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News
Anaheim a step closer to expanding Olympic volleyball training center
Deal would move training base for U.S. national women’s team from Colorado Springs to Orange County.
By Scott M. Reid, The Orange County Register
March 10, 2009
ANAHEIM — Eugene, Ore., has been known for decades as Tracktown USA.
Detroit bills itself as Hockeytown.
And Anaheim on Tuesday night took another major step toward establishing itself as the nation’s volleyball capital.
The Anaheim City Council voted unanimously to begin negotiations with USA Volleyball, the sport’s national governing body, on a deal that would move the Olympic silver medal-winning U.S. national women’s team’s training base from Colorado Springs to Orange County.
Under the move, which is expected to be approved by both sides in the next few weeks, Anaheim’s contract with the U.S. men’s program would expanded to include the women’s team and would also be extended through the 2016 Olympic Games.
“This is a great opportunity for the city to really be at the epicenter of volleyball in the U.S. and the world,” Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle said.
Anaheim, already home to the reigning Olympic men’s volleyball champions, will provide up to $451,000 in financial support annually as part of the deal. Anaheim businesses will also provide team players and staff with housing assistance, meals and other support.
The move gives Anaheim a high profile internationally during the Olympic Games.
“You took a risk on us,” new U.S. women’s head coach Hugh McCutcheon told the council Tuesday, “and I think we gave you back a pretty good return.”
Last summer in Beijing, McCutcheon coached the surprising Anaheim-based U.S. men to their first Olympic title in 20 years.
The deal allows USA Volleyball to bring its two national teams together at the same site while also placing the women’s team on equal footing with its international rivals. The women’s team will join the men’s program in training at the American Sports Center, the largest indoor court facility in the nation with 22 volleyball courts. The women’s team is scheduled to begin training in mid-April with European-based players joining the team in May.
For years both U.S. men’s and women’s players and coaches have maintained that training in the high altitude of Colorado Springs put them at a disadvantage in international competition. A volleyball travels at a significantly different rate of speed at altitude than at or near sea level, where most major international tournaments including the Olympics are contested.
“We’ve been having to play catch up every time we go to a tournament at sea level,” veteran U.S. women’s player Stacy Sykora said.
McCutcheon said the U.S. men’s program 2006 move from Colorado to Anaheim was a major factor in Team USA’s triumph in Beijing.
But the move also places the women’s program in the nation’s volleyball hot bed.
“I’m elated,” U.S. player Nicole Davis said. “Relieved is not the right word. Quality of life is another huge factor. (Orange) county is buzzing about volleyball and that never really existed in Colorado.”