Notes from a Press Conference: MWU and USA Basketball

MWU recently announced an exciting new partnership with USA Basketball and the City of Glendale, whereby we will develop a sports medicine clinic for the new Olympic Basketball training facility here in Arizona.

I have the privilege of attending the press conference, where Dr. G spoke, along with Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs, current President of USA Basketball Val Ackerman, and incoming President Jerry Colangelo. What an exciting roster of speakers! The conference room was packed, with a few former NBA stars (former Bull Scott Williams) and some future stars from a high school basketball team.

The politicians appropriately focused on the tremendous economic impact of this new training facility. This project will create new jobs and revenue for the city and state, which are critical right now. Ms. Ackerman stressed that significance of the national basketball team to be training as part of an entire campus--with the MWU Clinic able to provide health care and research opportunities for sports medicine. Dr. G emphasized the importance of a team approach to the health care clinic--with physicians, pharmacists, podiatrists, dentist, optometrists, PTs and OTs, and clinical psychologists all being able to serve the health needs of these elite athletes.

In addition to the Men's and Women's Olympics teams, USA Basketball also conducts programs for younger athletes and developmental programs for high school athletes. They run workshops for coaches and referees. All of these people will be coming to Glendale, Arizona, to the area near the Cardinals Stadium, the Coyotes Arena, and the Westgate Shopping/Dining Center. The MWU Clinic will serve the athletes as well as the residents of this community. The Clinic will be staff by MWU faculty with clinical rotation opportunities for students from all of our programs. This is an amazing academic opportunity for MWU and a great outreach to our community.

To learn more about the MWU/Glendale/USA Basketball partnership, visit www.midwestern.edu/usabasketball. You can listen to clips from the press conference, read Dr. G's full remarks, and see the fact sheet on this program.