One of the great myths about the United States Olympic movement is that its sole focus rests on the amount of medals won at the Olympic Games.  While Games performance is certainly one of the markers that determine success for the United States Olympic Committee, Team USA's goals extend well beyond standing atop Olympic podiums. 

U.S. Olympians and Paralympians simply do not come pre-packaged, ready to be plugged into a sport and produce a medal.  Elite athletes, like most items in nature, are grown with great care and attention to detail. 

But aside from creating a sport pipeline that develops athletes from an early age and fosters future Olympians and Paralympians, the USOC and its national governing bodies (NGBs) understand the significance of cultivating the U.S. Olympic movement by reaching out to the nation's community based organizations which are a touch point for millions of youth.

With that in mind, the USOC created the Community Olympic Development Program (CODP) in 1997 with the mission of partnering with NGBs and Community Sports Groups to provide opportunities for youth to participate in Olympic and Paralympic sport. 

Over the past twelve years, CODP has played a vital role for the USOC by introducing thousands of young athletes to the Olympic sports movement throughout the United States.  Moreover, CODP Community Sport Groups have produced 13 Olympians, 67 junior national team athletes, and 113 senior national team members.  Over 50 national titles have been won by CODP athletes.

Despite its ties to the USOC, each CODP Community Sport Group is self-funded and operated, making it a truly grassroots movement.  Since its inception 1997, communities have invested nearly $7 million into CODP (check here to view the 2009 CODP Fact Sheet).  

Currently, the USOC has partnered with seven Community Sport Groups across the nation, representing 15 NGBs.  Managed by the Athlete Services and Programs division of the USOC, each program is carefully screened and must meet a standard of excellence to be rewarded with the CODP designation.  Youth sport programs looking to partner with the USOC as a future CODP must be a non-profit organization, community-funded, and most notably, recommended by a national governing body. 

Athlete Services and Programs hosts an annual CODP conference at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center (CSOTC), bringing together program directors, coaches, and athletes to share best practices and learn about proper nutrition for youth athletes, marketing their sport programs, and developing education for coaches.  For the teenage athletes visiting the CSOTC, the CODP Conference provides them with an even greater experience outside of sport. 

Grace Kline, a weightlifting youth athlete from the Springfield, Missouri CODP, has no lack for enthusiasm when talking about her visit to the CSOTC and time with the CODP. "I think it's really cool because you get to be interactive with people.  You get to travel and I mean you get to experience a lot of things that without sports you really couldn't do.  And I mean you get to come to the training center which is super cool because not many people get to come here."  

Along with introducing Olympic and Paralympic sport to communities and young athletes, CODP provides a platform for retired Olympians, Paralympians, and elite athletes to give back to their communities by serving as coaches, support staff, and more importantly, role models to the children they are working with. 

Lori Endicott-Vandersnick, two-time Olympian and bronze medalist and current volleyball coach for the Springfield, Missouri CODP, exemplifies this, stating, "...I feel like it gives me an opportunity to give back to the kids that I get to coach.  And hopefully my goal is to show them that, 'Hey, I was a kid from that same small town that I coach in and it came true for me.  Why couldn't it come true for somebody else?'" 

Levi Henderson, team handball coach for the CODP in Atlanta, Georgia agrees.  "I was brought up in the CODP.  So for me, coaching, it lets me give back to the community.  I was on the national team and I went over seas and played.  It gives me the opportunity to coach the future generation of team handball."

CODP Community Sport Groups generally work in urban and rural communities.  As a result, they are doing more than introducing kids to sport - they are exposing young athletes to non-traditional Olympic sports that kids have never heard of, much less have the opportunity to participate in otherwise.  Olympic sports like fencing, team handball, judo, badminton, cross-country skiing, bobsled, and skeleton are not the run of mill type of athletics that any kid can find on TV or much less, try at the local playground. 

Eric Osborne, CODP Director in Atlanta, Georgia explains, "Well it (CODP) has brought Olympic sports to a lot of inner city kids.  Thousands of kids in metro Atlanta have had the opportunity to do judo, track, swimming, a lot of the Olympic sports that they never had the opportunity to participate in and excel in."

But more than providing children with an active environment to engage in sport, CODP Communities are giving America's youth the chance to learn more about themselves and real world values such as character development, discipline, hard work, perseverance, and more.  Leslie Salazar, a fencing coach from the San Antonio, Texas CODP believes that sport is important as, "...it introduces children to life values, nutrition, fitness, along with team building activities." 

She continues, stating "You know when you go into the real world you have to work as a team.  There is always going to be someone above you, better than you.  It gives you goals to strive for."

Alicia McConnell, Director of the USOC's Athlete Services and Programs division takes it a step further, noting, "The ultimate Olympic dream is that every youth in the United States is able to participate and have fun in sport, thus leading to a healthier lifestyle. Realistically that is a tough dream to reach, but CODP is about creating opportunities where there are few and building the Olympic movement at the community level. Youth start their Olympic dreams at the community level and we hope to continue to make some of those dreams come true."  

For more information regarding the USOC's Community Olympic Development Program, please contact AthleteServices@usoc.org or check out the CODP web section on TeamUSA.org.

Tags: CODP, Community Olympic Development Program, OTC, Terris Tiller