June 26, 2008 (Park City, UT) – The excitement radiated from Sarah Hendrickson (Park City, UT) as she set foot for the first time on the site of the soon to be completed Center of Excellence. Hendrickson recently toured the Center, along with 18 other new athletes on the U.S. Ski Team and U.S. Snowboarding, as part of the 2009 Rookie Camp, and couldn’t hide her excitement for what the future holds.

“I’m going to spend my life here,” Hendrickson said. “My summer months are going to be packed! It’s going to be so fun here.”

Hendrickson, a 13 year old who is the youngest athlete to be named to the nordic team, is a ski jumper who went head to head with the nations best and took second place in the 2008 backcountry.com U.S. Ski Jumping Championships on the 134 meter hill.

Hendrickson said she plans on spending years training at the facility and hopes that it will bring members of each discipline together.

“I think it’s excellent. All the athletes are going to be able to train really well and improve a ton because of the atmosphere and the new equipment,” Hendrickson said. “I think it’s going to be cool to see all the athletes come together. It’s such a great training center and I think people will move here to have access to this facility.”

The building, which is slated for completion in March 2009, is an 85,000 sq. ft. facility that will house a state of the art gymnasium as well as special training facilities including trampolines, foam pits and an indoor quarterpipe.

“It’s going to be a great place to train,” Hendrickson said.