Swimming pools for the nation’s top aquatic athletes need to be as clean as possible. And a new partnership between USA Artistic Swimming and iGarden, makers of pool cleaning equipment, appears to be an ideal match.

USA Artistic Swimming has announced the new partnership with iGarden, a subsidiary of Fairland Group, including a live demonstration recently held in California for a select crowd of Olympians and media. The agreement also makes the brand the exclusive robotic pool cleaner partner of the national governing body.

“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome iGarden into the USA Artistic Swimming family” said USA Artistic Swimming CEO Adam Andrasko. “Their forward-thinking vision and dedication to excellence mirror the true heart of USA Artistic Swimming.”

Guests at the announcement included Andrasko, Chief of Sport (and three time Olympian) Lara Teixeria, Olympic silver medalist Daniella Ramirez, and 2025 national team members Elle Santana, Emma Moore, Kamako Field, Morgan Woelfel, and Valerie Wiliams). Former Olympian Lenny Krayzelburg (four-time gold medalist and founder of SwimRight Academy) was also in attendance.

The company displayed products at the event and also announced its Pool Perfection Experience: a fully immersive, in-home product trial campaign available across California where pool owners can try the company’s products for free.

“iGarden has always been at the forefront of revolutionizing outdoor living” said Wind Gong, iGarden chief marketing officer, “Partnering with USA Artistic Swimming is a continuation of our brand growth and dedication to expanding our partnership horizons. As a brand of artful living, it was only natural to choose a team that emulates that.”

]]> 74955https://media.sportstravelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/10032329/USA-Artistic-Swimming-Crop.jpg https://www.sportstravelmagazine.com/usa-artistic-swimming-promotes-lara-teixeira-to-chief-of-sport/ Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:47:12 +0000 https://www.sportstravelmagazine.com/?p=66876

PARIS — In the pantheon of Olympic sports whose athletes get overlooked, artistic swimming may be near the top. Athletes may look flashy in their over-the-top costumes and poses in the water, but make no mistake about what is happening underneath the water to make some of the most dramatic moments of a routine shine.

In some respects, the sport has been overlooked for years in the United State as well. For the past 20 years, artistic swimming has struggled on the Olympic stage, appearing last in the team event at the 2008 Beijing Games and last medaling in that event at the 2004 Athens Games.

That is, until Paris. On Wednesday night, Team USA took home a silver in the team event, finishing behind a heavily favored Chinese squad. The medal is a breakthrough the sport’s athletes and leaders are hoping will last outside of the pool as well.

The U.S. team dominated the early competition of the sport, winning gold in the solo and duet routines when it debuted at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. But for USA Artistic Swimming, the national governing body’s recent struggles with the team event were linked to challenges in developing a system that enticed athletes to stay in the national team program full time rather than go to college.

In the years since Chief Executive Officer Adam Andrasko took over in 2018 (a move that coincided with the arrival of head coach and four-time Olympic medalist Andrea Fuentes), the national governing body has been working on a slow and steady process to change the culture, right along with an international push to rename the sport from synchronized swimming to artistic swimming.

The new system appears to have worked with the average age of the team increasing along with athlete retention rates. And with the U.S. team back on the podium, many involved with the sport are hoping the turnaround can continue.

“We lost years of momentum and it’s hard to get people to come and join the national team and stick with it when there’s so many unknowns — we’re not getting the results, we’re not getting the funding and the money,” said Anita Alvarez, whose mother also competed in the sport. “Now the U. S. has started to go upward in the ranks, people want to join the team, people want to look up to us and be on this team in the future.”

Andrasko said he expects the moment to continue after the Games on a variety of fronts.

“They showed the world that the sport isn’t just show anymore,” he said of his team. “It is truly athleticism and it’s great things and I think that captivated a lot of people. So now it’s our responsibility as the NGB and the entire sport to build it. I have to use this silver medal not just as a talking point, but as a platform to build up the sport. We want to have bigger events. We want to have more membership.”

Avlarez is a veteran of the sport, becoming only the second American to compete in three Games since she also competes in the duet version of the sport. She and others are hoping the result in Paris can also lead to more financial support, especially in an era where national governing bodies are still being judged on their chance to win medals.

“Hopefully we get more funding and sponsorships and things like that coming in so that people don’t have to question if they can train full time with a national team or go and get a career — this can be the career,” she said. “That’s the hope for the future.”

The effort to get to Paris did not come without challenges. At the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, where the winner would earn an automatic qualifier to the Olympic Games, the U.S. lost to Mexico by 0.6638 points out of 786 points, a gut punch of a result where the third-place team was 123 points behind. The U.S. had never lost a competition to Mexico before that. But at the final qualification event in Doha, the U.S. placed high enough to earn their spot in Paris.

“It was such a narrow margin,” said Jacklynn Luu of the team’s loss at the Pan Am Games. “It was a huge disappointment for us because we worked so hard to get that qualification, but we knew it wasn’t our last shot. We really used that disappointment to fuel us even more. And the results speak for themselves. In Doha, we became medalists. And here, we’re at the Olympics and we’re silver medalists. So, you know, everything happens for a reason.”

And supporters of the sport are hoping the end result in Paris will spark more interest in the competition in the years to come.

“For a whole decade, we didn’t have a team swimming in the Olympics,” Luu said. “And so to be able to have that impact for the future generation just means so much. I’m thinking about when I was a little kid. There are going to be future small boys and little girls who see this routine that we swam and are going to be so inspired by what we created and what we did out there that they’re going to want to do synchro and just enjoy.”

Andrasko said he is also convinced the performance will pay dividends.

“There’s an absolutely no doubt in my mind that we will see more membership,” he said. “There’s always a bump for every sport coming out of Olympic Games. But because of what we’ve accomplished being on this stage, people seeing it that don’t normally see it — I’m going to start receiving phone calls and emails from moms and dads about where do I send my kid to do this thing?”

And that, he said, may lead to bigger events for host cities in the future.

“We’ll have bigger events because we’ll have more membership,” he said. “But for us as an NGB, it’s about philanthropy. It’s about support sponsorships. It’s about how the (U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee) identifies our sport. And now for the first time in 20 years, we’re not just a medal contender. We’re a medalist.”

Some of the best athletes in the world in their respective sports will be in the spotlight during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games — but before they get to Paris, they have to pack for Paris. So what are the things they can’t leave home without? SportsTravel has canvassed opinions from dozens of athletes between the Team USA Media Summit in mid-April in New York City and since then in multiple media opportunities. Here’s a rundown.

Kelsey Bing, field hockey: “I actually normally travel with a blanket because that is very heartwarming. I also love croissants, it’s my favorite thing ever. I have a croissant necklace on right now, I wore it to manifest qualifying. … We have a little team mascot, Edgar, an eagle. He attaches onto the side of our dugout.”

Olivia Chambers, para swimming: “I have this stuffed hippo since I was about six months old and I bring it everywhere with me. It helps me ease the nerves. Beyond that, making sure that I have extra sets of goggles and all my suits.”

Eli Dershwitz, fencing: “I’m a perennial over packer. If I need to get ready for a training camp or competition where I’m going to do nine workouts, I bring 18 pairs of workout equipment even if I can do laundry. I throw everything in an extra suitcase and I just prefer not to worry about it. … I have a bracelet of bottlecaps that my sister made me in middle school. I have a small bottle of hot sauce that my coach gave me when I was a little kid because I used to put hot sauce on everything. (It) never broke, I don’t know how going through all these airports and getting lost in all these rural countries. I would never open it up and use it, it’s probably disgusting by now. … There’s a little glass turtle, I really liked turtles growing up and I tried to catch them growing up near a lake. I would be very, very sad and I don’t know how much it would affect me but I am hoping that I never have to compete without it.”

Kate Douglass, swimming: “Definitely aside from all my swim gear, a lot of lotion and stuff. At a swim meet, that’s definitely important. Then me and my friends, we’ll probably bring some digital cameras to record everything.”

Crystal Dunn, soccer: “Headphones. A sleep mask now that I’m a mom. I need every bit of help to get my Z’s.”

Joshua Edwards, boxing: “My diffusers. I’m big on smells, I can’t be somewhere where it doesn’t smell good. If something stinks, I can’t concentrate. I change it up, I like more fruity scents than calm ones — those make my head hurt after a while.”

Megumi Field, artistic swimming: “I have this back massager that I cannot live without. I lay on it at night before I go to bed.”

Casey Kaufhold, archery: “I definitely want to bring a lot of my own snacks. I take my own food no matter what because you never know what the local grocery store has. They may not have your Goldfish or your Oreos. I’m a pretty light traveler, I’ve made it on international trips with just my equipment and a carry-on. I have some teammates who are like how do you pack in such a small little bag. They give you a duffel full of Nike stuff and a duffel full of Ralph Lauren stuff. Then I have my bow case, so I’m coming back with three pieces of luggage. I took a little roller carry-on last time and I was like I don’t know how I’m going to take all this stuff through the airport. I think this time around I’m going to try to just make it in a backpack.”

Jordan Larson, volleyball: “As I’ve gotten older, how to take care of my body with vitamins and recovery tools, how do I keep staying ahead of that. That’s huge for me. I would say there’s nothing crazy. I’ve traveled all over the world so I’m used to living on not a lot. If you can’t find it, you’ll figure it out.”

Lee Kiefer, fencing: “I try to stay adaptable. I’ve been in so many situations where I’ve gotten food poisoning, or I’ve missed my flight, so I kinda want to go into each competition being like (stuff) happens, that’s fine, we’re going to work with it. If I have something like (a list), I’m setting myself to be screwed over later.”

Rose Lavelle, soccer: “My kindle. I travel everywhere with it.”

Brody Malone, gymnastics: “I never travel without my pillow. I always sleep on my pillow. I did it once when I was little and slept terrible, didn’t do good at a competition and I was like all right I’m bringing my pillow from now on.”

Morelle McCane, boxing: “I always have a picture of my little brother. He passed away so I gotta take him with me. Everything else, I’ll figure it out.”

Grace Norman, para triathlon: “The first things I’m putting in my bag are my prosthetics. Everything else is replaceable – shoes, race kit, helmet, bike. Prosthetics aren’t.”

Brooke Raboutou, climbing: “My climbing gear, my shoes, harness, all of that. Ear buds for the plane, I love listening to music and that really grounds me and keep me in my space.”

Daniella Ramirez, artistic swimming: “My suits, my ID. I pack this meditation cushion in all my stuff so I can meditate in the morning and before I go to bed. Other than that, I can kinda deal. … This necklace, it’s Venezuela where my family is from. I never leave the house without it. It stays in my water bottle when I’m in the pool so that people don’t step on it and break it. It was a gift from someone who’s passed away now.”

Emily Sonnett, soccer: “My eye mask.”

Abby Tamer, field hockey: “When we went to Pan Ams that was a pretty similar experience (to Paris). We got Nike gear when you were there. I made sure I brought a little pillow; it reminds me of home. I’ll bring that for sure. I like to have a Michigan shirt that I sleep in because it’s super comfortable. … I’m going to bring a lot of food because I like to have my specific stuff before a game, so a good amount of my suitcase will be food.”

John Tolkien, soccer: “It’s gotta be cologne. I love all sorts of scents. I couldn’t do without it.”

The five locations across the United States that will host USA Artistic Swimming events in 2025 have been announced with events starting in the spring and extending through the fall.

The first event will be the Collegiate Championships from March 28–30 at Michael H. Jones Natatorium at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

“The Ann Arbor Sports Commission is thrilled to be partnering with University of Michigan’s Artistic Swimming Team to host the 2025 USA Artistic Swimming Collegiate Championship,” said Meaghan Hughes, director of the bureau. “Our commitment to this event will provide an exceptional athlete experience inside and outside of the pool.”

The next two events will be the National and Junior Championships and AWD Invitational from April 10–14 in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. The Youth Championship and 12U Invitational will be April 24–27 at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

After a break in the competition calendar, the 2025 Junior Olympics will be from June 28 through July 5 at the Arlington ISD Athletics Center & Natatorium in Arlington, Texas. “We look forward to showcasing both our phenomenal facilities and our legendary hospitality as we crown champions in Arlington, Texas,” said Matt Wilson, executive director of the Arlington Sports Commission. “Artistic swimming is a beautiful and unique sport that will add to the quality and depth of the Arlington sports portfolio.”

The final event on the calendar will be the Masters Championship from October 23–26 at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center in Overland Park, Kansas.

“The opportunity to host a National Governing Body as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee demonstrates our commitment to attracting an array athletic events to our community, further solidifying Overland Park as a premier destination for sports enthusiasts,” said Eric Olson, vice president of sports and events of Visit Overland Park. “We look forward to hosting the Masters Championship, along with the many athletes and spectators who will experience all Overland Park has to offer.”

Whether it be state-by-state laws that are divergent in nature, international federations putting out mandates that may not match a member country’s intrinsic values and all in the background of the pandemic-era reckoning about race and diversity throughout the United States, national governing bodies throughout the U.S. Olympic movement have a list of topics to debate and measures to enact beyond the mere goal of preparing athletes for this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

The idea of diversity, equity and inclusion in sports has been a years-long discussion. But as several NGBs are working on how to support athletes in the LGBTQ+ space and increase diversity in sport while also facing the potential of restrictions in site selections, oftentimes the discussion has become less about sport and more about politics.

Yet the end result, through programs that several NGBs are working on and have been for a long time, is more than merely DEI-driven initiatives.

“What we’re trying to do is break down those barriers — whether it’s financial barriers or perception of the sport — so that people can see themselves in the sport and stay in the sport because they have a positive experience,” said Jennie Trayes, USRowing chief community engagement officer.

“We just want more people to participate in sport,” said Suzy Sanchez, the senior manager of DEI and community programs for USA Cycling. “A positive outcome is a world where everyone has the opportunity to enjoy sport, to share in the community that sport provides and to build lifelong friendships and experiences.”

“At the basic level, being introduced to sport can make you a better human being, a more productive citizen,” added Shannon Jolly, USA Fencing’s senior manager of DEI and belonging. “It goes back to sport being a human right for everyone to just have access and how sport can help develop you as you continue to grow.”

Determined to Increase Access

Several NGBs have specific plans for DEI initiatives. Last fall, USA Artistic Swimming launched a training in partnership with Guardian Quest to empower members of the NGB’s community in the commitment to DEI by launching an official USA Artistic Swimming DEI Training and Certification. The training is open to all members of USA Artistic Swimming and beyond in the broader sports community.

“The goal is to have every member of the organization take the training and then beyond and go to their clubs to have a conversation about DEI knowing things they understand now that they didn’t understand before the training,” said USA Artistic Swimming Chief Executive Officer Adam Andrasko.

USA Fencing has started Fencing The Gap, which focuses on broadening access to the sport in BIPOC communities, providing young individuals with opportunities to discover and excel in fencing. USA Cycling has a full DEI section on its website that includes guiding principles, action plans and resources. US Rowing has launched the United We Row program, which will support organizations around the country, along with a general strategic plan and DEI-specific plan.

One of the overarching principles for the NGBs is making sure that as the country becomes more diverse, each organization does the same to make sure participation numbers can not only be maintained but potentially increased.

“Our CEO (Amanda Kraus) and myself both bring a sports-based development lens to this,” Trayes explained. “Everybody should have access to sport and the benefits that sport provide.”

It’s access that all national governing bodies are trying to increase, in part motivated by knowing the 2028 Summer Games and 2034 Winter Games are heading to the United States, meaning those who are young athletes exploring multiple sports could be potential Olympians even if that’s not the primary motivation.

“If we can get people from underserved communities into pools, they get connected to a healthy living lifestyle through aquatic exercise,” Andrasko explained. Then, maybe beyond that, “is getting tied into any one of our sports” whether it be artistic swimming, swimming and diving or water polo.

“The history of our country has forced underserved populations out of aquatic venues,” Andrasko said. But now, “they’re doing some really cool work in Hampton, Virginia — we hosted junior Olympics there and saw the underserved population using an aquatic venue at a very high level. We need more of that across the country. To their credit, Los Angeles Recreation and Parks and LA28, they are supporting underserved youth being connected to aquatic venues.

“It goes way beyond sports,” Andrasko continued. “In the artistic swimming community, there’s obviously a lack of diversity of in our sport. When we talk about what we can do in artistic, it’s identifying areas of the country that we have clubs and reach out to underserved populations that are diverse and being connected to it.”

Examining Site Selection

According to the American Psychological Association, “as of June 2023, the Equality Federation identified 72 bills introduced to ban transgender students from athletics consistent with their gender identity around the United States, up from 29 such bills introduced in 2022. As of November 2023, the Map Movement Project reported 24 states banned transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.”

As national governing bodies look to hold events throughout the country, having to examine a location’s policy is now part of the selection process if they have transgender athletes competing.

In November 2022, USA Fencing said it would give preference when selecting host cities for national tournaments to states without laws that harm members of LGBTQ communities as well as states that do not have laws undermining the reproductive health of women beginning with the 2023–2024 national tournament season. USA Fencing has adopted a new Transgender and Nonbinary Athlete Policy that will allow athletes to participate in USA Fencing-sanctioned events in a manner consistent with their gender identity/expression, regardless of the gender associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Jolly gave one example of having events in a state and understanding laws and bills that concern transgender athlete participation: “Maybe this was a deal that was already decided on four years ago and we couldn’t necessarily get out of it,” he said. “However, if you find yourself in those predicaments — which I have this past season — I was just more intentional with identifying those groups within the city … (and) identifying non-profit organizations who are willing to come and are willing to pass out information to say, you are welcome here, our group is dedicated to the LGBTQ community and this is a safe space for you. It just shows people that we are intentional and serious about what we say we want to do.”

It can be different for an NGB such as USA Cycling, which has only a handful of velodromes in the United States that it can have its events in “so we try to encourage partnership with either our local race directors or a national race directors and team to make sure that those communities are represented,” Sanchez said. “If it’s a youth event, we try to focus on youth LGBTQ+ organizations. Ultimately, we can’t control the laws that are in place in these states that we go to, but we can control what sort of culture we’re creating at that race site to ensure that people feel safe and seen.”

US Rowing can sometimes have the same issue with how it needs large bodies of water that can host tens of thousands of people, which through the site selection process can limit the options for having events organized. So when in a state that may have laws that do not resonate with the national governing body’s broader mission, targeted local outreach is needed.

“Being transparent has been key,” Trayes said. “We partner with local organizations or bring in our own trusted organizations, LGBTQ+ support organizations, anti-racism organizations, anti-bullying organizations. And those have been really popular and really meaningful.”

International Politics in Play

Those types of athlete participation issues go beyond placing events in the United States. NGBs also have to deal with the potential of having their elite athletes not being able to participate around the world based on what the international federation’s rules and policies may be.

The UCI recently changed its transgender athlete participation policy so that athletes can only compete in the gender they were assigned at birth “and that was a huge issue at USA Cycling because we represent all people and all people should have access to sport,” Sanchez said. After discussions within the NGB, while knowing there is no leeway within UCI events, “for our domestic level national championships and local race events, we have the USA Cycling trans athlete participation policy, which provides a pathway for transgender athletes who have transitioned post-puberty to be able to compete,” Sanchez said. “It really is important for NGBs or national federations to reflect on what their personal values are. And for me, it’s always going to come back to how everyone should have access to sport and that everyone means everyone, not just some of us.”

Communication with athletes is also top of mind in any issue whether it be site selection or international federation policies.

“We make it very clear that in our policy, we are on the side of inclusion, (and) if you want to join our national team and represent us internationally, these are (FIE) rules,” Jolly said. “So if you don’t comply with their rules, unfortunately, you can’t be on the team. But again, it’s still allowing people to know that you still have a place to compete here.”

Creating Safe Environments

Beyond athlete policies is making sure all involved, athletes and coaches, are able to compete internationally in a safe and supportive environment. At the World Rowing U19 World Rowing Championship in Paris last year, a coach of color was stopped from entering the course “while his white peers were permitted entry on two separate occasions,” US Rowing said in a statement. In the wake of that incident, US Rowing is working with World Rowing and their Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission “to cultivate an international competitive atmosphere that is universally welcoming, proactive, and unified in our response to difficult situations involving coaches or athletes that may arise.”

Each of the issues discussed or raised will continue to be a topic for governing bodies on any level — youth, amateur, collegiate, professional and Olympic. And as anyone who is in the sports industry knows, it’s also not a cut-and-dry issue. There are nuances, detailed discussions to be had and more than anything, it may require patience.

“Sport is a human right because it provides us with so many benefits,” said Sanchez, which is why she and many others in the NGB community continue to drive the conversation about DEI issues.

“We need leaders who understand what DEI is and its impact and what it takes to make an impact,” Jolly said. “It’s not one of those things where you see the immediate change in five months, which some people question. In order for it to continue to work and for people to see the benefits of it, you need that investment. And that takes leaders to invest in it.”

USA Artistic Swimming has hired Emily Burlison as its new events and membership director, charging her with organizing all National Championships hosted by the national governing body and managing the organization’s membership program.

“Artistic swimming is such a beautiful and unique sport and I look forward to getting to learn more about the sport and see everyone at our events,” Burlison said. “I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to get started.”

Burlison has been the operations and event coordinator at US Youth Soccer since February 2022, helping plan and execute all USYS competitions and events where she assisted with logistics such as event planning documents and timelines for all selected regional and national events.

Burlison also served as the International Events Assistant at USA Volleyball in 2019 and was a liaison between USA Volleyball and visiting national teams for FIVB Volleyball Nations League and Olympic Qualifiers.

Burlison graduated from the University of Oklahoma 2022 with a master’s in business administration and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama in sport and hospitality management. Her first official event will be the collegiate championships on March 21 alongside former Events and Membership Director Baylee Robinson.

Supporting the U.S. Olympic movement runs in the Belk family, which is known throughout the South for its department stores that anchor malls throughout the region.

Irwin Belk was a volunteer member of the United States Olympic Committee for more than four decades, receiving the Olympic Order in 2002 at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. By the time the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London rolled around, he was profiled by NBC as having “been to more Olympics than most anyone alive.”

To say the Olympic movement remains important to the Belk family is an understatement. Irwin’s grandson, Ike Belk, is working with David Koerner in establishing the U.S. Performance Center in Charlotte as one of the biggest facilitators of Olympic dreams.

“When David and I were kind of going over how we want to start our business and what our goals would be, we were sitting in a — I think it was a Starbucks parking lot actually — having a call with (former USOPC administrator) Alicia McConnell,” Belk said. “We wanted to be associated and a part of the journey of the Olympic dream. Dave and I are both athletes so we hold that to the higher standard and it’s an amazing thing, athletes in general and their journey of how they get to the Olympics.”

That idea led to the creation of the performance center. The venue opened in 2013, was designated as a Community Olympic Development Program by the USOC in 2015 and over the past few years has been used by more than a dozen national governing bodies, including becoming the National Training Center for USA Field Hockey and USA Taekwondo.

“It really comes down to giving the athletes the best opportunity to succeed and making their dream come true and going to the Olympics,” Belk said. “We try and take care of the athletes the best anyone can do. That is our main goal — athletes first and supporting them and in the organization.”

Going All-In at the USPC

USA Field Hockey first explored the idea of moving to the USPC in 2020, when it was looking for a new high-performance venue for the national teams. The NGB moved to Charlotte in 2021 and has its own purpose-built field that opened in September of this year.

“For the athletes to have a home base is pretty unique among national governing bodies,” USA Field Hockey Chief Executive Officer Simon Hoskins said. “To have their own home where they can train every day, we host competitions there as well, the athletes are really moved by having their own facility.”

Hoskins said the USPC also gives USA Field Hockey “substantial financial resources to allow us to bring in teams,” for exhibition matches, such as New Zealand at the end of this year, to further the NGB’s experience against other international teams.

“Ike and David absolutely believe in the Olympic movement,” Hoskins said, which helped convince him to make the case to his board of directors and other stakeholders that moving all USA Field Hockey operations to Charlotte was the best decision for the NGB. “These guys believe in the athletes so much. They really want to make this happen.

“Their vision is so big that it’s sometimes hard to get your head around it,” Hoskins added, only half-jokingly. “The number of times I heard it’s too good to be true as I was trying to go through it myself. … (but) it’s not too good to be true, we’re super happy about it.”

Within a year after USA Field Hockey moved operations to Charlotte, USA Taekwondo followed.

“The number of amazing services that are at their fingertips at all times — if there’s something that is not provided, they will make it happen,” Christy Strong Simmons said. “I talked to our CEO (Steve McNally) yesterday and he said it’s the best decision we’ve ever made on behalf of athletes by USA Taekwondo.”

Having the variety of high-performance services available to athletes is also a boost for smaller NGBs that traditionally would have had trouble economically to make those things possible.

“It’s really a very unique, almost collegiate-level training experience unique from anything else that’s going on in the country,” said Strong Simmons. “The services they provide are extensive — sport psychology, nutrition, doctors, they have this incredible state-of-the-art facility they’re training in. So much is being provided that an NGB like USA Taekwondo couldn’t help but give our athletes that opportunity because there’s no way on our own we could provide that to them.”

It’s those services precisely that Belk and Koerner were focusing on, spending many a trip in Colorado Springs over the years meeting with NGBs and finding out what was needed when they were in the planning process. The results that USA Field Hockey and USA Taekwondo have experienced has also helped in the selling process of why groups should move more operations to Charlotte.

“The success that they’re having and the setups that they have — and we keep building with them every day,” Belk said. “They’re almost a sales force for us back into the movement, it was really exciting to see Simon and Steve really promote us in a really positive light.”

From Football to Artistic Swimming

Even NGBs that are not at the USPC full-time have the opportunity for partnerships. The USPC is home to USA Football’s high-performance activities and will aid in the identification and development of current and future national team athletes. The USPC also hosted several USA Football events in 2023. USA Archery has opened a new high performance training center at the venue, which will serve as the home of the national elite program.

Even without a pool on site, USA Artistic Swimming athletes have benefited from the USPC.

“The opportunity that’s being presented by the U.S. Performance Center is very funding-focused,” said USAS Chief Executive Officer Adam Andrasko. “They’re pumping in value-in-kind services and true money to support NGBs in their execution and achievements. And you’re seeing that in the successes of what field hockey is doing and taekwondo is doing.

“They’re training athletes, they’re testing athletes, they’re helping athletes recover at a greater rate if we were doing it on our own. You’re seeing things from them that are a little unique, but the uniqueness is very much direct funding and really strong direct resources.”

It’s not only summer NGBs as well. USA Bobsled & Skeleton athletes use the venue, which is putting in a push facility for athletes to work on their starts in the offseason.

“It’s great to be surrounded by a lot of folks who have the same goal in mind, representing Team USA and supporting programs,” said USA Bobsled & Skeleton Chief Executive Officer Aron McGuire. “We’re limited to Lake Placid and Park City because of the tracks that are there. The Charlotte facility exposes us to a whole new demographic and geographic location for recruiting and providing another opportunity for athletes to train and get into sports.”

Boosting Charlotte’s Profile

There is an impact on the region as well with having athletes living in the Charlotte area. Several USA Field Hockey players work as assistant coaches for high school and developmental programs in addition to their training. USA Taekwondo has some staff still in Colorado Springs, while the high-performance staff and McNally are in Charlotte.

“It was a lot of coordination to try and get everybody there,” Strong Simmons said. “Some people had homes they had to sell and homes they had to buy. We had a good concentration of athletes in Colorado Springs … In the end everybody agreed that it looked like a really good opportunity and it’s turned out to be an excellent opportunity.”

Belk said he believes around 140,000 room nights were booked last year from events at the USPC. “Having them entrenched into the community is huge for inspiring the next athletes that are coming up trying to be Olympians themselves, knowing that there’s an Olympic athlete that lives in my community and they’re the best players in the world just living right here,” he said.

There are 17 NGBs who use the complex “but that number could go up,” Belk said. For many of the NGBs who use the complex, one theme has emerged: The thinking that it was almost too good to be true, but turning out to be even more than they would have imagined.

“We’re here to be an asset and let everyone know North Carolina can be a home base and be a great place and a platform for athletes to thrive off of,” Belk said, hinting that when it comes to the future, “I definitely have further aspirations — (but) I don’t know if I can say that now.”

The 2023 Pan American Games will feature 6,800 athletes from 41 countries, including 631 athletes from the United States. And for those 631 Americans, the October 20–November 5 event in Santiago, Chile, will take on different meanings.

For USA Boxing and USA Taekwondo, the Pan Am Games serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris. For others such as USA Artistic Swimming, this is a huge opportunity to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 16 years. And for others, including USA Water Ski and Wake Sports, this may well be the last time they compete at a multi-sport international competition.

No matter the level of funding or national attention, each NGB competing in Chile is hoping the hard work pays off on an international scale. And all 43 of the teams from the United States in Santiago feel the pressure that the Pan Am Games bring.

“November 3 is the most important day of my entire career,” said Adam Andrasko, chief executive officer of USA Artistic Swimming, which looks to qualify for its first Olympics since 2008 and can do so at the Pan Am Games. “I wrote a note to my staff on October 3 — one month before the Pan Am Games end — and said ‘I hope that you’re imagining the greatest feeling of your entire life in this moment, because for four and a half years we’ve been working on something that I don’t think many people thought could happen.’ ”

USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Executive Director Nate Boudreaux knows his sport won’t be in the Olympics next summer. And there’s a good chance this will be the last Pan Am Games for his and several other NGBs, as the Pan Am Games are rumored to be moving to a new program to mirror the Olympic program starting in 2027.

“With us not being an Olympic sport, every four years the Pan Am Games is the pinnacle for our elite athletes to represent the U.S. in a multi-sport games,” Boudreaux said. “Every four years is super important, and this one in particular is, given the possibilities of our sport maybe not being in the Pan Am Games moving forward. It could be the culmination of the last one. Our athletes know that. So they’re taking a lot of pride in a sense that they could be the last water ski team to represent the U.S.”

Boxing’s Olympic future is on pause ahead of LA28 but the sport will be in Paris next summer. For USA Boxing, which earlier this year left the IBA to join the newly formed World Boxing, the 2023 Pan Am Games mark the first time in history it can use the event as a qualifier for the Olympics. Boxers in the 11 men’s weight classes must finish top 2 in their class to advance to Paris and the two female weight classes must finish top 4 to qualify.

“Pan Ams have never been a qualifier for us, so the fact that this is the first time just makes it a little bit extra special,” said USA Boxing Communications and Digital Manager Brian Taylor. “It’s a huge opportunity because it’s competing against just the Americas, which makes it the best opportunity to qualify before the world qualifiers.”

Making Santiago Count

USA Artistic Swimming improved its program over the past four years and has put all its eggs into the Pan Am Games. The team must finish in first place to qualify for Paris. If it doesn’t, the team then must place in the top five at the World Championships.

“There are some other sports that have a strong emphasis on these Games, like field hockey for example. But we’re in the 16-year drought and this is our best chance to qualify,” Andrasko said. “I think we have the most to gain and maybe even the most to lose. But we will have the biggest celebration of any sport on November 3, if it all comes to fruition.”

Sports such as taekwondo and boxing don’t have as much pressure on them as artistic swimming when it comes to Olympic qualification, but that doesn’t mean the Pan Am Games experience is taken lightly. Taekwondo will have a place at both the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games and Christy Strong Simmons, managing director of events and member programs for USA Taekwondo, is excited for her athletes to compete in Chile.

“We have 12 athletes competing in Santiago and these are all really high-level athletes,” she said. “It gives them the opportunity to come up against opponents that, if they qualify to the (Olympic) Games, they may face again. It’s also a multi-sport event, so you get to create relationships with athletes from other sports.”

For his part, Taylor likes the idea of the American boxers getting international competition ahead of the Games in Paris.

“Our coaches always say the Pan Ams are kind of like a mini-Olympics,” he said. “In a lot of cases, it’s the first time our athletes are exposed to a multi-sport event. It’s a pressure situation, but obviously not as much pressure as the Olympic Games. It’s almost like a test event before the Olympics and it gives that exposure and the opportunity to see what it’s like.”

It’s not as rosy an outlook for USA Water Ski & Wake. Boudreaux laments the fact that his athletes likely won’t be able to share in the team camaraderie of an event like the Pan Am Games after 2023.

“Representing the U.S. in a multi-sport Games, that’s what makes the Pan Am Games so important,” he said. “Walking out for the opening ceremonies, our athletes are side by side with these other sports that they see in the Olympics and it just makes us feel included. I know the athletes take a lot of pride in that.”

Financial Facets

The Pan Am Games are also a big money event in exposure for athletes and teams that can lead to sponsorships and notoriety around the United States and the world.

“If we become an Olympic team eight months ahead of the Olympic Games, now we get to start talking about it, promoting it, selling our athletes as future Olympians,” Andrasko said. “And then that comes with more notoriety from potential sponsors, potential donors. It can help drive membership and bring in more fans. Social media click rates go up — all the things that make money these days. That’s the business model that you have to strive toward.”

From a media and communications standpoint, Taylor sees benefits for both the individual athletes and the overall organization if USA Boxing is able to send a full squad to Paris.

“It’s a huge opportunity to have that extended time to be able to tell their story, to be able to get the sponsors,” Taylor said. “It’s the opportunity to get their faces out there and have six or seven months to market these athletes because they have qualified. There’s a big difference in saying somebody is an Olympic hopeful and an Olympian.”

While some sports use the Pan Am Games to build their brand, a lot of smaller NGBs need the spotlight the event provides to get eyeballs on their sports to generate more fans and sponsor dollars.

“The exposure is really big for the athletes. They’re side-by-side with gymnasts and basketball players and all the other higher profile sports,” Boudreaux said. “We don’t get any high-performance funding from the USOPC. We do get some administrative funding to help with the overall business operations of the sport, so that’s all beneficial. If that funding were to go away, our sport would still be fine. We would just have to move some things around on the budget in order to continue to do what we’re doing.”

The Times Are Changing

Rumors are swirling around the NGB community that starting with the 2027 Pan Am Games in Colombia, the event will have a sports program that mirrors the Olympic Summer Games. Should those reports be confirmed, the following sports would be left out of the 2027 Pan Am Games: bowling, dressage, racquetball, artistic roller skating, inline speed skating and water skiing/wakeboarding.

For those who have relied on the Pan Am Games as a showcase event, the change would be a huge blow. It is a painful subject for Boudreaux, who became somewhat emotional while discussing the future of his NGB. It’s compounded by the fact that he will be leaving the organization to work for Drum Corps International at the conclusion of this year’s Pan Am Games.

“It would be disappointing if we were to move off the Pan Am program; not only for the financial reasons, but we would lose a very high-profile opportunity for our athletes and sport,” Boudreaux said. “Everybody tries really hard to advance their sport. We want as many eyeballs on our sport as possible. And this is just one additional roadblock that we have to maneuver around. So, it’s not the end of water skiing competitively around the world, it’s just another minor roadblock.”

Andrasko acknowledges the hurt for those left out. He points out that it’s happening at the Olympic level right now with breaking and sport climbing being introduced in Paris at the expense of baseball and softball and karate, which were at the Games in Tokyo.

“I will commiserate with some of my smaller NGB counterparts because if you take away the Olympic Games or, in this case, the Pan Am Games, it hurts their fanbase,” Andrasko said. “What you’re seeing is an evolution of sport and the IOC moving toward sports that drive viewership and fandom and that are exciting and entertaining. So some sports are going to be replaced and I won’t say by a “better” sport, but maybe by a sport that’s more exciting.”

Boxing seemingly appears to be safe for the LA28 docket, but has yet to be confirmed after IOC President Thomas Bach stated earlier this year that a move away from the IBA would secure the sport’s future.

“While we’re not officially on the program for LA28 yet, I think we’re all pretty confident we’ll be there,” Taylor said. “We are very focused right now on Paris, but then we’re also focused on L.A. and getting that confirmation that we’re in there. I think once we get that confirmation, we’ll breathe a little bit easier.”

Taekwondo is safe for 2028 and Simmons is excited for her athletes to experience the Pan Am Games as they prepare for the Olympics.

“It’s always been a high priority for USA Taekwondo to be at that event and be representing the United States,” Simmons said of the Pan Am Games. “You only find (that village experience) at the Games or at this event. I’ve talked to athletes who have gone through the Olympic Games and Pan Am Games and they talk about the relationships that started there and still exist after they’re done competing.”

The TEAMS Conference & Expo was held October 2–5 in the Palm Beaches of Florida and featured a mix of education, business development and networking for the sports-events industry. The event also featured the co-location of programming from the U.S. Olympic & Paralymic Committee, the National Congress of State Games and others.

The following is a roundup of observations from several industry leaders who took part in the conference.

Olympic and Paralympic Programming

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s annual Olympic and Paralympic Sportslink and National Governing Body Best Practices Seminar, which has been held in conjunction with TEAMS since 2018, is an annual opportunity for the organizations that make up the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements to network with destinations, venues and event suppliers interested in hosting sports-related events.

Both Sportlink and the NGB Best Practices Seminar are scheduled so that Olympic and Paralympic sports organizations can participate fully in the TEAMS Conference & Expo. While the NGB Best Practices Seminar is open only to the executive leadership of the NGB’s that support Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United States, Sportslink programming is open to all TEAMS Conference attendees.

“I tell everybody I know that I’m built for this — this is what gives me energy and excitement,” said USA Artistic Swimming Chief Executive Officer Adam Andrasko. “I get to meet with my counterparts and talk to them about what they’re doing right or doing wrong. I get to meet with the cities that have either hosted or want to host us and give them the energy, the fire, the excitement that I have for artistic swimming.”

The information sharing for NGBs also has proven key for professionals at all levels.

“We all go through the same issues a lot of times,” USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Executive Director Nate Boudreaux said. “We trade information back and forth on how you navigate this and how you navigate that. Just the fact that you’re able to sit in the same room with your counterparts from all the different sports is uber beneficial.”

“It’s just a great benefit to really bounce ideas from a completely different world,” added USA Boxing Communications and Digital Manager Brian Taylor. “We’re boxing, which is a niche sport, and we’re completely different from others. But hearing from field hockey or swimming and other NGBs, it gets you thinking about how to improve what you’re doing. I always learn something and meet new people. It’s just great networking.”

And while the U.S. Olympic movement is known for being concentrated mostly in Colorado Springs or Indianapolis, that does not mean there are daily interactions between organizations.

“(The week is) great because we are all busy,” said Christy Strong Simmons, managing director of events and member programs at USA Taekwondo. “Coming together at a conference, we’re pulling each other aside and asking ‘Have you been to this city? What was this city like? Do you want to try and do something together?’ Those things are all happening out on the marketplace floor, then we can go have a drink together at night and catch up on the rest of our lives.”

Event of a Lifetime

Even though it was more than a month ago when 92,003 people packed Memorial Stadium to watch fourth-ranked Nebraska volleyball sweep in-state rival Omaha, recalling the live experience was still giving Derek Bombeck chills.

“It was the most incredible sports moment of my life, to be honest,” said the director of sports for Visit Lincoln. “The night turned out so perfect and then the way the University of Nebraska portrayed the event, the drone show they did, the videos, the flyovers, they treated it was bigger than a Nebraska football game and that day, it was bigger.”

The primetime event surpassed the previous world record crowd for a women’s sporting event of 91,648 fans, which came during a 2022 soccer match between Barcelona and Wolfsburg.

“It was great for Lincoln, the state of Nebraska and Sports Nebraska,” said Bombeck, who was able to sit near the court and chatted up several dignitaries at the event with the legacy of the event still unfolding.

“It was on ESPN nonstop, it was on every podcast, every show imaginable,” Bombeck said. “USA Volleyball is reaching out to us, the FIVB (international federation) right after that event said ‘we think you might be perfect for an international competition because of how popular the sport is.’ We don’t even know what the ROI is going to be for that one event, but it’s going to be long-lasting.”

Going Off the Beaten Path

Non-traditional events in cycling and triathlon have continued to become more popular over the past few years.

Gravel racing has been a boost for small destinations that are interested in hosting national and international events. USA Cycling held its inaugural Gravel National Championships in Gering, Nebraska, on September 9, on the heels of USA Triathlon holding a Gravel Triathlon Series in 2022.

“People are starting to get off of the roads and get onto the trails or dirt roads,” said Micah Rice, vice president of event strategy and operations for Sports Strategies, a consultancy firm. “Why run through a sidewalk in town when you can get out on an amazing trail and see things and climb mountains?”

For both cycling and running, technology advances have bolstered participation in non-traditional events.

“If you wanted to ride out on a gravel road in the ‘90s, you did it on your road bike or your mountain bike,” Rice said. “But the tire technology as well as just frames that take bumps out of the trail a bit has made it a lot more fun to ride gravel roads than it was 10 or 20 years ago. (And) we’re seeing these super shoes evolve, look at much different a Hoka trail running shoe looks compared to 10 or 20 years ago.”