During the month of July the CESSCE/OTS lost one of its founding staff members, Liz Casey, who was our Event Coordinator and Executive Aide for six years. Liz left Johnson City to be with her husband who secured a new position in Tallahassee, Florida.

We were sad to lose Liz, as she worked tirelessly for the Center of Excellence and the Olympic Training Site. Her efficiency in getting the job done was remarkable, and all of our students and faculty here at ETSU wish Liz all the very best in her new adventure.  As many things in life, the circumstances were right, and we were fortunate enough to have an intern from Texas A&M University this summer, who did an outstanding job during her internship, and stepped into Liz’s shoes very comfortably. (Interns take note! An internship can be a stepping stone to full-time employment when you do a great job.) We have persuaded Emily Brockelman to stay with us as our full-time Event Coordinator and are excited to have her on board.

A committee was formed with Chris Bellon as the lead and Heather Abott as his second in command. Chris did a marvelous job of rounding up speakers for the week’s course. Heather organized all the evening activities, and booked all the necessary facilities to host a successful course. During this period the CESSCE had a change in the event coordinator position responsible for the course.  Our brand new Event Coordinator, Emily Brockelman booked vans checked on room bookings and generally made sure the week ran smoothly. Several meetings were held to check and double check the arrangements. On the Saturday the 6th of September, four graduate students set out to the airport in ETSU rented vans to pick up our guests.  

Starting Sunday the 7th of September the course began with an introduction to the mission and goals of CESSCE / OTS presented by Meg Stone. This was followed by another introductory lecture by Dr Mike Stone presenting, “What is Sport Science?”  These lecture laid the ground work for the lectures to follow during the week. Starting Monday morning, Dr Mike Ramsey lectured on Strength Training and monitoring the endurance athlete. On Monday afternoon, Meg Stone talked on Training the Female Athlete. After a brief break the whole group then left for dinner to experience dinning in Johnson City at Cootie Browns.

Tuesday after breakfast at the Student Dinning area (Main Meal) the first lecture was given by Dr Stone on the theory of Weightlifting and derivative lifts. Dr Miziguchi followed this in the afternoon with a practical Weightlifting technique session. Afterward Pizza was served in the sport science lab.

Wednesday again began with breakfast in the student dining area, followed by the first lecture on Speed Development given by Dr Brad Deweese. In the afternoon Chris Bellon followed Dr Deweese’s lecture with a practical session on the floor of the dome. The CESSCE/OTC were pleased to see the interest shown by the local media, two of the local television stations came to the workout,  along with two of the local news papers. The afternoon was a great success mainly due to Chris Bellon who presented first class information to the group. Wednesday evening as scheduled the vans rolled up to the Carnegie hotel and transported the group to the mall for an evening of eating and shopping. 

Thursday began with breakfast and followed with a very informative talk on GPS Tracking by one of our first year doctoral students Matt Sams. The plans for the afternoon were, to have a practical session on the soccer fields with the tracking devises but due to inclement weather this was change. Again Chris Bellon stepped in and give a very good afternoon’s lecture on recovery modalities.  Thursday evening concluded with a taste of Tennessee Barbeque at the Firehouse.

Friday Morning the Group requested a lecture on Periodization given by Dr. Stone. In the afternoon all the lecturers participated in a round table, giving our guests and opportunity to ask any questions regarding the week’s activities. Again we had a barbeque planned and inclement weather forced a change in plans. All guests were very pleased to re visit the mall and again embark on a shopping expedition. 

Saturday, after an intense week of work the tired group assembled at the Carnegie hotel at 10am to leave for the airport. Plans have been made for the group and several other to revisit ETSU in the future as all concerned had a strong belief that this was a great cultural exchange and something valuable to consider for the future. 

Thanks to all the students who took personal time to drive and look after our visitors. A very special thank you to Heather and particularly Chris who did a marvelous job of diplomacy building relationships with other cultures is not easy and they did some very good work.  We are very fortunate at ETSU to have a group of great graduate students that we have, thank you to all who participated.  

Are you interested in competing in this year's Stoneage invitational on November 1st? 

Here are some of the things you can look forward to as a participant:

-Cash prizes for best male and female lifters -Meet T-Shirts

-All lifts filmed and available for download, plus video replay!

-Live feed in the warm-up area

-Great atmosphere and meet logistics by experienced meet directors and staff from the ETSU Olympic Training Site  


Download the entry form below and mail it to the address provided in the entry form.

We have been lucky enough to host a number of Taiwanese folks who are involved in the process of training athletes over there. They have traveled all the way from the Chinese Cultural University of Taiwan to learn from us!

Here is a pretty cool article from the Johnson City Press talking about it: 

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/120318/exercise-and-sports-science-department-at-etsu-helping-train-chinese-athletic-delegation-video