On March 29, John Wooden will take the usual drive down the 405
Freeway in his usual attire, enter Pauley Pavilion through the
usual gate to the usual warm applause, walk across the usual
basketball court in his usual way, say hello to his usual friends,
and sign autographs as usual. But he won’t be taking his
usual seat.
Wooden will be presenting the post-meet awards at the Pac-10
gymnastics finals, after a season where Wooden has only missed one
home meet all year.
“It’s impressive to me that someone so ingrained in
basketball and baseball understands what a lot of people
don’t, that collegiate gymnastics is a team sport,”
UCLA head coach Valorie Kondos Field said.
“It’s something about it; the girls are all so small
and athletic,” Wooden said. “It just seems that there
is a tremendous camaraderie, and I love to see that.”
It is not the first time the legendary coach has watched and
appreciated the athleticism and togetherness of college
gymnasts.
“I used to go to a number of meets before they dropped the
men’s gymnastics, but I had kind of gotten away from
it,” Wooden said.
The men’s team was discontinued from NCAA action in 1994.
Fast forward to last year, when Bruin alumna and 13-time
All-American Lena Degteva asked coach Wooden to be her date to a
UCLA home meet. Wooden obliged, and has been hooked on the exciting
action of college gymnastics ever since.
“This year, I sent him some tickets, and he’s been
to almost every meet,” Kondos Field said.
Hearing John Wooden talk about gymnastics is a little
surprising. Why would a man who has devoted much of his life to
coaching the importance of team unity be so interested in a
seemingly individualistic sport?
It is because he sees many of his basketball teachings come to
life during gymnastics meets.
“Basketball is a team sport with too much individualism;
gymnastics is an individual sport with a tremendous team aspect. I
think they have a real team spirit,” Wooden said.
“They’re always together, always cheering each other
on.”
“In gymnastics, showmanship is a part of the sport. Maybe
I’m too critical in that way, but I didn’t permit any
fancy stuff (on my teams),” Wooden continued. “I wanted
good team play to get the attention. I didn’t want any
attention given to (the individual).”
In women’s gymnastics, attention given to the individual
is attention given to the team. Six individual gymnasts compete in
each event, but only the top five scores are counted. In theory,
five gymnasts could complete flawless 10-point routines while the
sixth could score a 9.975.
The 9.975 would be dropped as the low score.
With a team as talented as UCLA’s, this theory is not far
off. In a road win over Arizona State this season, UCLA dropped a
score of 9.875 as its low score on the balance beam, an
exceptionally high score to be excluded from a team total. As a
point of reference, in an earlier meet against Cal State Fullerton
this season, the Titans’ highest score on beam was a
9.875.
The UCLA team treats each meet as a team competition, despite
the fact that all of them are competing as individuals.
“If one of them has a little fault or something
they’re right there for each other, and if they do well they
are also right there for each other,” Wooden explained.
Another attractive quality about the UCLA team, in addition to
coach Wooden’s favorable assessment of its athleticism, is
its success.
The team is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, compiling
record-breaking scores throughout the season. They will head into
the Pac-10 tournament holding the top scores nationally on each
individual event, including the all-around.
Canadian Kate Richardson is second in the nation in the
all-around with a 39.615, but before she came to UCLA this year she
had heard little about the Wizard of Westwood.
“I didn’t know anything about him until the summer
before I started school. My best friend from home is a basketball
player, so she was really excited that I might get to meet Coach
Wooden. From then on, I was looking forward to meeting him,”
Richardson said. “(Pauley) is totally different when he is
there. His presence fills up the arena.”
Success, as Wooden is quick to mention, is a by-product of
talent. Kondos Field, long known as one of the strongest recruiters
in college athletics, has brought in world-class athletes for
several years en route to winning the NCAA championship three times
in the last four seasons.
“First of all, any coach will tell you that they have to
have talent. Valorie must be a good recruiter of talent, but she
knows what to do with it once she gets it,” Wooden said.
Getting the talented gymnasts has not been a problem. Kondos
Field has turned UCLA’s current team into what she calls
“The most talented team in the history of college
gymnastics.”
“No coach in any sport will be successful over a period of
time without the talent. But not every coach is successful with
talent,” Wooden noted. “Valorie gets the job done
pretty well, I’d say.”
As did coach Wooden. In a sense, he is still coaching. In
addition to being a gymnastics supporter, Wooden acts as a mentor
to the members of the UCLA team when things are not going well.
“I come to meets and they have been out to my house
various times,” Wooden said. “When they seem to be
having some little problems they just come out and have an old man
talk to them.”
The more he sees, the more impressed Wooden is.
“No matter how often I go, I’m still amazed by
them,” he said. “I’ll tell you: I think the
athleticism of the participants is just remarkable.”
For the first time in his life, John Wooden will participate in
the Pac-10 gymnastics championships. Although you will not find him
coaching flips and vaults, Wooden will be given the honor of
presenting the March 29 post-meet awards.
So what are the chances of UCLA winning both the Pac-10 and the
NCAA championship?
“Excellent,” Wooden said.