Star-struck Maybe?

Hey everyone!

My name is Marion Steinberg and I am the Coaching Education intern in Colorado Springs. I absolutely love my job here, and the springs is a fantastic place to live. My favorite part of the day is getting ready in the morning and walking outside to see the sun shining on snow-capped mountains & Pikes Peak!

The Coaching Education department is responsible for providing coaches, athletes, and high performance directors with reliable information on training, coaching, ethics, etc. We work with the other Sport Performance Departments (physiology, technology, nutrition, psychology) to put valuable resources up on teamusa.org, and we also manage another website- usacoaching.org. Additionally, our department hosts a variety of conferences throughout the year.

My favorite part of my internship so far has been working to put together the 2010 Training Design Symposium, which was held at the OTC last weekend. It was extremely exciting to meet so many accomplished coaches and executives! I even got to meet author Dan Coyle, who wrote Hardball: A Season in the Projects (Keanu Reaves movie!), Lance Armstrong's War, and The Talent Code.


Other notable coaches in attendance were Guy Baker- who is pretty much the greatest Water Polo coach of the era, Hugh McCutcheon- who coached the U.S. Men's Volleyball team to a Gold medal in Beijing, and Carol Callan- who was Director of the U.S. Women's Basketball Team that has achieved Gold medals in the past four Olympics!

I also got a chance to go out to dinner downtown with Mike Chu, Mike Anthony, and Nicholas Gill- who are all high performance coaches and managers for the New Zealand All Blacks! We got to share stories about life in Australia & New Zealand (I studied abroad there)- and I learned so much about sport just talking with them for a couple hours.

I felt like I was in the hollywood of sports for three days, it was an awesome experience!


Outside of work I have had the opportunity to really explore Colorado Springs and the outdoors.

Some of the things I've done include...



Learning Judo & Fencing with the other interns:

(me and my roommate Kaitlyn)










Going skiing at Monarch mountain:


(Taylor and Me at the very very very top of Monarch- 11,000+ ft!)

Going to a Colorado Avalanche game:

Climbing up the Incline!!
(basically a giant makeshift staircase going up a mountain)









Overall my time here has been absolutely fantastic. I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to gain relevant work skills, build my network, and explore Colorado.

Hey everyone. My name is Alex Setoodeh and I am a media relations at the OTC in Colorado Springs. I am originally from Bethesda, MD which is a suburb of Washington, DC and I am currently finishing up grad school at Georgetown University. I did my undergrad at Northeastern University in Boston.

I am loving Colorado and can't believe my internship is over half way done. It has been pretty crazy here since I arrived in January. During the games I was in the office 7 days a week and every other day I was there until about midnight working on the Daily Wrapup. Now that the games are over and we have finally moved into the new headquarters, things have calmed down a bit. My basic duties are composing and formatting the Olympic Sports Scene every week, responding to fan mail, scheduling and escorting around on site media, writing athlete bios, working with my boss on Team for Tomorrow projects and appearances, and I recently wrote my first feature article for the new online version of Olympic Beat magazine. Overall, I have gotten a lot of great experience so far.

Outside of work, I have met a lot of amazing people. The intern class this semester is an awesome group and I have made some great friends. The intern group has done a lot of fun things out here, and we are definitely taking advantage of our surroundings. We have the Intern Olympic Games every week, where we learn and compete in a different sport. Currently my team is in first place, and hopefully we will stay there! Now that baseball season is going on I have been to two Sky Sox *(the Rockies triple-a team) games and I know the entire intern group is attending one in May, a few of us also went to an Avalanche game a few weeks ago. I have also gone snowboarding a bunch of times while here. I bought a season pass before I came out and I just learned that A-basin will be open till mid June so there is still plenty of time left to go! I have two friends coming into town this weekend, and next weekend I am off to Vegas so it should be a pretty crazy few weeks.

I will be enjoying my time with the other interns for the next five weeks before they all leave, my internship lasts a month longer than theirs which is sad because I don't want to see anyone go. This experience has been incredible and I have learned so much that will help me in the future.

Welcoming the World to Colorado Springs!

Hi everybody!

My name is Lauren Magliola and I work at U.S. Figure Skating as the Event Intern for the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships 2010, which took place right here in Colorado Springs last week!

Synchronized skating is the youngest of the five disciplines in figure skating (ladies, mens, pairs, dance, and synchro) and the World Championships is highest level competition in the sport. As a former synchronized skater for Miami University (the one in Ohio, not Florida - Go 'Hawks!), it has been incredible to be involved in the planning side of this event, which I never got to see as a competitor.

Team USA Competing at Worlds in Colorado!

I've been in Colorado Springs preparing for the Championships since September. Some of my jobs have included communicating with competing teams and federations, taking ticket orders and answering questions from spectators, helping organize hotel rooms and meals for competitors and officials, and helping plan off-ice events like the Opening Draw Ceremony and the totally awesome Competitors' Party (which included DDR and Rock Band played on GIANT screens). Teams from 18 different countries began arriving over a week ahead of the competition (to get used to the altitude) which led to a whole extra set of logistics to deal with while helping groups of 20+ maneuver around an unfamiliar city in a foreign country.

Once the competition began, I was on call pretty much 24 hours a day to help teams with any difficulties or questions they might have, all with the goal of making their stay in Colorado Springs as easy as possible so that skaters could focus on their performance. I got to meet coaches and team managers who I had been communicating with over e-mail for months from places like Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Croatia, Australia, Germany, and Hungary. I was able to sit and watch the entire competition, which included some of the highest level skating I have ever seen at a World Championships, and had the honor of being the person in charge of getting the correct flags ready for awards (including the stars and stripes!) as soon as the final scores were posted.

Although my last few weeks have been pretty much consumed by work, I've had countless amazing experiences in Colorado since September. I've learned to fence and play team handball as a part of the Intern Olympics, seen Jason Mraz live at the incredible Red Rocks Amphitheater, seen Darius Rucker at the not quite as incredible (but still fun!) Colorado State Fair, and of course gotten out and hiked some of the great trails found all around Colorado Springs. On the weekend, you'll most likely find me running around Garden of the Gods or Red Rock Open Space, and I have managed to get myself up the Incline once (I swear I'll get up there again soon!). My next goal is to make it to the top of Pikes Peak, but I don't really have to worry about following through with that promise until the snow melts, of course.

As I look back on the last year, I can't believe how many great people I've met and how much I've learned while in Colorado Springs! It's definitely been a once in a life time adventure, and I know I'll be using the knowledge and experience I've gained here long after my internship has ended.

Tyler Warren
Colorado Springs: Strength and Conditioning

Let me start off by saying that Colorado as a whole is a beautiful state. If you are an outdoors type person, you will love it here. With that aside, my internship has been an amazing experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. The first day I got here I got unpacked and then set out to see the weight room where I would be spending the majority of my time.

While working here I have learned a lot of different things, including lifting technique, program design, coaching cues, and more. The Colorado Springs location is great in the sense that there are three coordinators here to help educate the interns. So far, I have been able to get the perspective of three different coaches with three different backgrounds. When starting out in this field, it is important to get a variety of information to understand different viewpoints. Not only is it nice to get quality information from several different sources, but I have also increased my network of professional contacts. All too often you hear it’s not what you know but who you know; this is something that does hold some truth and can be your friend or foe (so start networking if you haven’t already). I don’t want to get too detailed with this, but from a work standpoint, this is a great opportunity to gain experience in the field of Strength and Conditioning.

Luckily, I was paired up with a roommate who is practically like my little brother. I was worried that I would butt heads with whomever I would have to room with, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. For the most part, I get along really well with all of the interns and have enjoyed hiking as well as many other local outings with the group. One of the best experiences was snowboarding for the first time and shredding the nar nar. I’m pretty much awesome at snowboarding now.

What I have written here is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many experiences that, if I were to elaborate on each, I could type for days. I tried to keep this blog short and sweet. If you have any questions or just want more information on what I have touched on, please feel free to contact me via email at tww0711@yahoo.com. I would be more than happy to exchange emails or chat on the phone about the experience as a whole.

Hey everyone, my name is Jenna Fredericks and I am the intern for sports medicine in Lake Placid. I am a New Yorker, born and raised, so I didn’t have much getting used to in Lake Placid as far as the weather and small town atmosphere. The Lake Placid OTC is like a small family in it of itself because we all work in one building. Everyone sees each other basically everyday and everyone knows who you are and what your name is. It’s definitely nice to be known as Jenna, instead of “what’s her name, the intern in sports med.” Everyone is very nice and helpful, and it certainly makes the days go by much smoother.

My basic duties on a day-to-day basis consist of entering any new medical information and HIPAA’s into the database, keeping the schedules of our athletic trainers, greeting and assisting any athletes or personnel that come into sports med and maintaining and running the Recovery Center. Every week seems to be different, depending on the activities that are going on in Lake Placid.

Thus far in 2010, we have hosted a World Cup (skiing), US Championships (skiing) and America’s Cup (bobsled/skeleton). We also host many camps and smaller based competitions in between. Needless to say, these events keep sports med on their toes because there is always someone who doesn’t make it down the hill or track smoothly. I have seen enough bruises and sprains to last me awhile. But that’s the nature of an elite athlete; no pain, no gain.

It was great working for the USOC during the Olympics in February, because no other work place actually encourages you to watch TV and the Olympics during work. A few of the Olympians returned to Lake Placid after the games and we were fortunate enough to see Justin Olsen’s (4-man bobsled) Gold Medal and Elana Meyer’s (Women’s bobsled) Bronze Medal. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience to actually see and hold an Olympic Medal.
As my time here comes to an end, I can truly walk away knowing that I did my best and tried my hardest to make sports med run smoothly. I have enjoyed my experience and the opportunity to meet so many great people. This experience has without a doubt given me tools and knowledge that will help me in my future endeavors, and I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity.

Hello, my name is Shannon Whiteway and today is my 24th Birthday! I am an intern for the Paralympics Military Program and love it! I am originally from Colorado Springs and just recently moved back from CA because my husband got out of the USMC. Within my internship I have had the opportunity to meet many great and inspiring people, all of which have added to my experience here.

* My husband Thomas and I, homecoming day 2008.

So far I have worked with Team Semper Fi on booking flights and the logistics of their events once a month. I have even been to each event that has been held across the country, which is such an awesome thing to watch these injured Marines overcome their injuries and participate in sport!

* TSF at the Air Force Academy, Jan 2010

In March I also headed to Vancouver for the Parlympic Games, which to say the least was memorable! I was actually a blind guide for the Executive Director of the Blind Veterans Association, Tom Miller. It was something I never had done before but by the end of the trip I felt like a pro. It also taught me not to take anything for granted because just being able to see is such a gift! While I was there we stayed in Vancouver and Whistler where we got to watch USA participate in Sledge Hockey, Biathlon, & Alpine Skiing.

* Tom Miller, Karen Guenther and I at the Olympic Flames in Vancouver.

My biggest task right now is working on the inaugural Warrior Games. I am responsible for the volunteer side of things for the games. I have been in contact with those who have offered to volunteer throughout the community, military bases and even other states! I am very excited for the turn out and I know that this will be a successful event for years to come because of the hard work that everyone is putting into it!

Overall this has been such an amazing time in my life and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!