USAT AAC

Hey Folks,

Lots of great comments on the Long Course Nationals issue - please
don't let this post interrupt any more comments.

I attended the USOC AAC meeting last week in Denver as the
triathlete rep (See my post with agenda from Thursday two weeks ago).

Below are three main topics that either have a direct affect on
Olympic/National Team Triathletes, or might be of interest to
triathletes in general. The material is from notes I took during
the meetings, so if it is not clear and you have any questions,
please email me.

1st - Athlete breakout session
2nd - Sport Partnerships - Chris Vadala
3rd - NCAA/USOC task force

Breakout Session with athletes:

WEBSITE –
The USOC AAC wed site is being created. This will serve as a
resouce for all elite athletes it is headed by Nick Peterson.
Needed: Athletes with copy experience to write for the web site. If
interested contact Nick Peterson at:nickpeterson@mindspring.com
The goal is to have Solid content within 2 months.
Main task – create the AAC website
2 Sections:
-Secure access for AAC members to vote on issues
-General access for all athletes.
Gives a face to the AAC, lets athletes know what is going on.
All the important documents
-Suggest important documents (for me/athletes) –
Athletes bill of rights
Ted Steven's Act
Olympic Charter
-link to volunteer opportunities
-link to anti-doping rules
-link to John Ruger (ahtlete Ombudsman)
-Knowledge of the web site to triathletes – make it the
legitimate GO-TO for all elite athletes.

PROMOTING OLYMPISM
Defining it: 9 fundamental principles:
Ex. A philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole
the quality of body will and mind. Blending sport with culture…
2) Goal to place sport at the service of the harmonious development
of man, with the view to promote a peaceful society with the view of
preserving human diginity
3) practice of sport is a human right. every human shall do so with
the spirit of fair play.
What will it mean to the AAC and the athletes we represent?
- AAC and Olympism
- Generating an athlete bill of rights
- John MacAloon Assoc. Dean of Soc Sci Univ. of Chicago
- -Wrote the definitive work on Pierre de Coubertin
Right to Play – athlete-driven humanitarian org. to help kids play
in disadvantaged countries.
- doing charity events
- encourage the NGB to be involved
Social potential of sport.
Ex. United Nations recognition to use sport as diplomacy

*****

Sports Partnership
Chris Vadala
6 working groups at USOC
"peer review" – any issue that revolves around athlete support
working group – meet once a week.

Team selection
Athlete support group
EAHI (health insurance)
2005 – established criteria for all NGBs
Starting the process of evaluating for 2006 for summer NGBs
All 45 EAHI criteria will be placed on the USOC website the
first of the year.
Budget for 2006 in $3Million.
Criteria was created with Nat'l team director – then brought to the
USOC working group. The NGB provides the feedback to determine if
it worked.
A few insurance slots exist for "hardships" – athletes will
be kept on the insurance until the next time an athlete can compete
to earn the slot. Ex. If you are hurt a month after nationals, and
nationals is used to earn a spot on the team, you can retain the
health insurance until the next nationals.

Direct Athlete support
Significant budget increase –$5.8 in 2005 to $11.6 in 2006.
International results are used to determine eligibility
Working with NGB to customize support programs to affect
international results

Tuition Grant
$80,000 budget
Due date – Feb 1, May 1, Aug 1, Nov.1
Int'l rank in the top-10 you can apply for a tuition grant.
One-time grant may apply for one-time grant…5 years after retiring
Apply though the NGB or sport partnerships.

Operation Gold
Medal payments for Winter Olympics.

Olympic - OJOP
Home Dept owns the OJOP program
Under revision
Oct – gather input from AAC
April – Update Home Depot
Spring – Update AAC
Spring – Informational Report to BOD
June – USOC CEO approve new OJOP criteria
July 1 2006 – Announce new criteria

To be eligible – Athletes receive direct athlete support performance
pool
OR
top-25
Home Depot has limit 206 slots. There are 30 people on the waiting
list. Home Dept owns the OJOP program. 24-hour fitness has a
program run though USOC, but not the same benefits as Home Depot.

Other athlete support programs
Athlete career programs – ADECCO
William E. Simon Olympic Trust – due Oct.15th
BJ Stupak Olympic Scholarship program – Fed funded program, if you
go to one of 3 training centers you can get funding.
Private donors

****

REPORT Report of NCAA/USOC
Joint task force to try and reverse the trend of universities
cutting Olympic-program sports from their rosters.

What is the problem?
Decrease in sponsorship of Olympic sports by universities
-Gymnastics, wresting

The problem is going to get worse
Demographics
- pool of kids is going to decrease

Revenue squeeze
- Colleges are going to be in trouble
Cost structure
Inflexible business model

Athletic Dept challenges
-Scholarships costs are up –
- insurance is up
- Caught in arms race with regard to facilities, salaries, and
number of employees in revenue sports
Threatening marker conditions

Aren't most of these sports in danger because of Title 9?
NO,
It would be happening even without Title 9
Sports getting cut now can't be rationalized based on Title 9
Even if true, so what?
It won't change, and only football will change it , and it won't
change.

Won't this activity just move to a club model like the rest of the
world?
Yes, but there are reasons why it won't be a good thing.
- if the private sector has to absorbed the college subsidies,
it will be very painful. Coaching pipeline is big with college
sports and funnels to elite college. Scholarships provide a huge
carrot to get athletes into the sport.
- The benefit of being part of educational side – more fair,
more integrity.

What is the task force and what did it do?
- Designed to protect and expand opportunities for American
athletes and coaches to realize the benefits associated with
participation focused on sports in the Games
- WHY – There is value in maximizing the opportunity for young
people to participate in and benefit from that experience. There is
value in diversity – valuable educational
- Further value in focusing on sports that have traditionally
been in Games.
- History, Lifetime participation
- WHY should the USOC care? NCAA programs have been critical
for talent, coaching, and subsidized participation.
- There is value in the country to participate in the Olympic
Games.

SCOPE of Task force work.
- At risk sports
cross-country, track and field, gymnastics, wrestling, soccer,
swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo, fencing.
Women – archery, badminton, team handball, synchro.

Recommendations
Preamble:
- This matters
- NCAA and USOC continue to demonstrate cooperation
1) Bring more money into those sports – Create a Supporting
Foundation, principally as a charitable enterprise with the purpose
of fostering sponsorship of the Olympic sports
2) Independence creates opportunity to build corpus through:
Government earmark
3) Foundation grants
4) Charitable gifts
- Only the interest would be available to implement and make
investments for at-risk sports
- A pro formal to create $50 million by year 5 (not enough say
critics, need $500M)
- A competitive bid process in order to encourage best ideas.

Management resources – new organization allows for focus that can't
come from the current groups (too busy)

Organize and arm the grass roots to make the effective case to
college administrators. Take a consolidated approach to creation of
tools and materials but focus delivery efforts thought the
individual NGBs.

3) Promote models for better utilizing community outreach:
- engage in community outreach
- train elite athletes
- host events
5) Identify preferred strategies for controlling costs
- Best to reduce scholarships to save the sport?
- reduced travel?
6) Increase marketability
- Consider modification in the rules to encourage
participation of most accomplished athletes
7) Align rules that support the mission
Modification of the sports marketing rules: create a premium on
sponsorship of Olympic Sports.
- Relaxation of amateurism rules
- Allow more hours of training for those who could handle it
Set Goals to Measure Progress

What can you do?
- Be an advocate for your sport.
- Make sure leadership within your sport is paying attention
- Be an advocate within the NCAA and USOC for the
recommendations of the task force.
Collectively
- Adopt the resolution.

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posted by andy  # 7:03 AM