Topic: News: Dr. Kyle Pierce Receives USOC Award

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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USOC Announces Top Coaches of 2005

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Eddie Reese (Austin, Texas/USA Swimming), the coach of seven swimmers that accounted for nine medals (eight gold and one silver) for the U.S. at the 2005 World Championships has been named the 2005 United States Olympic Committee National Coach of the Year.  Tammy Gambill (Redlands, Calif./U.S. Figure Skating), Cindi Hart (Indianapolis, Ind./U.S. Speedskating) and Randi Smith (Salt Lake City, Utah/U.S. Paralympics) were selected as the 2005 USOC Developmental, Volunteer, and National Paralympic coaches, respectively.  Also honored during the June 23 Night of Champions event in La Jolla, Calif. was Dr. Kyle Pierce (Shreveport, La./USA Weightlifting), who received the "Doc" Counsilman Science Award.

Reese, the head men's swimming coach at the University of Texas saw his athletes combine to break three world records in 2005, with Aaron Peirsol surpassing his own marks in the 100m and 200m backstroke and Ian Crocker snapping his own 100m butterfly record.  Reese was named the World Swimming Coaches Association 2005 Terao Award winner, naming him the coach of the 2001-04 quadrennium.

Gambill coaches many national and international figure skating competitors and medalists including Dennis Phan, the 2004 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and three 2005 U.S. Figure Skating national champions (juvenile girls, novice men and junior ladies).  In addition to her coaching, Gambill is the current chair of the U.S. Figure Skating Coaches Committee, member of the Professional Skaters Association's Board of Directors, and past member of the U.S. Figure Skating Board of Directors.  She is also a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Athlete Development Committee and Sports Sciences and Medicine Committee.

Hart is the speedskating head coach for the IndySpeed Sport Club and runs the speedskating program for the entire state of Indiana, both for U.S. Speedskating and Special Olympics, Indiana.  In 2005, Hart coached two members of IndySpeed to second place finishes in the national championships, the best ever performances for speedskaters from the state of Indiana.  As speedskating head coach for the Special Olympics, Hart, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2004, took Team USA to the World Winter Games in Nagano, Japan and coached the team to a best ever performance with 26 of the 27 athletes winning medals.  She also wrote speedskating training programs and training manuals for the Special Olympics.  Using cycling as a summer conditioning program, she coached five athletes to national medals, including two national champions and multiple state champions.

Smith, the head coach of the U.S. Paralympic Archery Team (2005- present), coached the U.S. team at the 2005 World Paralympic Championships in Italy.  She served as the U.S. Paralympic Archery Team Leader at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.  In 2002 she was nominated by USA Archery for the USOC Developmental Coach of the Year award.  Smith has been the co-owner of Salt Lake Archery since 1985 and coaches the Utah Hot Shots.  She also works as a Crisis Family Therapist for Salt Lake County Youth Services.

Dr. Pierce has consistently used various aspects of sports science to further the performance and ensure the health of young weightlifters.  His innovative training techniques, developed over 30 years of involvement in the sport are now used by many coaches.  These methods have included creative periodization and athlete monitoring processes.  He has studied aspects of body composition, power output, and rate of force development along with many others.  He has developed a "state of the art" laboratory at LSU-Shreveport to continue his research into improving the sport and science of weightlifting.

Other finalists for the USOC National Coach of the Year were Mike Candrea (Tucson, Ariz./USA Softball), Gail Goestenkors (Hillsborough, N.C./USA Basketball), David Johnson (Colorado Springs, Colo./USA Shooting) and Bobby Kersee (Ballwin, Mo./USA Track & Field).  Developmental Coach of the Year finalists were Jay Benner (Tacoma, Wash./USA Swimming), Susan Butz-Stavin (Fleetwood, Pa./U.S. Field Hockey), Jimmy Jang (Marquette, Mich./U.S. Speedskating) and Maureen O'Toole Purcell (Danville, Calif./USA Water Polo).  Finalists for the title of Volunteer Coach of the Year were Don Casey (El Cajon, Calif./USA Basketball), James Johnson (Scottsdale, Ariz./USA Hockey), Tommy Orndorff (Vienna, Va./USA Softball) and Daniel Rutenberg (Frisco, Texas/USA Table Tennis).