"It's great to have Betsy Alison, an athlete of such high caliber, working with the members of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team," said Dean Brenner, Chairman of U.S. SAILING's Olympic Sailing Committee which manages the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team. "Our disabled athletes have been achieving great results in major international competitions and we look forward to continuing these successes as Betsy expands her responsibilities."

Alison now officially joins a staff of three elite sailing coaches employed full-time by U.S. SAILING: High Performance Director and U.S. Sailing Team Head Coach Gary Bodie, as well as U.S. Sailing Team Coaches Luther Carpenter and Skip Whyte.

Created in 1998 to develop and prepare the Team representing the U.S. at the Paralympic Games, the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team annually recognizes the top three competitors in the three classes selected for the Paralympic Games: 2.4 Metre (Open Singlehanded), UD18 (Open Doublehanded) and Sonar (Open Triplehanded). Sponsors of the U.S. Disabled Sailing Team are Rolex Watch U.S.A., Vanguard Sailboats, Nautica, Zodiac of North America, Gill, Vineyard Vines, Sperry Top-Sider, Nikon, Harken, New England Ropes, Extrasport, and Team McLube.

The United States Sailing Association (U.S. Sailing) is the national governing body for sailing and sailboat racing. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, the organization's mission is to encourage participation and promote excellence in sailing and racing in the U.S. U.S. Sailing offers training and education programs, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country, including the U.S. Sailing Teams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Teams. For more information, please visit www.ussailing.org.