High performance plan
Shannyn J. Gillespie

The U.S. Olympic Education Center freestyle resident athlete program uses a high performance plan to prepare ultimately for the Olympic Games. This paper briefly explains the purpose of the high performance plan and the role both U.S. Olympic Training Centers play in helping elite female freestyle resident athletes reach their Olympic Dreams.

The high performance plan essentially entails 3 levels: recruiting, retaining, and training. These levels correlate with one another to keep senior elite level athletes who are participants in USA Wrestling resident athlete programs training for up to 8 years at U.S. Olympic Training Centers.

USOEC freestyle resident athlete coaches recruit junior elite level athletes at these national tournaments annually: USA Wrestling Jr. Nationals, USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals, and Body Bar Nationals. From time to time, USOEC coaches attend high school state meets in Texas and California. Once talent is identified through these means, invitations via phone call and email interviews to parents and athletes are used to ascertain if the USOEC is a good fit for the prospect and the prospects family.

Prospects can also contact the USOEC coaches at the aforementioned tournament sites and or via this website http://freestylefemales.com to learn more about the program and or see if they are qualified for the program. USOEC coaches generally have tables or booths set up at above tournament sites to disseminate information about the USOEC qualification/application process and other pertinent data regarding the program.

Once invited and accepted into the USOEC freestyle resident athlete program, participants are immediately introduced to the Master Plan and all freestyle resident athletes at anytime can be invited to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for additional training due to retiring athletes or other USOTC needs. The USOEC intends to retain and train athletes until an invitation to the USOTC in Colorado Springs .

The USOEC in conjunction with the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs offers two types of services to train elite level athletes aspiring to be Olympians and Olympic Champions. These services are also known as resident athlete program and facility use athlete program.

Resident athletes at both U.S. Olympic Training Centers live on site or on the campus of the applicable training center and have these privileges.

Facility use athletes typically live off site or off campus and have these privileges.

It is an honor to be invited to train at either U.S. Olympic Training Center site due to the high caliber of resident athlete wrestlers training twice daily, USA Wrestling coaching and support, U.S. Olympic Committee support, Northern Michigan University support, and ability to be considered for the B.J. Stupak Olympic Scholarship program.

Training abroad is an integral part of the high performance plan which introduces USOEC freestyle resident athletes to foreign soil and competitors which prepares them for world championships. The USOEC coaching staff believes it is important for athletes to get as much international training camp experience as possible prior to entering world championships competition.

There are 2 ways USOEC freestyle resident athletes train abroad. The first way to train abroad is during the international training camps established by USOEC freestyle staff. For the last 2 years, USOEC freestyle teams have traveled to Japan and trained with Chukyo Women's University home of 2 Olympic Champions, 1 Olympic Silver medalist, and 20 world champions.

In 2008-2009, the USOEC freestyle team is scheduled to participate in a training camp in Austria December 13-23, 2008 .

The second way to train abroad is via the world championships as training partners for Team USA . There are generally 3 world championships a year and they are: Sr. World Championships, Jr. World Championships, and World University Championships. Exposure to the best wrestlers in the world is the best way to prepare USOEC freestyle wrestlers for the Olympic Games.

USA Wrestling also holds several national training camps throughout the year. USOEC freestyle residents participate twice per year at the USOTC for winter training camp and summer training camp. From time to time, the USOEC holds preparation training camps for the Jr. World Championship and World University Championship teams. Exposure to the best wrestlers in the USA is another way to prepare USOEC freestyle wrestlers for the Olympic Games.

The U.S. Olympic Committee conducted a survey to discover what made Olympians and Olympic Champions succeed on their way to their Olympic Dreams and one thing the USOC discovered was that training in a high performance environment for 6-8 years seemed to pay off. This is the main reason why the USOEC believes it is imperative to 'graduate' athletes to the USOTC and continue to retain facility use athletes.

Currently, there are over 6000 high school girl wrestlers in the USA and only 7 higher education programs that offer full teams with financial aid and or scholarships. It is easy to see why the importance of the USOEC resident athlete program and facility use program are vital to the success of Team USA . Simply put, there are more girl wrestlers being supplied by USA high schools annually than there are college opportunities. The demand for more college wrestling opportunities is prevalent in the USA. This is the main reason why the USOEC must 'graduate' resident athletes to the USOTC and retain facility use athletes.

The high performance plan established by the USOEC freestyle staff and supported by the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Wrestling, and Northern Michigan University has begun to have an impact at the national and international level. USOEC freestyle wrestlers have won 4 Outstanding Wrestler awards at USA Wrestling National tournaments and have won several medals at the world championships in recent years. This high performance plan will continue to produce the world's best freestyle wrestlers through its resident athlete program and facility use program.