Quad Rugby/Story - Lakeshore name USOC training facility

UNITED STATES QUAD RUGBY ASSOCIATION

February 2003

USOC Names Birmingham’s Lakeshore Foundation As Olympic and Paralympic Training Site

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has announced the designation of Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama as an Olympic and Paralympic Training Site. This designation marks the first time a facility has been uniquely designated as an Olympic & Paralympic Training Site, so named because Lakeshore Foundation designed and built its new facility specifically to meet the needs of athletes with physical disabilities.



LAKESHORE FOUNDATIONS NEW FIELD HOUSE

The USOC currently operates three training centers: the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado (est.1977); the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York (est.1982); and the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California (est. 1995). Like its predecessors, the Lakeshore Foundation fitness, recreation and education center offers state-of-the-art-training facilities as well as sports medicine and sports science services for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.

“We salute the USOC for this important and positive step forward for all of the athletes it is chartered to serve,” said Lakeshore Foundation President, Jeff Underwood. “There is no greater symbol of the pursuit of excellence and athletic achievement in our country than those five Olympic rings, and we have worked hard to develop a facility and staff worthy of this association with USOC. We are particularly delighted to offer our nation’s leading athletes a training site of this caliber in a barrier-free environment. From this point forward, the road to Athens in 2004 and to Beijing in 2008 will come through Birmingham for many of the U.S. athletes participating in those upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. This designation gives our community and the State of Alabama a permanent and ongoing involvement in the U.S. Olympic movement and a tremendous source of pride.”

"U.S. Paralympics main initiatives are to lead the world in Paralympic performance and utilize our national platform to promote excellence in the lives of persons with physical disabilities, said Charlie Huebner, the Chief Executive Officer at US Paralympics. “I can think of no better partner to assist in meeting our mission than Lakeshore Foundation. The facilities, staff and leadership Lakeshore provides the U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Paralympics will ensure that the U.S. develops a strong and successful Paralympic initiative throughout the world."

The Lakeshore Foundation fitness, recreation and education center opened in 2001, replacing an existing facility that had served athletes with disability for more than two decades. The 126,000 square-foot, two-story facility includes an aquatic center with two pools, a fieldhouse with three basketball courts and a 200-meter track, a fitness and aerobics center, an air-weapon shooting range, a tennis complex, classrooms, a sports science lab, and ancillary services – all of which were developed to meet the needs of people with disabling conditions.

Lakeshore Foundation is a private, not-for-profit organization that utilizes its resources to support activities, programs or projects that encourage the independence of individuals who have experienced physically disabling conditions.

The USOC is the custodian of the U.S. Olympic Movement, including the Paralympics, and is the moving force for the support of Olympic and Paralympic sports in the United States. The USOC is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the sole agency in the United States whose mission involves training, entering and underwriting the full expenses for the United States teams in the Olympic, Paralympic and Pan American Games.

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