USSA christens its Center of Excellence

Today marked the first official day of training at the United States Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) brand new home – the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah.

Olympic gold medalists Ted Ligety and Julia Macuso were on hand along with a host of U.S. Ski Team athletes from several other disciplines.    

“This is when training season really starts to kick off usually, and they are in there training hard already,” said USSA vice president of athletics Luke Bodensteiner.

Today marked the first official day of training at the United States Ski and Snowboard Association’s (USSA) brand new home – the Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah.

Olympic gold medalists Ted Ligety and Julia Macuso were on hand along with a host of U.S. Ski Team athletes from several other disciplines.     

“This is when training season really starts to kick off usually, and they are in there training hard already,” said USSA vice president of athletics Luke Bodensteiner.

The 85,00-square-foot center sitting on five acres in the Wasatch Mountains now houses the entire USSA for the first time ever. The impressive building includes: coaches offices, sports scientists, administration, technicians, sales, travel coordination and of course provides cutting-edge facilities where athletes will get the best training in the world. As they make their final preparations for next season’s Olympic Games in Vancouver, athletes now have open access to strength-training areas, a gymnasium, ski and snowboard ramps, trampolines, a nutrition center, an aquatic rehabilitation facility and multimedia performance analysis rooms.

Today USSA staff was treated to a full tour of their new home. “It’s really nice, everyone’s really happy to be here and getting settled in quickly,” said Bodensteiner. “It’s a really nice atmosphere and everybody is super happy to be here, we really feel like it’s become everything that we envisioned.”

Bodensteiner believes the center will draw more athletes to USSA headquarters to train as teams. “The number of athletes here has grown over the last six or seven years, and we are anticipating a higher percentage of the team here training than ever before,” he said. “The athletes that have been inside already are pretty thrilled with it. I think athletes who don’t live here will start hearing how nice it is and it’s going to draw participation for sure.”

The upcoming Excellence 2009 club seminar and the USSA Congress will take place at the center this spring to initiate the educational capabilities of the COE.  

“It’s a real welcoming environment for all our athletes and staff,” said Bodensteiner. “It’s their home and they treat it as such.”