University of Minnesota Athletics
Valorie Kondos Field Takes Part in Leadership U Speaker Series
4/27/2021 10:11:00 AM | Leadership U
The final Leadership U Speaker Series event of the 2020-2021 academic year concluded on April 13 with a warm welcome from former UCLA head women's gymnastics coach, Valorie Kondos Field, famously known as Miss Val. Miss Val was full of energy and captivated the audience with her incredible storytelling skills. She brought the audience along on her personal life journey which included how she learned the definition of success from John Wooden, the importance of establishing your why, and how to demonstrate gratitude in all aspects of life.
After reading Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization by John Wooden, Miss Val discovered the true meaning of success as "a piece of mind in knowing you have done your best." With this definition in mind, Miss Val was able to push herself in being the best Miss Val she could be rather than trying to be someone else. Miss Val established her "why" as "champions in life" through sport. She believed developing the total person (her student-athletes) as a champion in life would translate to success on the floor in gymnastics. With this in mind, Miss Val was able to use gymnastics as a way to teach valuable life lessons to her student-athletes. Finally, gratitude is not something we are born with, it is a skill we have to train. Miss Val helped her athletes develop this skill by leading them in gratitude exercises before practice. She always reminded her athletes that we "get" to do this, not we "have" to do this.
The final touch that made this event extra special is that Gopher Athletics Director of Sport Psychology Services, Dr. Carly Anderson, moderated the conversation. Dr. Carly was a former gymnast of Miss Val's and was part of the UCLA NCAA Championship teams in 2000, 2001, and 2003. It was an impactful experience to hear these two influential women recount stories, and share lessons they learned along the way.
Miss Val had never been a part of an organized sport growing up and had no prior gymnastics experience before becoming the coach at UCLA. That did not stop Miss Val as she went on to win seven NCAA titles and 18 Pac 12 titles. She is also a four-time National Coach of the Year, West Region Coach of the year, Pac 12 Coach of the Century, and was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010. Miss Val is also a breast cancer survivor.
After reading Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization by John Wooden, Miss Val discovered the true meaning of success as "a piece of mind in knowing you have done your best." With this definition in mind, Miss Val was able to push herself in being the best Miss Val she could be rather than trying to be someone else. Miss Val established her "why" as "champions in life" through sport. She believed developing the total person (her student-athletes) as a champion in life would translate to success on the floor in gymnastics. With this in mind, Miss Val was able to use gymnastics as a way to teach valuable life lessons to her student-athletes. Finally, gratitude is not something we are born with, it is a skill we have to train. Miss Val helped her athletes develop this skill by leading them in gratitude exercises before practice. She always reminded her athletes that we "get" to do this, not we "have" to do this.
The final touch that made this event extra special is that Gopher Athletics Director of Sport Psychology Services, Dr. Carly Anderson, moderated the conversation. Dr. Carly was a former gymnast of Miss Val's and was part of the UCLA NCAA Championship teams in 2000, 2001, and 2003. It was an impactful experience to hear these two influential women recount stories, and share lessons they learned along the way.
Miss Val had never been a part of an organized sport growing up and had no prior gymnastics experience before becoming the coach at UCLA. That did not stop Miss Val as she went on to win seven NCAA titles and 18 Pac 12 titles. She is also a four-time National Coach of the Year, West Region Coach of the year, Pac 12 Coach of the Century, and was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010. Miss Val is also a breast cancer survivor.
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Thursday, May 11
Speaker Series - Laura Halldorson
Wednesday, April 05
Speaker Series - Kamal Mohamed
Tuesday, February 14
Speaker Series: Tony Sanneh
Thursday, December 01