EDWARD LIN Senior Mohini Bhardwaj
competes in the floor exercise in the Bruins’ meet in the Woodern
center last Sunday.
By Scott Schultz
Daily Bruin Contributor
More than 1,000 screaming fans filled Collins Court at the
Wooden Center for the second annual Women’s Gymnastics
“Meet the Bruins” exhibition on Sunday.
The event showcased the members of the defending national
champion women’s gymnastics team, who demonstrated the
different events, showed how the events are scored and answered
questions from the crowd of gymnastics enthusiasts of all ages,
some of whom traveled from as far as Bakersfield to attend.
Valorie Kondos Field, UCLA head coach and the 2000 NCAA coach of
the year, began the event by thanking everyone for attending and
introduced the returning and freshman gymnasts.
This year’s freshmen, whom Kondos Field described as
“the best freshman class ever,” include 2000 Olympians
Kristen Maloney (U.S.), Yvonne Tousek (Canada) and Alyssa
Beckerman, who was an alternate for the U.S. team.
Questions to the team from the audience ranged from how the team
maintains a GPA higher than the average UCLA undergrad, to how
height factors into the sport, to what competing in the Olympics
was like.
“I thought the audience asked some terrific
questions,” Kondos Field said. “I think it was really
nice that we had questions directed to other people besides
Olympians.”
With explanation from assistant coach Randy Lane and
demonstrations by senior Mohini Bhardwaj, the 2000 NCAA uneven bars
champion helped highlight the differences between making bonus
points and receiving deductions.
For the beam demonstration, Kondos Field invited men from the
audience to get an up-close look at the difficulties of the
exercises.
Tousek, a two-time Olympian, performed her original maneuver,
which is named after her in international competition. A move is
named for the gymnast who first successfully performs the given
move in international competition.
Bhardwaj and Tousek premiered their floor routines for this
season. The Bruins ended the exhibition portion of the day by
performing their daily tumbling exercises and a flipping
competition.
“I love this kind of situation. Performing in front of
such an enthusiastic crowd is so great,” Tousek said.
“I really love to be able to answer questions and have
interaction with the fans, especially because many of them are
young, aspiring gymnasts who look up to us as role
models.”
Sarah Smith, a 12-year-old aspiring gymnast from Bakersfield,
was one of the many fans who stayed after the event to meet with
the athletes. She felt that the exhibition was a valuable learning
experience.
“Now I know how much work it takes to get to this
level,” Smith said. “Now I know the difference between
where I’m at now and where I need to get to in order to
compete here.”
Kondos Field was thrilled with the success of the event, as well
as by the large and attentive turnout.
“You always anticipate a bigger crowd after the Olympics,
because there are more children interested in gymnastics,”
she said. “I’ve had quite a few parents come up to me
today telling me that they really appreciated this and that they
learned something today,” she said.
When asked if she will hold another “Meet the
Bruins” event next year, Kondos Field affirmed,
“Definitely.”