Sport in Communities: The Role of U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Sites

Earlier this summer, the United States Olympic Committee announced the designations of two Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites in Oklahoma.  Appointing the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation and the University of Central Oklahoma as Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites is significant because it further expands the reach of the Olympic Movement in the United States.  With three Olympic Training Centers and ten Olympic/Paralympic Training Sites, elite athletes with dreams of competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games have world class facilities spread throughout the U.S. enabling them to achieve their goals.

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sites are unique as they offer world-class training and competition facilities to National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and athletes who might not have ready access to such resources.  Athletes who want to participate in sports like basketball or track & field can typically find a venue within walking distance of their homes.  But for athletes wanting to compete in smaller sports like rowing, sailing, track cycling, speed skating, ski jumping, and bobsled, it is challenging to find programs or facilities that not only introduce athletes to those sports, but also enable them to train and become competitive on the international stage.

The mission of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites is to deliver additional resources, services, and facilities for athletes and NGBs while providing an elite athlete training environment that positively impacts performance.

According to Alicia McConnell, Director of Athlete Services and Programs for the USOC, the Olympic and Paralympic Sites have an enormous impact on the U.S. Olympic Sports Scene.

“In 2008, 139 athletes who trained at the Sites made the Olympic and Paralympic teams winning 12 medals.  The Sites offer alternative world class facilities to train at across the U.S. for athletes and NGBs.  Some sports such as rowing, canoe kayak and sailing, which rarely utilize the OTC’s (Olympic Training Centers) now have Sites that provide them with the world class facilities they need to train and compete on, but also an elite athlete training environment with the expectations of excellence.” 

As U.S. athletes prepare for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, the Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites are proving to be vital high performance training grounds.  McConnell notes, “The Sites are critical to Vancouver – UAF (Utah Athletic Foundation) and Pettit (The Pettit National Ice Center) – as without them, the athletes and NGBs would not have a staging ground so close to Vancouver.”

Matt Cramer, a USOC Performance Services Manager who works primarily with winter sport NGBs agrees the Sites play a crucial role in the international success of winter athletes. 

“The Utah Olympic Park (UOP) in conjunction with the Athletic Foundation is one of our most critical training facilities for Bobsled/Skeleton, Luge, Freestyle Skiing, and Ski Jumping.  The U.S. has only two artificial Bobsled tracks so the ability for our athletes to have access to the UOP is essential.  The more Olympic caliber facilities we have for our athletes to train and prepare the more of an advantage we will have over our international counterparts.  Our athlete performance is also enhanced by not having to travel internationally to have access to such facilities.”

USA Shooting is an NGB that has maximized its relationship with the U.S. Olympic Site Hill Country Shooting Sports Center (HCSSC) in Kerrville, Texas.  The NGB had a very successful run at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, capturing an unexpected six medals, with four coming in the shotgun discipline alone. Of the 24 Olympic team members, three spent time training at the HCSSC. 

USA Shooting’s Director of Operations, Bill Roy, provides insight into the NGB’s recent success and its relationship with Hill Country Shooting Sports Center.

“Due to the layout and physical setting of the range – the background and terrain make for varying conditions – many shooters consider the Kerrville range somewhat challenging.  That degree of difficulty can help shooters prepare for less-than ideal conditions, which we consider a training and preparation benefit”, Roy notes in describing the environment that challenges his shooters.

In 2008 alone, athletes from USA Shooting logged a combined total of 768 training days.  Furthermore, the HCSSC and USA Shooting hosted several national and international competitions, including two shotgun World Cups, as well as the 2008 Olympic Trials for Shotgun.

As important as anything else, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites create direct partnerships between the USOC and communities.  Since the USOC does not provide direct funding to the Sites, communities are heavily invested in the success and direction of Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites.  In 2008, Sites had invested $6.2 million in costs that included fees for operations, staffing, facilities, equipment, and athlete training. 

Aside from elite-level training and competitions, the Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites offer the setting to introduce kids to a few of the smaller Olympic sports through youth programming – which also helps strengthen the athlete pipeline.  In 2008, 754 junior national and development level athletes trained at one of the Olympic/Paralympic Sites.    

According to McConnell, “All of the Sites are focused on youth development.  Even though the relationship with the USOC is more focused on National level athletes, the Sites all have youth development programs at numerous levels to impact the athlete development pipeline in over 20 sports.”

USA Shooting’s Competitions Manager, Lindsay Brooke, also sees the positive impact to develop younger athletes from the NGB perspective. 

“It (HCSSC) is also a hotbed for up-and-coming shooters who are on the cusp of making a team.  Student-athletes attending Schriener University in Kerrville have the chance to be part of one of the best collegiate shotgun programs in the country.  The facilities at HCSSC provide young shooters an opportunity to train full-time and earn a higher education as well.”

McConnell describes it best, stating “the USOC, through partnership’s with these Sites can increase the exposure to the (Olympic) movement as well as broaden the network of communities that support America’s athletes and NGBs.”

With ten Olympic and Paralympic Sites spread out among nine states, as well as the three Olympic Training Centers in Colorado, New York, and California, the Olympic Movement is alive and growing throughout the United States.  After all, it’s not every four years.  It’s every day.

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For more information about the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Sites, please contact the USOC's Athlete Services and Programs department at athleteservices@usoc.org.

	U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Sites
Caspersen Training Center	Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation	Hill Country Shooting Sports Center
Home Depot Center	Lakshore Foundation	Pettit National Ice Center
U.S. National Whitewater Center	U.S. Sailing Center	University of Central Oklahoma
	Utah Athletic Foundation

Tags: Paralympics, USOC, Vancouver, Vancouver 2010