Getting Ready for Vancouver!

Hey Everyone,

My name is James Snyder and I am the Strength and Conditioning Intern at the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center. As you can imagine, with the Winter Olympics just a few weeks away things are heating up in frigid northern New York. Located about one hour from the Canadian border, Lake Placid is a quaint little ski town nestled in the midst of the beautiful Adirondack Mountains. Lake Placid hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games and a number of the venues used for the games are still in use today (including the Arena from the 1980 USA Hockey “Miracle” on Ice).


In my three weeks here I have been exposed to the daily training of a very unique group of athletes that I normally only see compete every 4 years during the Winter Olympics. The resident athletes here in LP compete in a variety of Winter Sports that all require distinctly different types of athleticism. The “sliding sports” consist of skeleton (head-first), luge (on your back), and bobsled (I’m sure you’ve seen Cool Runnings!). This cliffnotes description of each sport doesn’t tell the whole story obviously, but check out these competitions in Vancouver to see them in action! These athletes need the strength and power of a football player to accelerate the sleds across the ice at the start, but also require the fine motor control of a race car driver in order to steer the sled to the bottom without crashing! Definitely very exciting to watch…check out THIS youtube video taken in Lake Placid...The athletes here practice their “sliding” a few times a week and as an intern we’re allowed to go watch practices and participate as well. I’m really looking forward to taking a trip down the track in a bobsled sometime in the near future!

A number of skiers also call the LP OTC their home. This past weekend I had the chance to watch them compete in a World Cup event hosted in Lake Placid. The World Cup is the premier competition circuit for a number of the Winter Sports. I was most impressed by the Freestyle (Aerials) Competition. This event is held on a steep hillside and consists of a skier coming down the slope and jumping off a ramp into the air while flipping and spinning and finally landing on two feet (hopefully!). These daredevils were incredible to watch and I was particularly blown away by how hard the landing looked. Watching some of these athletes limping around the next day with ice on their knees confirmed my notion that this sport must hurt! A popular skiing destination in the Northeast, Whiteface Mountain is only a few minutes away from the LP OTC, and a few of my fellow interns have spent time during the weekend out on the slopes (just downhill skiing though, no flips for us!).



During my time working I have helped Jason Hartman (Strength and Conditioning Coordinator here in LP) with the design and implementation of resistance training programs for our resident athletes. This past week we also put together an article for NBC about developing training programs for young children. Having the chance to talk with Jason on a regular basis about training theory and learning a bit more about his philosophy as a strength coach has been without a doubt the most beneficial aspect of this internship so far. As an aspiring coach, learning things from a textbook means very little if you cannot apply it to real-world situations. Basing one’s practice on solid evidence is what separates true professionals from hacks (there are already PLENTY of them in the Fitness World…) I’m really looking forward to working with Jason throughout this internship and learning more about the role of strength training in developing Olympic athletes.

One of the unique and refreshing aspects of being up here in Lake Placid is the close-knit group of people I’ve been privileged to work with. All of the administrative folks, maintenance workers, housekeeping staff, and interns are on a first name basis with one another. This family-like feel has made adjusting to living in a new place quite easy. My co-workers are very approachable and quick to offer advice and suggestions about where to eat downtown or what sites we should try to see on weekends. I’ve really enjoyed my first few weeks in Lake Placid and am looking forward to the rest of the semester!

James Snyder
Strength and Conditioning Intern
Lake Placid OTC

Goodbye Colorado Springs OTC! :-(

Hey Everyone!

My name is Brenna Davis and I intern in the International Relations Department in Colorado Springs. It’s hard to believe, but this is the final week of my internship and I’ll be headed home to Philadelphia in a few days. As I sit here thinking about the past three and half months interning for the USOC, I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have had this opportunity and it has been one of the best experiences of my life. It’s a little challenging to summarize how amazing everything has been, but I will do my best!

My internship itself included working on events involving international athletes, coaches and National Olympic Committee members. I coordinated logistics for these events before they took place and assisted with their implementation as well. One of the biggest projects I worked on was a coaching enrichment program for coaches from 27 different countries around the world. It was great to learn about all the different cultures and show them around Colorado. We went to Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods and even a Denver Nuggets game. The USOC is such a unique place to work. Everyone is very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and the hard work and dedication of the athletes is truly inspiring.

This whole experience wouldn’t be nearly as awesome as it was if it weren’t for all of the other interns. I can honestly say that I have made some really great friends and it is already proving to be difficult to say goodbye to everyone as they have begun trickling home in this last week. It was definitely a bit like reliving freshman year of college at times since we lived in a dorm, but living together really gave us a chance to get to know each other well. We did so many fun things together throughout the semester. Some of my all time favorite highlights would have to be hiking the Incline, the Intern Olympics and learning sports from Olympic athletes, celebrating Halloween, visiting Denver, Thanksgiving at Breckenridge, skiing at Keystone (first time skiing out west!) and going to various sporting events at the Air Force Academy. Colorado Springs has also been a great city to live in and it’s extremely different from what I’m used to. We all enjoyed spending time downtown and admiring the beautiful views of Pike’s Peak.

I can’t imagine this internship being any better than it was and I am so grateful for every minute of it. Thank you to everyone who made this experience so great, I will miss you all! To future interns, I hope you guys have as much fun as I did and enjoy everything the USOC and Colorado have to offer!

Brenna

Near the end...

My name is Jake Billadeau, Strength and Conditioning intern at the Colorado Springs OTC. I have made my way here from a place far far away which is known as Fort Collins, Colorado. This internship is the final component to my undergraduate degree at Colorado State University (We’re the Rams, not the Buffs). Although it would have been nice to venture away from Colorado for a semester, I honestly could not imagine a better place to finish my education. I say this not only because of the ridiculous amount that I have learned from the OTC strength staff, but the people that I have met, and the things that I have done.

The Strength and Conditioning department’s mission is to support United States Olympic and Paralympic athletes in achieving sustained competitive excellence and preserve the Olympic ideals, and thereby inspire all Americans. Therefore, my duty is to create an environment that provides an athlete with the opportunity to achieve optimal physical athleticism. My responsibilities here are to help the athletes and to assist the support staff. Each day has been an opportunity to assist with program design and implementation, lifting technique, spotting, etc. I was told that the knowledge and ability that I will walk away with after this experience will be based on what I put into it. That being said, I made sure to do all that I could that will further prepare me for career with athletes.

I have met some amazing people during my time in Colorado Springs as well. My co-workers are incredibly knowledgeable, passionate about their work, and fun to be around. The athletes that I work with are some of the hardest working, self-motivated individuals that I have ever had the privilege of working with. The other USOC interns are the people that I spend majority of my free time with. Living amongst all the USOC interns has been comparable to my freshman year of college, except more enjoyable. It’s hard to think that we have done all that we have while working full time. So far we have hiked Pike’s Peak, traveled to Denver and Breckenridge, regularly embrace downtown Colorado Springs with our presence, and I have recently returned from a nice, relaxing, and quiet trip to Las Vegas (To name a few anyway). Being around one another for as long as we have has created friendships that I am sure will continue to last after we finish here at the USOC.

I could not imagine a better place to finish my college career, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do what I am doing with the people that I am with…except Andy. DE DERP DER DERBS!

Jake

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from Colorado Springs! My name is Megan Coffey and I am an intern in the broadcast department. I must say that I am one of the lucky ones because I love my department, the people I work with, and the work that I do. This is my 4th (yes count it, 4th internship!) and one of my favorites because I have been able to learn and participate in so much already. Our department every week edits together the Amazing Moments and Going for the Gold that are featured on our website, TeamUSA.org. We also work directly with other departments and NGB's on any videos that they may need for upcoming events and conferences to help build the Olympic Spirit. We are also in charge of any and all Olympic footage and the rights that go with using the footage. Our department is always busy, whether it is putting together videos for the web or making dub reels for another company on footage that they requested. It really is a fun job because there is so much opportunity to be creative and with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver there is so much to do!

We are just about to wrap up our last few weeks as fall interns at the USOC and it is getting real sad. We have spent the last 3 months eating together, working together, living together, and basically exploring Colorado together. Thanksgiving just passed and about 19 of us interns who did not go home for the holidays all pitched in and rented a cabin in Breckenridge for 4 days. It was one amazing trip! We made sure to cook a legit (well, as legit as you can get) thanksgiving dinner for us to enjoy that included a turkey, 2 full chickens, homemade stuffing, hasbrown casserole, corn, green bean casserole, chicken and dumplings, bread, pumpkin pie... you name it, we almost had it! It took us all night Wednesday night and literally all day to cook and prepare all the food - especially since none of us had ever cooked at a high altitude (we were 10,000 ft high!) and everything takes longer to cook.But I must make a mad props to my roomate Emily who not only planned the entire trip but the food menu as well. She ran that kitchen like a true chef and everything went so smoothly, we had all the food ready by 5:30.

It was a wonderful thanksgiving meal shared by all fellow interns. And we are proud to say we are the first class to ever go on a thanksgiving trip together!

Since it is getting into the BRRRRRRRRR cold and snowy-like season, most of the interns have been planning as many ski and snowboarding trips as they can. Being from Chicago and the "flatlands" as they call it, I don't get a beautiful scenic view like the mountains everyday. And boy is it beautiful! I still wake up in awe when i look out my window and see the snow-capped Pikes Peak straight ahead. I can at least say I am trying as much as I can out here since I normally did not do many outdoor activities back at home. Everyone here has been great as well in doing the activities together and making fun group outings out of it.

Coming out here has been one of the best experiences and I hope the next intern classes to come can experience everything that we have been able to.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Megan

Lovely Lake Placid

I can’t comprehend why anyone would want to live up here; I’m from south Florida and I don’t care what anyone says, it’s colder than the dickens. Anyhow, this internship has been an experience like no other, there is no doubt about that. Besides the temperatures I’ve never experienced before, it has been eye-opening watching the different and unique types of athletes at the Lake Placid OTC. When I first got here, I had no clue what biathlon, luge, or skeleton was, but over time I’ve began to respect the athletes within each sport as well as the technical skills and ability each athletes must posses to compete in their respective sport. It’s getting annoying having to explain to all of my friends what each sport is; I’ve dumbed down luge to sliding on your back, skeleton to sliding on your stomach face-first, and biathlon to hunting on skis.

In the weight room, it has been a test of wits and patience when the international athletes are around and a test of knowledge when the US athletes are around asking for help and advice. It has been both affirming and expanding of my expertise within the field to know such athletes trust what I know and have to tell them to help them to excel. And when there are no athletes around, I usually take the time to pick Jason’s brain about college, training, life, etc, or do my own research on things I’ve discussed with him previously. Between training the athletes, researching, talking with Jason, and cleaning there isn’t a whole lot of down time. No quarrels here.
It made my transition here much more tolerable when I knew that I would have a solid friendship with the other interns. We’ve had our fair share of fun within the legal limits of our internship (as far as I can remember) which has been just as rewarding as what I do while I’m on the clock. Between the festivals, bars, and sport events, there is usually something to be experienced and enjoyed in Lake Placid…some being more foreign and bizarre then others but that’s a horse of a different color.
I plan to make the most of my last month here while I continue to pray for the snow to hold off.
-Zac Nicholas

Hello everybody, I’m Dustin du Bois the operations intern in Lake Placid. I graduated from Lynchburg College in Virginia, and I am finishing up my last semester of Graduate School at Virginia Commonwealth University in Sports Administration and Management. In case you do not know much about Lake Placid, it is in upstate New York, 2 hours from both Albany and Montreal. Pretty much you could say we are in middle of nowhere out here. The closest airports are both 2 hours away, one being in Albany and the other in Burlington, Vermont. Many tourists come through Lake Placid to see the 1980 ice arena where the “miracle on ice” took place, and to see the many other Olympic sites. From the bobsled and luge tracks, to the ski ramps and jumps, there are many attractions that make this such an interesting town. It tends to snow a lot here as well, usually starting in December. Now a days the temperature is around 20 degrees in the morning but warms up to around 45-50 during the day. Enjoy the beach Chula Vista.

I have had a great time and wonderful experience living and working at the training center in Lake Placid. With the Vancouver Olympics less than 100 days away, many athletes are preparing for their World Cup seasons and Olympic trials. Every week we get different sports and new athletes, so there is never much down town. Last week figure skaters from all around the world came to compete is Skate America for 4 days. The day they left, over 100 bobsled and skeleton athletes checked in. Therefore, as you can tell we have been staying extremely busy. It has been fun to meet athletes from so many countries and learn about their sport and culture.

As the operations intern, I am mainly responsible for scheduling transportation and rooms for the athletes coming and leaving. Seeing that the closest airport is 2 hours away, it is not good when an athlete is left at either the training center or airport. Therefore, transportation is one of the most important jobs of the operations team here. I also make sure everything is working in our two Athlete Service Center’s, assist the Res. Life Coordinator in planning theme nights and activities, and making sure the roster and records are ready when the teams arrive.

I have really enjoyed my time spent here in Lake Placid, and is a place I would like to return to at some point. Everybody in the city and training center are friendly and great to be around. It has been interesting reading everybody’s blogs and sounds like everybody has had an equally enjoying experience. Best of luck to everybody.

Straight Outta Placid

Hey guys and girls. My name is Bob Landsparger, and I am the intern for the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (USBSF) in Lake Placid, N.Y. Before you even say anything, yes I applied for the bobsled and skeleton federation only because my name was in it. In case you forgot, I was part of that motley crew that caused a ruckus during the intern assimilation because we couldn’t hear the speaker. I graduated from Grove City College, a tiny school between Pittsburgh and Erie, in May with a B.S. in Marketing Management and a minor in Communication Studies. I’m planning on using my education and my experience with the USBSF to help me land a career in either the sports or entertainment industry.

When it comes to this blog, I was in a pickle because I also write a blog for the USBSF, so I didn’t know if I should write a new entry or use my latest USBSF post . . . I chose the second option. If you like this entry, and you want to read more, then visit bobsled.teamusa.org/. You could also read blogs from some of our athletes while you are there. Now who doesn’t like shameless advertising plugs?

U.S. bobsled and skeleton team trials took place here in Lake Placid during my little break from the blog. Instead of writing a little snippet in the summary post, I wanted to make one entry about team trials. Since we already have the press releases about the race results on the website, this post will be about the quirkier stories.

Bobsled and skeleton athletes usually have several training days to get acquainted to the track before completions over the next two or three days, so I attended one of the training sessions the week prior to the races with Josh Smith, the Medical Coordinator for the USBSF. I was excited because it was my first time seeing the athletes slide this season. I also had the opportunity to watch the practice runs on the track catwalk, instead of watching the sliders behind a wooden fence a couple feet away from the track. I was literally a couple inches away from the track. We were between turns 18 and 19, which is one of the most difficult sections of the track. It sounds like a recipe for disaster to have me, a very clumsy person, standing right by a very difficult section while bobsleds are flying down around 70 to 80 miles per hour.

On the first day of team trials, I arrived at the start house, where a three-foot tall snowman greeted me from the observation deck. As I made my way in, one of the first people I saw was 2009 World Champion Justin Olsen. I didn’t want to distract him before he started sliding, but he noticed me and said, “You can’t do it. You just can’t do it.” That statement confused me for the longest time until we had a heart-to-heart conversation during the intermission from the bobsled races. Now when I say heart-to-heart conversation, I do not mean we talked about politics, sports, life in general, etc. We discussed how I’m not able to go from a cold place to a hot place because my glasses will fog. You learn something new every day here in Lake Placid.

The next day started off normal as usual: helped out the staff, interacted with the athletes, acted like the paparazzi by taking a billion photos of the athletes and the scenery; you know normal stuff. Somewhere in the break between the skeleton heats, I noticed that I scuffed up one of my shoes. I said to myself, “Man, it’s my second day wearing these shoes, and one has already taken a beating. Wait a tick. I’m wearing two different shoes.” The shoes I wore were similar in color with one slightly darker and taller than the other one. I know my parents will be shaking their heads in disgust when they read this, so are you proud of me mom and dad?

My first instinct told me to have solid support system, so I told Adelle about my dilemma. Instead of consoling me, she wanted me to take a picture of my fashion faux pas, so I did. This is what I get for letting my roommate sleep in peace while I get ready for work in complete darkness. I had to come up with a story to hide this mistake, and I created two stories: My right leg is longer than my left leg, and I love to step in puddles with my left foot. The only highlight from this fiasco was when I tricked Noelle. After her second run, Noelle walked up to me and asked me if I’m having a better chance staying warm today than yesterday. I told her I had a bigger problem to deal with and showed her the shoes. What is her immediate response from seeing the shoes you may ask? “Awww. One’s drenched.” Noelle, thank you for making my day a tad bit better. At least someone bought my puddle story.

That’s all that went down during the first portion of the team trials. There was exciting competition and had some laughs along the way. After watching my first competition, I can’t wait for the World Cup this weekend. If you live near Lake Placid, come up and cheer on the team. If you can’t attend the races, go to Universal Sports and watch the competition online. I can promise you one thing: I promise I will not wear mismatching shoes during the races.

Is This Real Life?

Hi! Allow me to introduce myself:


That’s right. I split my time between writing press releases and organizing monster truck rallies for USA Swimming.

I graduated from UC Berkeley last year with a BA in Mass Communications and a minor in Portuguese. I’m currently a graduate student in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership at the University of Washington. I am the lone Colorado Springs intern from California (!) – hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area to be exact.

As the Communications Intern for USA Swimming, I have been able to write press releases, create media guides, and various other responsibilities that interest the sports information nerd that I am. The most exciting experiences of my internship have resulted from my work with the USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash initiative, which seeks to teach water safety skills to children. I had the opportunity to work at a Make a Splash event in Denver featuring Olympic gold medalist, Cullen Jones. I also interviewed Cullen about his work with Make a Splash and his experiences since the 2008 Olympics for a feature in USA Swimming’s Splash magazine.


The opportunity to move out here and participate in the USOC Internship Program was one that I could not pass up. This year has been full of adventures, and I am excited to be living in Colorado and experiencing everything this internship and the area have to offer. I feel like I try or see something new every week.

One of the most exciting activities for this class of USOC interns has been the Intern Olympics. I can now say that I’ve tried judo, wheelchair basketball, team handball, and fencing. No calls from any national teams yet. I think I’ll hold on to my day job.


I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to live with all these great interns, interact with elite athletes on a daily basis, and immerse myself in the Olympic movement. I hope you are enjoying the Intern Blog!