaching and teaching.
To help people feel good about what they are
and who they are, and feel great about
the fact that they are not a stereotype.
And then, "Whoa! That is so cool that you're so unique."
Unique is so much more fun than status quo.
I have never done this sport. And my parents
would not let me stop dancing
to start taking gymnastics.
So I called up a local gym and I asked them
if they wanted a dance coach for
their gymnastics team. And they said, "We don't have
money for that, but we'd love
to hire you as a pianist.
I was like, "O.K."
It's interesting because when people say,
"Oh, so you got into the sport of gymnastics
for dance?" I'm like, "No, I got into the
sport of gymnastics through the piano."
- Light
- Excited
- Thank
- You
- Bruins
- For
- Everything
- For seniors
- And Miss Val
- Whoa! U-C-L-A!
U-C-L-A! U-C-L-A! FIGHT-FIGHT-FIGHT!
- I have always felt very uncomfortable with people
calling me coach. To this day I chuckle
inside when they say coach, because I don't
feel like a coach at all.
Someone asked me the other day, when I retire
am I going to let go of "Miss Val"?
And it made me start to think of what is the difference
between Miss Val and Valorie?
Valorie tends to be more
playful, and loving,
and giddy, and fun, and ditzy at times.
And as a head coach, if I brought all
those things to the table it would
be a slippery slope. And what I love
about this persona of Miss Val all these
years is that I have embraced the struggles
of being disciplined.
I feel like - as I've gotten older and solidified
that leadership role as Miss Val -
I have been able to allow myself to
be silly and fun at moments in time
without it effecting the base and the foundation
of me as the head coach of the UCLA gymnastics team.
I never wanted children of my own,
and I have never regretted not having children.
And in the same sense I have been blessed
to have hundreds of children.
Not just young women, but young men as well.
The relationship that I have with the majority of them
is quite remarkable and something
I don't take for granted.
Hi beautiful! How are you?
- I'm good!
- And one thing that I just have
always loved doing is on any given night,
usually on a weekend if I'm home,
I'll just send out a text to the alumni
that are in the area. And I'll just say,
"Hey, family dinner at six o'clock Sunday night.
Let me know if you're in."
It's really important to sit around
a dinning room table, a family dinner,
and converse and communicate over a meal.
O.K, so I knew I was going to retire
three years ago. I signed my last contract.
The only thing I wanted was a family reunion
at our last home meet. And that's
not just our Bruin family, it is our Bruin family.
And I would've never ever dreamed
to have the gift that you three have brought,
in the most magnificent, joyful, loving way.
There's not a greater gift I could have been
given. There is no way I will ever be able
to thank you guys enough.
So, here's to family.
- Cheers.
- AND NOW GET ON YOUR FEET FOR
THE NATIONAL CHAMPION UCLA BRUINS!
- I don't want to waste a moment of my life.
Every single person that hears that I retired,
and its new to them, they say, "Oh, so are you
going to take a nice long vacation and
just kick your feet up and relax?"
And I am like, "Oh, heck no!" There's just
a lot that I want to do, and I don't plan
on dying until I'm 103.
I don't know in which exact direction
it's going to go, but I'm really excited for it.
Life is about choice. And the choices
that we make dictate the life we live.
I have been told a lot that I have done
a lot to help the the sport of gymnastics. I don't
think I understand the magnitude of that.
I don't know.
- Dear Miss Val....
- Dear Miss Val,
It's hard for me to talk
about you without tearing up.
- You've touched each and every one of our lives
in such a tremendous way.
- You definitely helped me become the
best gymnast I could be. And in the ensuing years
I have learned so much from you about being the
best person I could be.
- You've been a coach, a mentor, a friend,
a mom, and everything in between when
I've needed it the most.
- Because of you I rediscovered my love for
the sport. You are bigger than the sport of gymnastics.
- It's truly amazing what you've done.
You've given these girls a voice where
they otherwise would not have had one. And I
look at you like a hero.
- When people are around you they feel
love, they feel safe, and they feel seen.
Thank you for teaching me that the most
important thing you can do for someone is
how you make them feel.
- What you planted in me lives on.
And those seeds are forever in me,
and they will forever be in each generation
that comes beyond me.
- Thank you for everything. And I am so blessed
to have you in my life.
- You have left UCLA a better place.
- May you be granted many more years to dance.
- I love you forever. Lena.
- Onnie.
- Danusia.
- Ariana.
- Sam.
- Love always, Anna.
- Dear Valorie,
You have no idea
what lies ahead for you.
There is this incredible woman you'll meet,
she shares a similar name.
She is like you, but not really.
The life you live together will be the
most fulling dream you've never thought to imagine.
Miss Val and Valorie - it's who I am.
What lies ahead is uncertain, as the future always is,
but I'm ready.
This is not a goodbye.
It's a new beginning.
Miss Val, she'll serve me well in our new future.
Love always,
Valorie.