Derek Parra + Brennan Smith talking Utah Olympic Legacy foundation, returning games + more @UtahOlympicOval

Attention, hockey fans. The US women's national team is facing off against Canada and the twenty twenty four to twenty five Rivalry Series, a five game competition featuring two fierce rivals, and you can be a part of the rivalry when they return to the ice Friday, November eighth at the Maverick Center. Join us to watch these teams as they showcase their highest level of women's hockey. You don't want to miss this exciting opportunity. Go to Maverick Center dot

I want to welcome in the studio very special guests Derek Para, a two thousand and two Olympic speeds gating gold and silver medallist.

You guys know Derek are you man? Good to see you, I see you.

And we got Brendan Smith, marketing and Communications manager for the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation.

Brendan, how are you?

Thanks for having us? Smeetz?

Well, we were talking off air. We all have ties to the two thousand and two Games. Derek, you're the most famous by far, you actually won medals and now we get the games back. So let's just start big picture, Derek, start with you. You're a transplant, like a lot of people that came here for two thousand and two ended up staying here. What are your thoughts that we're going to have the same, you know, Winter Olympic experience almost three decades later.

I'm excited.

I was on the other side of it obviously as an athlete, but now to be on the flip side here as an administrator and seeing it all kind of come to place. And even I was in Paris when we got the awards, so it's been really exciting to see this happening and how it's kind of come to fruition. It's been a long time coming, a lot of great

Brennan tell me about the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation just from a thirty thousand foot view macro standpoint.

Yeah, of course, Spence.

So we've got three venues we have Utele them Biglobal wind Currents, we have Uta Olympic Parking Park City, and we have Soldier Hollo Nordic Center. And something we like to say is we're high performance by day and then community centers by night. So we got us speed skiing,

And Derek, you guys just won an award. Yeah, yeah, we had tell me about it.

MENI Impact to Board.

It's a great honor and you recognize with the work we do in the community.

We served last year.

I think we served about thirty five hundred kids underserved kids through donations and private donors, and that in conjunction with all of our education programs we do in our facilities, bringing school groups out to try these different sports, exposing something new and just kind of build that confidence that I think a kid needs when they're growing up.

So I would imagine, and Brennan will go to you on this. You know in my brain I played basketball, football, baseball. You know, my son basketball, soccer. So if there are parents out there listening and they have, you know a couple of little ones that might be interested in some of these winter sports, you guys are the spot where the kids can learn to kind of elevate their games at fair to sec one percent.

Man, we've got everything from if you've never even laced up skates before, we can help you, or if you're trying to elevate kind of to that next level of something you're chasing, we got it for you. And we have scholarships as well for kids. So there's no barriers to entry when you're talking about our programs because we'll help you out. We'll get you started, and we've got skates. We've got everything you need to get going and try something new.

So speed skating, hockey, figure skating, and curling.

That's right.

I think you'll have to ask him about curling.

Do people even need to learn to curl. I'm serious.

You'd be amazed at how many people come out to curl. We are typically sold out from October first to the end of April, every Friday and Saturday night because people want to learn how to curl.

I don't mean to be obtuse here, but it always looks like you could just grab a couple of random dudes off the street and make a curling team.

Is there an art to it?

Sport?

A lot of timing and balances involved. It's not too hard, you know my pinion to get to the house, the curling house, but to make moves like we're curling around stones and trying to score points. Okay, it's very strategically not to be a good chess player in a way. You're making moves that are going to come in effect three moves later. But people one don't realize how fun it is and two how hard it is.

They appreciate what they see it on TV.

Yeah, okay, I need to just get some notions out of my head about the sport.

Pansas.

I'll always watched it. I feel like I think I could do that.

What's it been like to have the hockey team around the hockey club around here.

Spence has been awesome, man.

I mean we have us speed skinning on the oval four hundred meters, we have ten of eleven world records that exist. And then we have the hockey club on our south sheet going to work and getting ready for this inaugural season. And you can feel that, like you can feel the energy people are coming in and watching them practice, but just that like that feeling of you

You can feel that in the facility every day.

Have you had a chance, Derek to interact with any of the players.

Yeah, Actually, Robert Tuzzo asked me for a skin suit. Oh it was Halloween party. I got a photo if you want to see it. But he went as a speed skater. There was Halloween party for the team.

That's awesome because I'll tell you what, they're just the nicest people.

Yeah.

You know, because I had a hockey experience growing up in a real hockey hotbed back in the Northeast and my father was with the Garden for a while, so I got to know a lot of the Rangers in the nineties, and you would not know that they're pro athletes. They're just sweet guys, you know, that's been my experience. They're talking to our kids.

There's a funny story where a kid was at it one night when they were warming down, came up and asked one of the players. I didn't know the player was, but he was one of the players that was going between the NHL in the lower league, and he went up to him and said, so are you in the NHL. Are you a player of the NHL? And he kind of looked at the kid and goes, well, sometimes I am.

You know.

The players laughed it up, and he gave the kid a stick, signed a stick, and I kind of went on his way.

But there was a good.

Vibe in the building having them in there, and they're very approachable, and it only adds to what the over really is.

You know.

The Oval, to me is kind of an embodiment of what I believe put us in such a great spot to get the games back right because there are so many places and you know, Brian Gumbel Real Sports that show, unfortunately is no longer a thing because it's not on TikTok.

You know that actually did sports journalism.

They had a couple of so such fascinating episodes about Olympic cities around the world that did not maintain their venues, not because the citizens didn't want them maintain.

But look, it's a long conversation the IOC.

You know, maybe some government malpractice and such, but what do you think maintaining our venues, whether it's the Oval or up in Park City, you know, all over the place. Really, what do you think that did for our ability to get the Games back?

I think it was a huge piece of it.

I mean, I don't know how many countries ben and maybe able to tell you how many countries participate or practice in our venues every year that come and travel here and live here and move here to skate, skate or training our venues. So having our our venues in place already was already We're ahead of the game. There isn't that infrastructure we have to build. We were able to have that spirit that still lives here in the games help drive that for us of getting the Games back.

And Brennan, you can speak us more about that.

Yeah, I think it's it's always better to stay ready than get ready, and we're doing that every single day with If you walk into the venues at any time of the day, you can see action, you can feel that energy, you can feel that Olympic spirit. And like Derek said, we have over thirty other nations, not just the United States, that are coming to our three venues

The next part is.

To elevate that and elevate what we can do around the world from Utah as a home base.

Yeah, well said this guy's good at his job.

All right, before I set you guys loose, either one of you can take this for any parent out there that's driving around and they've got you know, seven eight nine role that is showing a little bit of interest in speed skating hockey for sure, because we're just learning about it. And I think most people know where they can go sign up for junior jazz or like little League football or you know curling, respect how can they get more information as far as how you guys.

Can help them out. You take Olympic Legacy dot org is our website. You can look at all of our programs bigger skating, speed skating, curling, hockey, both youth and adult in all cases. So yeah, and then you also up at our park Olympic Park and Soldier halloup facility. We've got all of our other two programs are right there online. You can choose what you want.

You told me that you're playing a little hockey with like in an adult league.

Yeah, directly, that feels unfair. Do you just skate around everybody like.

I'm pretty fast in the puck?

Well, you want a gold medal.

Years ago. I don't have the stickhanudability that those guys do.

So my main focus is just to smother anybody who has the puck that can just irritate them by being around them, or get the puck out of their hands to one of our players that I have probably thirty assists, maybe two goals.

The goals will come. I'll give you the final word. What do you what other information you want to.

Yes, Vince just we got another session starting on November twelfth and fourteenth for our Learned to skate. That's kind of our base level where if you want to play hockey, you want a speed skate, you want to figure skate, we start there. Like I said, just check out our information utah Olemmiclegacy dot org. We got a scholarship for you if you need it, and we'd love to see out there