Valorie Kondos Field Commonly referred to as Miss Val, Valorie Kondos Field served as the head women’s gymnastics coach of the UCLA Bruins from 1991 to 2019, where she led her team to seven NCAA National Championships. Under her tutelage, the UCLA women’s gymnastics team won 19 Pac-12 Championships and 16 NCAA regional titles. She is a four-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, a three-time West Region Head Coach of the Year, and the Pac-12 Gymnastics Coach of the Century. She was also voted NCAA Coach of the Year four times. Miss Val has coached 20 individual gymnasts to 36 individual NCAA Championships, five Honda Awards, and two Pac-12 Scholar Athletes of the Year. During her coaching career, she coached numerous Olympic gymnasts. Miss Val retired from coaching in April 2019 and is a popular public speaker, including a TED Talk that has garnered over 4 million views. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Rachel Balkovec Rachel Balkovec is the first female manager in minor league baseball history, tapped by the New York Yankees to manage the Low-A Tampa Tarpons in 2022. She first joined the Yankees in 2019 as a hitting coach and started her pro baseball career as a strength and conditioning coach in the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system in 2012. As a NCAA Division I softball player, she played catcher, first for Creighton University and then for the University of New Mexico. Rachel began her professional career as a part-time strength and conditioning coach for the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league club in Johnson City, Tennessee, and she was named the Appalachian League’s strength coach of the year. In 2014, she became the full-time strength and conditioning coordinator, the first time a woman had held that position in baseball. In 2016, she was hired by the Houston Astros to be their Latin American coordinator for strength and conditioning, and two years later she was promoted to be the strength and conditioning coach for the Class AA Corpus Christi Hooks. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Carol Owens In her 22 seasons as a member of the women’s basketball coaching staff at the University of Notre Dame, 13 as an associate head coach, Carol Owens has helped lead the Fighting Irish to two NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championships (2001 and 2018). During that span, Notre Dame competed in seven NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship games and reached the Final Four nine times. Carol was named the 2019 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division I Assistant Coach of the Year. In 2001, she was named one of the top-five assistant coaches in the country by Women’s Basketball Journal. In 2011, CollegeInsider.comnamed her as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation. She was inducted into the A STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame in 2019. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Denise Corlett Only one person can say she served on the Stanford University women’s volleyball coaching staff over the 31 years in which the program won nine NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball national titles and 18 Pac-12 Conference Championships and amassed an 875-146 (.857) overall record. Denise Corlett was a key factor in the Cardinal’s sustained success, and along the way was twice recognized as the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s (AVCA) Assistant Coach of the Year and was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2020. She was also a coaching staff member of national teams competing in World University Games as well as the 2003 Pan American Games. As a student-athlete at UCLA, Denise was a three-time All-American in volleyball, played basketball, and was a member of a national championship badminton team. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Ellen Randell Currently residing in Sydney, Australia, Ellen Randell is considered one of Rowing Australia’s outstanding coaches in the sport. Based out of the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre, Ellen began coaching rowing teams in the late 1980s. A highly experienced rowing coach over the last 30 years, she specializes in coaching women and is expert in open and lightweight rowing (sweep and sculling). Ellen has coached four Australian women’s crews to World Rowing Championship gold medals as well as multiple other medals. She rowed for Australia in 1983 and 1984 and has coached for Australia since 1987, including for 21 World Championship regattas and three Olympic Games. Ellen won World Championship titles in 1989, 1995, 2007, and 2008. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Roselee Jencke After a celebrated netball playing career with the Australian Diamonds National Team that captured the gold medal at the 1991 World Netball Championship, the silver medal at the World Games in 1985, and the World Netball Championship in 1987, Roselee Jencke was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1992. As Diamonds number 89, Roselee played in 43 test matches for the Australian Diamonds. She then moved into coaching, serving as an assistant coach for the under-21 Australian netball team and specialist coach for the Australian Diamonds before taking the head coaching position for the Queensland Firebirds from October 2009 to 2020. She guided the Firebirds to five ANZ Championship Grand Finals, three ANZ Premierships, and an undefeated season in 2011. She was awarded coach of the year in 2011, 2015, and 2016; the inaugural Joyce Brown Coach of the Year in 2014; and Queensland Coach of the Year in 2015. She remains active in coaching developing coaches and talent identification. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Missy Meharg The University of Maryland field hockey team captured seven NCAA National Championships and 26 conference titles during Missy Meharg’s 33 seasons as head coach. Missy has been voted national coach of the year nine times and conference coach of the year nine times. Six of Missy’s field hockey players have competed on U.S. Olympic teams, and many of the Maryland Terrapins student-athletes have played on their respective national teams. Missy served on the U.S. National Team coaching staff from 1993 to 1997 while assisting in the World Cup, Pan American Games, and the 1996 Olympics. She has coached 50 All-Americans, including six national players of the year. Missy was NBC’s field hockey commentator for the 2012 London Olympic Games. She has served on the University of Maryland’s senate and senate executive committee as well as being very active with the board of trustees for USA Field Hockey. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Kelly Inouye-Perez In her first 15 seasons as UCLA’s head softball coach, Kelly Inouye-Perez has amassed an overall record of 672-180-1 (.788) and the Bruins have won two (2010 and 2019) NCAA Division I Softball Championships. They have reached the Women’s College World Series for six straight seasons. During that span, her players have earned 32 NFCA All-American Awards, 67 All-Region honors, and 89 All-Pac-12 accolades. Kelly’s ties to UCLA run deep. As a standout player, she led the Bruins to the NCAA Division I National Softball Championships in 1989, 1990, and again in 1992. Kelly also served as an assistant softball coach at UCLA for 13 seasons and appeared in the NCAA Championship game seven times, winning NCAA Championships in 1999, 2003, and 2004. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Jen Welter The first woman to coach in the National Football League, Dr. Jen Welter was hired as a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015. In 2018, she was hired by the Atlanta Legends of the newly formed Alliance of American Football (AAF) as a defensive specialist. She was the head coach of the first Australian women’s national team in 2017. She played running back in a men’s professional football league with the Texas Revolution and was hired as the first woman coach in men’s professional football, helping coach the most successful Texas Revolution season in franchise history. Before joining the world of professional football, Jen played women’s professional football for 14 seasons, which included four World Championships, two gold medals, and eight All-Star selections. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Nancy Stevens The former head field hockey coach of the University of Connecticut, Nancy Stevens was named the recipient of the 2021 NCAA President’s Pat Summitt Award. UConn won three NCAA Division I National Field Hockey Championships, appeared in 24 NCAA National Field Hockey Tournaments, reached 18 NCAA Quarterfinals, 10 NCAA Semifinals, and 19 Big East Conference titles during her 30 years as head coach. Before coaching at UConn, Nancy was the head field hockey coach at Northwestern, where she led the Wildcats to eight consecutive NCAA Division I Quarterfinal appearances, three NCAA Division I Semifinals, and four Big Ten Championships in her nine seasons at the school. Nancy finished her career in 2020 with a record of 700-189-24 and is the only coach in the history of the sport to reach 700 wins. She has also been an integral part of the national coaching staff for USA Field Hockey. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Teri McKeever One of the most accomplished swimming coaches in the United States, if not the world, Teri McKeever has led the University of California women’s swimming and diving program to four NCAA and five Pac-12 Team Championships. In 2020, the Golden Bears placed fourth at the NCAA Championship to extend their streak of top-five finishes to 15 years in a row, the longest run in the country. A nine-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, Teri was inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018 and the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) named her National Coach of the Year five times. Teri served as head coach of the 2012 U.S. Women’s Olympic swimming team and as assistant swimming coach in the 2004, 2008, and 2020 Olympics. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Becky Burleigh Having started the University of Florida women’s soccer program in 1995, Becky Burleigh served as head women’s soccer coach of the Gators until her retirement at the end of the 2020-2021 season. Under Becky’s leadership, Florida won the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season championship 14 times and captured 12 SEC tournament titles. The Gators made the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament 22 times while Becky was at the helm. She was named national coach of the year in 1998 when the Florida Gators defeated the perennial powerhouse North Carolina Tar Heels, 1-0, in the final match to capture the NCAA Division I National Championship. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.

Lonni Alameda Florida State University has competed in the NCAA Division I softball playoffs every year since Lonni Alameda took the reins as head coach in 2009. During that span, she has led the Seminoles to seven Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships, four College World Series (CWS) appearances, and one NCAA Division I National Championship. Lonni has been selected ACC Coach of the Year five times, and she and her assistant coaches were honored as the 2018 National Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). Before becoming the head softball coach at Florida State, she was the head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After the 2021 season in which Florida State finished runner-up in the CWS, her overall coaching record stood at 761-338-3. Author affiliation details are correct at time of print publication.