Get Back in the Game

01/04/2025

Valorie Kondos Field was one of my favorite College coaches. I'll never forget judging a meet between UCLA and Southern Utah at Southern Utah. UCLA was on a road trip and this was their last meet I believe. They didn't have their top line-up competing, but because of their depth it hardly mattered. But, on that night they did not end up on top. That night Southern Utah won. I'm sure Valorie was disappointed, but that's not what the crowd saw. Instead she asked to speak on the microphone to the crowd. She shared that they felt so welcomed and they had a great time competing. She was a class act. And this Ted Talk is a good one. She is right -- winning doesn't always = success. Even more she speaks to the fact that there is a price that comes with the "win at all cost" mindset that is our society. Is the price of the damage caused really worth it?

Valorie Kondos Field knows a lot about winning. As the longtime coach of the UCLA women's gymnastics team, she won championship after championship and has been widely acclaimed for her leadership. In this inspiring, brutally honest and, at times, gut-wrenching talk, she shares the secret to her succ...

09/24/2024

It was such a pleasure speaking with a group of coaches last night around mental performance & mentally fit athletes. Thank you for asking me to present!

09/22/2024

It’s National Gymnastics Day! 🤸🏻‍♀️This sport shaped me—for years it was my identity & it is why I became a sports psychology professor & certified mental performance consultant!

08/04/2024

07/31/2024

What a phenomenal group. They all showed up, hit their routines, worked as a team, & did amazing!

07/31/2024

A great example of the best using positive self talk! 🤸🏻‍♀️

07/30/2024

This is what it’s all about!

Sometimes, the world needs a Simone Biles to blow us away with raw talent, and sometimes, we need someone like Stephen Nedoroscik to remind us that a nerdy (his words), bespectacled engineer who can solve a Rubik's Cube in under 10 seconds can be a hero (Spoiler alert if you haven't watched the Men's gymnastics final yet.)

I love his story.

When he didn't progress in gymnastics like he wanted to, he threw himself into the one event he excelled at: the pommel horse. He's won all sorts of competitions as an event specialist, and literally was put on the team because he scores so big on this one apparatus.

During today's team finals, he spent the day bringing his teammates water, giving high fives, and cheering on every performance with incredible enthusiasm. And then it was his turn.

Nedoroscik was the last athlete to compete on the team's last rotation. He needed to hit his routine for the Americans to end a 16-year medal drought. No pressure.

It was a build-up right out of an iconic sports movie (Do you believe in miracles?)

While the pressure kept building in the gym, he meditated. A slight smile crept onto his face when he heard the cheers for his teammate's score. And then, like Clark Kent turning into Superman, he took off his jacket, removed his glasses, and puffed out his chest--and HE KILLED IT!

Nedoroscik took an untraditional path to get to the pinnacle of his sport and it paid off with an Olympic Bronze medal.

There is no one way to success, there is no one way to do this life, and there is no one way to find your purpose.

Be unapologetically and unabashedly you in every way possible, and you might end up the hero of your story as well.

Every member of the team had a role today, and they all delivered.

Congrats to the U.S. Men's Gymnastics team and to Stephen Nedoroscik.

Well done.