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O'Neill Wins 2006 USOC Paralympic Coach of the Year Award
Top coaches, athletes of 2006 honored at Washington, D.C. luncheon
// USOC Media Services
// May 3, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) presented its 2006 Coach of the Year honorees at a luncheon held today in collaboration with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.
The USOC also presented awards to the 2006 SportsMan, SportsWoman, Paralympian, and Team of the Year honorees.
Swimming was in the spotlight for the two Paralympic awards, as Julie O'Neill (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was named USOC Paralympic Coach of the Year, while Jessica Long (Baltimore, Md.) received her USOC Paralympian of the Year award, which had previously been announced.
O’Neill, head coach of the 2006 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Team, led the U.S. team that won the overall medal count at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Durban, South Africa. It was the first time the U.S. had won the medal count at an IPC World Championships or Paralympic Games in the sport of swimming. Twenty of the 25 athletes on the roster finished with at least one medal, and three of the five who did not medal had at least one fourth-place finish.
The other finalists for Paralympic Coach of the Year were James Gumbert (wheelchair rugby/Austin, Texas) and Ron Lykins (wheelchair basketball/Stillwater, Minn.).
Long played a major role in helping O'Neill build that medal count in Durban, winning gold medals in all nine events (seven individual, two relay) she competed in and setting five world records (100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m IM, 400m freestyle and freestyle relay). The World Championships capped off a year for Long that included 11 other world record-setting times, including three at the 2006 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships in August. She is Swimming World’s 2006 Disabled Swimmer of the Year and was named a finalist for the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Sportswoman of the Year. She was recently awarded the AAU James Sullivan Award as the nation’s premier amateur athlete.
Other honorees announced today for 2006 Coach of the Year are National Coach of the Year Bud Keene (U.S. Ski and Snowboard/Stowe, Vt.), Developmental Coach of the Year Mark Mitchell and Peter Johansson (U.S. Figure Skating/Wellesley, Mass.), Volunteer Coach of the Year Booker Woods (USA Track & Field/Los Angeles, Calif.) and “Doc” Counsilman award winner Kat Arbour (U.S. Figure Skating/Philadelphia, Pa.).
National Coach of the Year
Keene has been the head coach of the U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe program since 2003 and has continued to build on the success and domination that U.S. riders established during the 2002 Olympic Games. Under his direction, U.S. Snowboarders captured four of the six possible medals at the 2006 Olympic Games including two gold and silver medals. Two other U.S. riders both finished in fourth place.
Developmental Coach of the Year
Mitchell and Johansson currently coach at the Skating Club of Boston in Brighton, Mass. They have been coaching together as a team for the past 11 years. Johansson was a four-time Swedish champion, a four-time World competitor, and competed at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. Mitchell was a United States junior champion, U.S. Olympic Festival champion, and twice a member of the U.S. World Team. In 1995, the two joined forces and began to rebuild the skating program at the Skating Club of Boston. Since that time, they have coached 34 national-level skaters to 21 national medals and 13 international skaters to 22 international medals.
Volunteer Coach of the Year
Woods has 34 years of volunteer coaching for USA Track & Field and Cross Country, and has produced 104 national champions. During that time, his Los Angeles Jets club team has set 23 national records. In 2006, Woods coached five athletes to wins at USA Track & Field Regional Championships, and 43 of his athletes qualified for the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Championships in Baltimore, Md. In addition to pursuing success on the track, Booker’s program motivates children and adolescents to perform well in the classroom and be productive citizens. He encourages parents to be involved in the children’s academics, sports, and spirituality.
“Doc” Counsilman Award
The “Doc” Counsilman award recognizes a coach who has created innovative ways to use sports science.
Arbour is a rated figure skating coach through the Professional Skaters Association (PSA), a licensed physical therapist, a certified personal trainer and off-ice strength and conditioning coach, and a current PhD candidate in biomechanics and movement science. She is able to bring a level of knowledge to working with figure skaters which few coaches possess. Currently, Arbour is using sports science in her coaching to help skaters acquire the ability to skate their programs at their best, identify injuries early to minimize the interruption to training, and to educate skaters parents and other coaches. Although Arbour is not the head coach of any athletes, the number of elite athletes with whom she works with including Kimmie Meissner speaks volumes for her ability as a coach and her expertise in off-ice conditioning and injury prevention.
2006 SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team Honorees
Announced in January 2007, the honorees for the 2006 USOC athlete awards are SportsMan of the Year Joey Cheek (long track speedskating/Greensboro, N.C), SportsWoman of the Year Hannah Teter (snowboarding/Belmont, Vt.) and Team of the Year the U.S. Men’s Curling Team. The curling team comprises members Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm, Minn.), Joe Polo (Cass Lake, Minn.), John Shuster (Chisholm, Minn.) and Scott Baird (Bemidji, Minn.).
Cheek won the gold medal in the 500-meter individual long track in Torino, with the largest margin of victory in more than 50 years, and the silver medal in the 1000-meter individual long track events. During the Games in Torino, Cheek announced that he was giving $40,000 in winnings to Right to Play for a refugee effort for children in Darfur, Sudan. His philanthropy brought him national respect and recognition throughout 2006. To date he has been honored as U.S. Speedskating’s Athlete of the Year, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and one of Ten Young Outstanding Americans presented by the Jaycees. He also won the 2006 Olympic Spirit Award Delivered by DHL and National Sportsmanship Award, along with being named as the first recipient of the Heisman Humanitarian Award.
Teter won the gold medal in the halfpipe in Torino. Her gold-medal run included a frontside 540 melon, method air, frontside 900 stalefish, indy air, frontside 360 with a frontside grab and a switch Cab 540 stalefish. In 2006 on her way to Torino, Teter also won two Grand Prix contests and took second at another; the Grand Prix is the premier snowboard competition series in the nation. She also won the 2006 World Cup. In only four years as a professional, Teter has won every major halfpipe competition in the world with the exception of the U.S. Open.
The U.S. Men’s Curling Team slid into the spotlight during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games with its best finish ever, securing the bronze medal and the first Olympic medal ever for U.S. curling. Team members Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.), Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm, Minn.), Joe Polo (Cass Lake, Minn.), John Shuster (Chisholm, Minn.), and Scott Baird’s (Bemidji, Minn.) performance capped a year of notable finishes including gold at the 2006 U.S. National Championships, fourth at the 2006 World Curling Championships, quarterfinalist at the World Curling Tour Players’ Championship, gold at the Korbel Cashspiel (World Curling Tour) and silver at the Strauss Crown of Curling (World Curling Tour).
The awards luncheon was held jointly with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which announced its annual Lifetime Achievement Awards to six notable individuals from the world of health and fitness.
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