[ACE PROGRAM LIFE BEYOND SPORTS


Team USA’s role in the journey As athletes get swept up in training


and competition, academics and long- term career goals often get put to the backburner. This frequently presents a challenge when one looks to retire from competitive sports. Team USA’s Athlete Career Education


(ACE) program helps to assist during this transition. Its objective is to provide com- prehensive career and education servic- es aimed at enhancing performance and personal development to both current and retired Team USA’s athletes. How do we better prepare athletes for


that time after sports? We work with ath- letes as they are identified as emerging elite athletes so that when it comes time to move on from sports, they are better prepared for the next step,” said Terris Tiller, Athlete Career Coach for the U.S. Olympic Committee. The ACE program focuses on four


main pillars — connecting current ath- letes with part-time jobs, providing edu- cational opportunities, helping athletes develop lifelong skills, and creating men- torship connections. Over 1,000 athletes are registered with the program, which is managed through an online self-ser- vice portal. Finding and keeping a job as a full-time


athlete can be a challenging endeavor. ACE helps to connect athletes with op- portunities that allow flexibility around work hours. A wide range of employers are connected with the ACE program, including many of Team USA’s corporate sponsors. Participating employers un- derstand that these elite athletes have challenging schedules, and they are more than willing to offer unique part- time job opportunities for this situation. Another pillar of ACE’s model is edu-


cation, which is fueled through Team USA’s partnership with DeVry Univer- sity. Ample scholarships are available for elite athletes who are currently com- peting, or have competed, at the inter- national level for Team USA. Many USA Weightlifting athletes have taken ad-


By Anna Resman


JENNY ARTHUR 2016 OLYMPIAN & DEVRY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT


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ANDY BLAIDA , LIFTING LIFE


vantage of this partnership, including Jenny Arthur, 2016 Olympian, and Carissa Gump, 2008 Olympian and As- sociate Executive Director of Business & Development at USA Weightlifting. Gump applied for a scholarship af-


ter retiring from lifting and enrolled in January 2013 in DeVry’s Master of Pub- lic Administration program with an em- phasis on non-profit management. As a full-time professional and mother, Gump excelled under DeVry’s flexible pro- gram structure. She started six months after having her first child and focused on taking one class each semester. The classes are conducted online, which al- lowed Gump to focus on school after her children had gone to bed or while she was on the road traveling for work with USA Weightlifting.


“The program gave me the flexibil-


ity I needed while raising my family and advancing my career at the same time,” said Gump. “The classes were very ap- plicable to what I was doing at work, so I was able to provide real-world examples during class discussions and immediate- ly apply what I learned in class to my ca- reer.” Gump finished up her final credits earlier this year and received her degree in August. USA Weightlifting members are eli-


gible to apply for a DeVry scholarship through ACE. For more information on the program, visit teamusa.org/ace.


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