U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association's Center of Excellence Open House - July 17th

I recently visited Park City, Utah, to experience some of the summer events and activities at this family ski destination hub. While I was in town I was able to get a preview tour of the USSA Center of Excellence in its full operational mode.

All skiing and snowboarding fans who come to the dedication and open house on July 17th will be escorted on a tour of the facilities. Attendees to the ceremonies will receive an added bonus - you can meet and greet our athletes during an afternoon autograph session.

The 85,000 sq. ft. Center of Excellence, home for the USSA's top athletes, is a world-class training and education facility that will benefit the over 400 clubs of developing athletes affiliated with the USSA.

The Center opened its doors to the nation's top ski and snowboarding athletes in May and those athletes working out while I was there were definitely enjoying themselves. While the facility is open and airy with live rock music piped in, this is still the place for hard core, although highly individualized, workout routines.

If you can make it to the open house, you will see the Sports Science Center where data of every aspect of an athletes workouts are collected and analyzed. This analysis develops a base training routine for Marco Sullivan, based on strengths and weaknesses, that will differ from a base training routine for Ted Ligety, yet bring both athletes to top of their game.

The Sports Medicine department provides state-of-the-art equipment for injured athletes to work back to 100% under the watchful eyes of specially trained and certified physical therapist and physicians.

There is even a full scale kitchen where sports nutritionists teach these young athletes how to prepare healthy meals. This is most helpful especially when out on the racing circuit, where a foreign delicacy may be just the thing to kick off intestinal difficulties the night before a World Cup race.

What will really catch your eye is a unique "ramps and tramps" area. There is an actual skateboarding bowl and ramps to practice snowboarding and freestyle tricks, and even a ski and snowboardcross starting gate and ramp. While I was there the two bungee trampolines for high flying aerial training were getting a workout.

The dedication ceremony will take place outside the Center of Excellence from 12:00-12:30 p.m. Public tours of the Center will follow from 12:30-3:00 p.m. Car pooling is encouraged. Detailed information is available here.

You can see a lot of the Center of Excellence in a few of the USSA photo galleries. I didn't think to ask if a virtual tour of the facility may be in the works - nice idea though. Why don't you ask USSA President and CEO Bill Marolt about it on July 17th?

_{Center of Excellence training area © Mike Doyle}