As we look to the future, our community of partners – National Governing Bodies (NGBs), collegiate programs, coaches and other stakeholders – are all working to grow and sustain Team USA’s talent pipeline, while also creating more inclusive and universal access to sport.
Supporting the Next Generation of Athletes
At the USOPC, we aim to inspire generation after generation of athletes. We work with NGBs and other strategic partners to increase access, participation and support of Olympic and Paralympic sport opportunities.
In 2022, we signed a strengthened Olympic and Paralympic Sport Cooperation Agreement with the NCAA to pilot new collaborative efforts and keep Olympic and Paralympic sport programs strong at the collegiate level. Through the agreement, we are focusing on three areas: Olympic sport management pilots, a Paralympic sport project and joint promotion.
- Getty Images
- Getty Images
85
Olympians who competed in college athletics
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17
Paralympians who competed in college athletics
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54
schools represented
To engage schools with adaptive sport and increase Paralympic sport understanding, awareness and connection across the collegiate landscape, we launched the USOPC/NCAA Para-College Inclusion Project in partnership with the NCAA Office of Inclusion. Through the project, teams crafted recommendations related to wheelchair basketball inclusion, Paralympic track and field pathway development, wheelchair tennis integration and Paralympic sport awareness. As we look ahead, we plan to activate innovative, first-of-their-kind Paralympic advancements.
Competing on campus helps Team USA student-athletes and athletes around the globe grow not just as athletes, but as people. Their tenacity and dedication can lead them to the world’s stage, where they become leaders who command the world’s attention.
As part of our longstanding commitment to grow the next generation of athletes, we unveiled our inaugural Team USA Collegiate Impact Award recipients for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, an honor awarded to top-performing schools representing Team USA at the Games.
- Melissa Macatee
