(MAY 7) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –
In an effort to ensure American boxers have access to the very
best training and support in the world in advance of the 2012
Olympic Games in London, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), USA
Boxing and Freddie Roach Training, Inc. have formed a unique
partnership which will give America’s elite amateur boxers
access to the world class services of Freddie Roach and his Wild
Card Boxing Club, a USA Boxing registered club since 1997.
“I’d like to thank Freddie and his team for their willingness to
help our boxers achieve their highest potential,” said USOC CEO
Scott Blackmun. “I’m thrilled that we were able to make this
happen and can’t wait to see the results.”
A former amateur and professional boxer himself and one of the
most sought after trainers in the world, Roach has been training
elite boxers for more than 20 years and has been in the corner
of 17 World Champions at the professional level. Roach has also
been honored as Trainer of the Year in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009
and 2010 by the Boxing Writers Association of America and has
been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, the New
England Boxing Hall of Fame, and most recently the California
Boxing Hall of Fame.
“An Olympic medal is one of the
greatest accomplishments in all of sport, and I promise to do
all I can to ensure that these young men and women are fully
prepared to go to London to proudly represent our country,” said
Roach. “A special thanks to USA Boxing and the USOC for
supporting this initiative and Casey Wasserman and Nick Khan for
helping to put this together. This partnership is an exciting
new chapter in my career and I can’t wait to get started.”
The program being instituted by this new partnership is designed
to act as a resource for up to ten medal-potential athletes to
attend multi-day training sessions at the Wild Card Gym with
their personal coaches and USA Boxing's National Coach Joe
Zanders. These sessions will be established under the leadership
of Freddie Roach and his staff and will be used to help provide
feedback and strategy on the athletes’ preparation for the
Olympic Games. The USOC will support this program as an add-on
to the 2011-12 approved high performance plan with the intent of
providing a unique and valuable resource for the designated
athletes as a supplement to the existing coaching structure.
"President Harold Adonis and the USA Boxing board of directors
fully support and thank the USOC and Scott Blackmun for
facilitating these efforts as well as Freddie Roach for the
generous gift of his time," said USA Boxing Executive Director
Anthony Bartkowski. "The addition of Freddie Roach to the USA
Boxing High Performance and National Coaching structure is an
innovative concept that will aid in our mission of winning
Olympic medals. Freddie’s extensive expertise will augment our
high performance and training plans, and we look forward to
working with him to build international success in London and
beyond."
USA Boxing has identified the lack of integration of its
athletes' personal coaches into past training plans as a key
weakness in the organization's major event preparation. The
inclusion of the U.S. medal hopefuls' own coaches in Freddie
Roach's training sessions will be a critical component. These
unique training opportunities will provide USA Boxing's
grassroots coaches with innovative training plans and tips they
can take to their local gyms and share with additional athletes
and fellow local coaches.
Roach's work with USA Boxing will begin later this month as he
joins USA Boxing's coaching team at a High Performance retreat
at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
and will continue at additional key events throughout the
summer. As women's boxing will make its Olympic debut at the
2012 Olympic Games in London, Roach will be working with top
medal hopefuls on both the men's and women's side during his
training sessions at the Wild Card Boxing Club.
Photo: Facebook - Retired
Boxers Foundation
