On the Road to Raising an Olympic Champion #Disney #ESPN #WWOS

I don’t have an Olympic champion– YET!

If you can dream it, you can do it. And so my dream is hopefully Milan’s dream — for her to one day become a champion of Olympic-sized proportions!

Milan loves to run and she’s a member of the Douglas County E-1 track team. It’s a professional team of athletes led by Coach Vaughn Williams and they train several times a week and compete in many professional competitions from USATF to the TFCUSA competition. Just this past weekend in Birmingham, Alabama Milan placed 8th overall in two areas and earned two medals for her efforts! 

• 60 meter dash – 8th place Earned Medal
• 200 meter dash – 8th place Earned Medal
• She placed 9th in the 400 meter dash
• 5th overall in the 7-8  Women (Milan Smith) Team Rankings

My girl can run! She’s only 7 and can you imagine in 10 years with professional training where she will be? Like I said, one day my baby is going to the Olympics.

And if you are watching the Sochi Winter Olympic games getting ready for the spring and summer sports season, just know there are many roads to get your child where you need them to go and compete on a higher level.  Did you know that Walt Disney World has a world-class Wide World of Sports facility where your child can play? They recently visited Atlanta during their Disney On the Road Event, to talk more about their sports program for kids.

There are many different roads that your child and your child’s team can take to get to Walt Disney World and have that STAR experience. Kids as young as second graders up to high schoolers get to play at the state-of-the-art Wide World of Sports facility. Disney has a facility so comprehensive and soaccessible to kids of any athletic level. No your kid doesn’t have to be the star athlete to play at the WWOS sports facility and that makes it all the more appealing to a mom like me. Disney has a lot of organizational partners at the local level to help parents from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to Pop Warner Little Scholars, providing the largest youth football, cheer and dance program in the United States. So how can you get your kids to play competitively at the Happiest Place on Earth?

• Typically join a team in your local community and play their season. They have regional qualifiers that usually escalate to a national championships many of which Disney hosts at WWOS.
• There are several open tournaments most of which Disney produces that fall over major holiday weekends. Your team can choose and go to the Disney website and register. And the Disney sales team will work with your team to place them with the appropriate skill level so you will have a competitive tournament no matter if you’re just starting out or if you’re an experienced athlete.
• Showcase events – These lead to college recruitment. Disney has the number one soccer recruitment showcase – Some 900 D1, D2, D3 college coaches for male and female soccer recruit at Disney and scholarships are awarded on the spot!

And once you get to the complex, there’s not need to feel lost. They have a Welcome Center on site with knowledgeable Disney reps to help you step-by-step in planning your Disney vacation based on the teams’ competition schedule. The Welcome Center is an information hub for traveling teams and their families looking for sports event information as well as theme park information, dining reservation and team service. There are also a number of camps and training facilities at Disney including:

• Disney Soccer Academy – Play and learn side by side with superstars of the game. You never know who you’ll meet during this 4-Day Instructional Camp at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
• Drew Brees Passing Academy – Come learn from Drew Brees and some of the best players and coaches currently in the NFL during the instructional passing academy designed by athletes for athletes. Then test your new skills as you compete against some of the best high school football teams in the nation in the 7on7 tournament.
• Spring Training – College spring training at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex will take your team to new heights. Schools can participate in Baseball, Golf, Lacrosse, Rugby, Softball, Tennis and Track & Field. The 2013 Disney Spring Training attracted more than 400 teams from across the country.

OTHER FEATURES

• A state-of-the-art HD broadcast production facility that will capture complex event highlights and produce live events for ESPN media outlets.

• High-definition video screens and “jumbotrons” bringing the complex to life with updates from around the sports world and ESPN Wide World of Sports

• ESPN Innovation Lab developing new technology to shape the future of sports broadcasting and production

• ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill with a replica SportsCenter desk and guest access to ESPN360.com, ESPN.com and more

• New and expanded amateur and elite sports events such as ESPNHS Games presented by Target

For more information on the E1 Track Club, visit E1TrackClub.Shutterfly.com

Visit http://espnwwos.disney.go.com for more information on the Wide World of Sports.