John Parker has been named the director and head coach of the Oklahoma City High Performance Center, USRowing Chief Executive Officer Glenn Merry announced on Wednesday.
In conjunction with USRowing and the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, Parker will be in charge of establishing and maintaining the training, athlete identification and educational programs at the center. The Oklahoma City High Performance Center is located on the Oklahoma River, recently designated as a U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site for both rowing and canoe/kayak.
"The new center in Oklahoma City will be a key for future Olympians and coaching education," Merry said. "John is a strategic fit with our plan to build the sport's development. His leadership with our lightweight team has resulted in stronger ties throughout the rowing community and those skills will bring success to Oklahoma City as well. We are excited to have John and his family become part of this new initiative to advance our team development."
A 1992 Olympian and multiple-time national team member, Parker comes to Oklahoma City serving as USRowing's lightweight head coach, where he worked with both the men's and women's programs. He joined USRowing's coaching staff full-time in June of 2007 as a men's assistant coach, overseeing the lightweight men's team. Last year, Parker's lightweight eight won gold at the world championships in Linz, Austria. This year, along with his staff of Bryan Volpenhein, Steve Dani and Bruce Smith, he helped guide the lightweight men's eight to a silver medal and the lightweight women's quadruple sculls to a bronze medal at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland.
"I am grateful to Glenn Merry and Mike Knopp for this opportunity to create a world-class training center and race venue," Parker said. "There is a level of enthusiasm and support from the Oklahoma City community unprecedented in my experience with the national team, and I feel both tremendous excitement and responsibility as I join this effort. I look forward to continuing to support the lightweight men and women, as well as assisting Tim McLaren and Tom Terhaar, in any way that helps our teams perform internationally."
Previously, Parker served as a national team volunteer assistant coach in 2005 and 2006, working with the lightweight men's four. He also served as an assistant men's coach in 1998 and 1999, leading the pair with coxswain to a world title and helping with the men's eight that won back-to-back world championships.
A 1989 graduate of Princeton University, Parker served as men's lightweight coach at Rutgers University prior to joining USRowing's coaching staff on a full-time basis. From 1993-1998, he was the freshman coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Washington, guiding the Huskies to numerous victories including the 1997 IRA Championship. He also has coached Eastern Sprints medaling and championships crews at Columbia University and Princeton University.
As a rower, Parker stroked the men's eight to a fourth-place finish at the 1992 Olympics. He also made the national team in 1989, 1991 and 1993. Parker has a family with Hana Dariusova, a two-time Czech Olympic rower, and has a two-year-old son, John Josef.
Created in October of 2008 as a partnership between USRowing, the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, Chesapeake Boathouse and Oklahoma City University, the Oklahoma City High Performance Center includes a year-round residency program for male and female athletes. As part of the program, OCU provides housing for the athletes and scholarships for those wanting to complete an undergraduate or graduate degree while pursuing their Olympic aspirations. The program also works with the Oklahoma City business community to provide job and internship opportunities for the athletes.
The center incorporates all aspects of elite-athlete training and performance with intensive coaching, sports nutrition, strength and cardiovascular conditioning, sports psychology and sports medicine. It emphasizes the use of performance technology to systematically improve the athletes' chances in international competition.
The center, which began operations in November of 2008 at the Chesapeake Boathouse, will eventually be headquartered in Oklahoma City University's new Devon Boathouse, scheduled to open in May, 2010. Programming will be incorporated throughout all of the new boathouses slated for construction on the Oklahoma River.