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By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Staff
Nothing is finer than going out a winner.
The seniors on the Bruins gymnastics, women’s indoor
track, and men’s and women’s water polo teams agree
that winning their final collegiate contest is the best possible
end to a career at UCLA.
Many of these men and women will leave competitive sports behind
as they head into life beyond college, with each athlete on a
championship team having gained valuable experience and
irreplaceable memories.
“You learn how to work with people, how to come together
as a team which is really important in the job world,”
gymnast Mohini Bhardwaj, said.
She hopes to attend law school and someday represent other
gymnasts in the professional world.
Despite winning two national championships, Bhardwaj does not
feel that winning is the most useful thing a championship athlete
takes into the “real world.” She believes that learning
to work hard and work together is most important, regardless of the
end results.
As a Bruin, Bhardwaj expected to win championships, and hopes to
take her winning ways onto the United States National Team next
year.
Winning is also important in the business world, which is where
senior water polo player Sean Kern plans to spend life after
college. Kern, who captained UCLA to the NCAA championship this
year after participating as an Olympian in Sydney, is currently
training for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. When his playing days are
over, Kern plans on returning to school before using his
experiences as an athlete to compete in the business world.
“Athletes are naturally competitive and they’ve used
those skills to excel in the sports world,” Kern said.
“Those are the same skills that you’re going to need to
excel in the business world.”
Excelling is nothing new to Kern. As a Bruin he won two national
championships and was named National Player of the Year each of the
last two seasons. Everyone loves a winner, and Kern knows this will
help him when he finishes his college career.
“It also helps that when an employer looks for someone to
hire he sees that I have that (a championship) on my resume,”
Kern said.
Championship athletes are different from all others. They know
how to bring people together to accomplish a common goal. More
importantly, they know how to win.
Bhardwaj and Kern are just two of many national champions to
come out of UCLA the past four years. Along with the women’s
indoor track and women’s water polo team, each won back to
back titles. The athletes from these teams will always have the
connection that bonds champions, especially Bruin champions.
“It’s obvious that we have the best athletic program
in the nation,” Bhardwaj said. “The stats speak for
themselves. It’s part of the whole UCLA tradition, part of
UCLA history.”
The Bruin tradition continued with this year’s graduating
class of athletes. In addition to taking home 19 national titles in
the last five years, UCLA had 64 Olympians, more than any other
school, and won a total of 18 medals.
If saying farewell to Westwood is difficult for this
year’s graduating national champions, perhaps they can take
comfort from the fact that they are going out on top.