Thursday, December 17, 2009

Goodbye Colorado Springs OTC! :-(

Hey Everyone!

My name is Brenna Davis and I intern in the International Relations Department in Colorado Springs. It’s hard to believe, but this is the final week of my internship and I’ll be headed home to Philadelphia in a few days. As I sit here thinking about the past three and half months interning for the USOC, I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have had this opportunity and it has been one of t
he best experiences of my life. It’s a little challenging to summarize how amazing everything has been, but I will do my best!

My internship itself included working on events involving international athletes, coaches and National Olympic Committee members. I coordinated logistics for these events before they took place and assisted with their implementation as well. One of the biggest projects I worked on was a coaching enrichment program for coaches from 27 different countries around the world. It was great to learn about all the different cultures and show them around Colorado. We went to Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods and even a Denver Nuggets game. The USOC is such a unique place to work. Everyone is very knowledgeable and passionate about what they do and the hard work and dedication of the athletes is truly inspiring.

This whole experience wouldn’t be nearly as awesome as it was
if it weren’t for all of the other interns. I can honestly say that I have made some really great friends and it is already proving to be difficult to say goodbye to everyone as they have begun trickling home in this last week. It was definitely a bit like reliving freshman year of college at times since we lived in a dorm, but living together really gave us a chance to get to know each other well. We did so many fun things together throughout the semester. Some of my all time favorite highlights would have to be hiking the Incline, the Intern Olympics and learning sports from Olympic athletes, celebrating Halloween, visiting Denver, Thanksgiving at Breckenridge, skiing at Keystone (first time skiing out west!) and going to various sporting events at the Air Force Academy. Colorado Springs has also been a great city to live in and it’s extremely different from what I’m used to. We all enjoyed spending time downtown and admiring the beautiful views of Pike’s Peak.


I can’t imagine this internship being any better than it was and I am so grateful for every minute of it. Thank you to everyone who made this experience so great, I will miss you all! To future interns, I hope you guys have as much fun as I did and enjoy everything the USOC and Colorado have to offer!

Brenna

Monday, December 7, 2009

Near the end...

My name is Jake Billadeau, Strength and Conditioning intern at the Colorado Springs OTC. I have made my way here from a place far far away which is known as Fort Collins, Colorado. This internship is the final component to my undergraduate degree at Colorado State University (We’re the Rams, not the Buffs). Although it would have been nice to venture away from Colorado for a semester, I honestly could not imagine a better place to finish my education. I say this not only because of the ridiculous amount that I have learned from the OTC strength staff, but the people that I have met, and the things that I have done.



The Strength and Conditioning department’s mission is to support United States Olympic and Paralympic athletes in achieving sustained competitive excellence and preserve the Olympic ideals, and thereby inspire all Americans. Therefore, my duty is to create an environment that provides an athlete with the opportunity to achieve optimal physical athleticism. My responsibilities here are to help the athletes and to assist the support staff. Each day has been an opportunity to assist with program design and implementation, lifting technique, spotting, etc. I was told that the knowledge and ability that I will walk away with after this experience will be based on what I put into it. That being said, I made sure to do all that I could that will further prepare me for career with athletes.

I have met some amazing people during my time in Colorado Springs as well. My co-workers are incredibly knowledgeable, passionate about their work, and fun to be around. The athletes that I work with are some of the hardest working, self-motivated individuals that I have ever had the privilege of working with. The other USOC interns are the people that I spend majority of my free time with. Living amongst all the USOC interns has been comparable to my freshman year of college, except more enjoyable. It’s hard to think that we have done all that we have while working full time. So far we have hiked Pike’s Peak, traveled to Denver and Breckenridge, regularly embrace downtown Colorado Springs with our presence, and I have recently returned from a nice, relaxing, and quiet trip to Las Vegas (To name a few anyway). Being around one another for as long as we have has created friendships that I am sure will continue to last after we finish here at the USOC.


I could not imagine a better place to finish my college career, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do what I am doing with the people that I am with…except Andy. DE DERP DER DERBS!

Jake

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Happy Holidays!


Happy Holidays from Colorado Springs! My name is Megan Coffey and I am an intern in the broadcast department. I must say that I am one of the lucky ones because I love my department, the people I work with, and the work that I do. This is my 4th (yes count it, 4th internship!) and one of my favorites because I have been able to learn and participate in so much already. Our department every week edits together the Amazing Moments and Going for the Gold that are featured on our website, TeamUSA.org. We also work directly with other departments and NGB's on any videos that they may need for upcoming events and conferences to help build the Olympic Spirit. We are also in charge of any and all Olympic footage and the rights that go with using the footage. Our department is always busy, whether it is putting together videos for the web or making dub reels for another company on footage that they requested. It really is a fun job because there is so much opportunity to be creative and with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver there is so much to do!

We are just about to wrap up our last few weeks as fall interns at the USOC and it is getting real sad. We have spent the last 3 months eating together, working together, living together, and basically exploring Colorado together. Thanksgiving just passed and about 19 of us interns who did not go home for the holidays all pitched in and rented a cabin in Breckenridge for 4 days. It was one amazing trip! We made sure to cook a legit (well, as legit as you can get) thanksgiving dinner for us to enjoy that included a turkey, 2 full chickens, homemade stuffing, hasbrown casserole, corn, green bean casserole, chicken and dumplings, bread, pumpkin pie... you name it, we almost had it! It took us all night Wednesday night and literally all day to cook and prepare all the food - especially since none of us had ever cooked at a high altitude (we were 10,000 ft high!) and everything takes longer to cook.But I must make a mad props to my roomate Emily who not only planned the entire trip but the food menu as well. She ran that kitchen like a true chef and everything went so smoothly, we had all the food ready by 5:30.




It was a wonderful thanksgiving meal shared by all fellow interns. And we are proud to say we are the first class to ever go on a thanksgiving trip together!
Since it is getting into the BRRRRRRRRR cold and snowy-like season, most of the interns have been planning as many ski and snowboarding trips as they can. Being from Chicago and the "flatlands" as they call it, I don't get a beautiful scenic view like the mountains everyday. And boy is it beautiful! I still wake up in awe when i look out my window and see the snow-capped Pikes Peak straight ahead. I can at least say I am trying as much as I can out here since I normally did not do many outdoor activities back at home. Everyone here has been great as well in doing the activities together and making fun group outings out of it.



Coming out here has been one of the best experiences and I hope the next intern classes to come can experience everything that we have been able to.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
Megan