U.S. Olympic Committee Names Utah Athletic Foundation as Community Olympic Development Program

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. - The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) today announced the Utah Athletic Foundation (UAF) as a new Community Olympic Development Program (CODP). The UAF operates the Utah Olympic Oval (UOO) in Kearns, Utah, and the Utah Olympic Park (UOP) in Park City, Utah, and provides programs in 10 winter sports.

"We are excited to add the Community Olympic Development Program designation to our efforts in developing athletes in our core winter sports," said Colin Hilton, UAF President and CEO. "In addition to cultivating sport-specific skills among the athletes, the programs also promote responsibility, leadership, teamwork and community involvement. We look forward to increasing the number of athletes participating in our core winter sports and powerfully continuing the Olympic legacy."

Several programs are already in place at the UAF and carry the CODP designation, including sport development, coaching clinics, athlete seminars and a mentoring program. Among them:

• F.A.S.T. (Facilitated Athlete Sport Training) is a speedskating program at the UOO that offers individual training alongside world-class athletes.
• FLY Freestyle is a year-round aerials, moguls and freeride progressive program at the UOP that combines gymnastics with skiing.
• The UOP Bobsled and Skeleton Development Program provides professional coaching and a sequence of training opportunities for developing athletes, preparing them to maximize individual potential.
• Free coaching seminars and clinics center around the mission of "Helping Coaches Help Athletes," and assist in developing world-class coaches to strengthen and expand athlete pipelines.
• Free seminars and workshops assist athletes with outside information to expand their personal training programs and development, covering topics such as sports psychology, nutrition, motivation strategies and media training.
• "Champions Creating Champions" is a mentoring program in development dedicated to inspiring and empowering young athletes. Working with local children in the Park City and Salt Lake City communities, young athletes will be partnered with their heroes to inspire and promote passion and courage.

While the sports of speedskating, freestyle skiing, bobsled and skeleton are currently part of the CODP designation, additional sport programs at the UOO and UOP which may in the future carry the CODP designation are figure skating, hockey, luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and nordic combined.

"The UAF has been a critical partner with the USOC, in part by enhancing their world-class facilities for America's best winter sport athletes at the national and youth level," said Alicia McConnell, USOC Director, Athlete Services and Programs. "Through the leadership of Colin Hilton, an environment of excellence has been created for both the national team-level athletes who will be heading to Vancouver early next year, as well as for youth development programs. We look forward to more young people in Utah having the opportunity to participate in Olympic winter sports."

A Utah non-profit organization, the UAF is the caretaker of the legacy facilities from the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The UAF inherited the UOP and UOO in May 2002 after being designated by the State of Utah to manage their post-Games operations. More information can be found at www.olyparks.com.

The UAF is one of six current CODPs, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta (Atlanta, Ga.), the Midwest Weightlifting Club (Lake County, Ind.), the Moorestown Weightlifting Club (Moorestown, N.J.), the San Antonio Sports Foundation (San Antonio, Texas), and the Springfield Greene Country Parks and Recreation (Springfield, Mo.).

The Community Olympic Development Program, in collaboration with the National Governing Bodies, develops community sport programs and impacts developmental athlete performance by building partnerships, accessing community resources, and leveraging USOC resources to create, develop and enhance Olympic sport feeder systems. Athlete programs also provide services and resources to elite-level athletes, not only to enhance their achievement of excellence in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also in life.

Tags: Alicia McConnell, Colin Hilton, Community Olympic Development Program, F.A.S.T., USOC, Utah Athletic Foundation, Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games