2009 Program News
10/12/09: Module 2 Begins at US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
ICECP begins its second module at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this week. The module is a continuation of the coaching education program that participants started in Delaware.
Through classroom sessions, practical application, expert presentations and field trips, the participants will receive more education in sport sciences, performance enhancement and coaching methodology.
The classes at the USOTC are run by members of the USOC’s Sport Performance Services Division, as well as other experts. Topics that are covered over the next two weeks include environmental factors and performance, overtraining, training design, planning and periodization, biomechanical analysis, performance services, mental preparation and team building.
Field trips are also a part of the Module 2 program. Trips are scheduled to the Carmichael Training Systems facility and the National Strength and Conditioning Association facility. The coaches are also taking a tour of the US Air Force Academy’s athletic facilities and attending the football game between the Academy and the University of Wyoming.
The other major focus of Module 2 is the continued development of each participant’s personal project. After accumulating sport-specific information from their apprenticeship sites, the participants will integrate what they learned in the classroom and in the field into their project plans.
ICECP program tutors are scheduled to arrive to Colorado Springs in the second week of the module. The tutors will work with each participant to finalize the first drafts of their projects. At the conclusion of Module 2, participants will present the projects they plan to implement upon returning to their home countries. Presentations will include goals, tactics, strategies, timelines for implementation, intended outcomes and mission statements.
While they are at the Olympic Training Center, the coaches can take full advantage of a world-class athletic facility. With specialized training facilities dedicated to each of their sports and complete strength and conditioning facilities all on site, it's a coach’s paradise.
The participants took a tour of the training center to officially welcome and introduce them to the Colorado Springs training center. They saw multipurpose sports centers and the training centers for swimming, boxing, gymnastics, shooting and wrestling.
Some of the coaches already began to take advantage of the training center. Along with Ernesto Selva (track and field national team coach, El Salvador), three of the judo coaches already began working on throwing and submission technique in the dojo in their free time.
National team coaches Igor Paskoski (Macedonia) and Ian Weithers (Barbados) picked up where they left off at their apprenticeship and continued their judo workouts in Colorado Springs. Selva is helping teach submission technique to an ICECP program intern.
“The facilities here are amazing,” Selva said. “It just makes you want to work out all the time.”
With plenty to challenge them, both mentally and physically, Module 2 is sure to be a great way to finish out the six-week program.
