The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association broke ground on a $22.5 million training and education center, a state-of-the-art facility certain to entice even more of the country's elite winter athletes to move to Utah permanently or part-time.

To Alpine skier Lindsey Kildow, one of 52 ski-team athletes who currently have moved to Utah to train, "this will have everything you want to be the best in sport, in one building, and just two miles from my home."

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said the facility was "hugely important" to the state's reputation. "It solidifies Utah as the hippest, most happening destination in the U.S., solidifies our position as the premier winter-sports destination in the world."

Park City Mayor Dana Williams expressed a "sense of honor" that his city is home to the USSA and its Alpine and cross country skiers, freestyle aerialists and mogul skiers, jumpers and snowboarders. He told assembled athletes: "We marvel at you, live vicariously through you and are honored to be living with you. . . . This is the legacy of the [2002 Winter] Games and what they meant to us."

Calling the center the most important development in his organization's 102-year history, USSA President Bill Marolt said, "We've achieved a certain level of success. Now we're investing to take the proverbial next step of making ourselves more competitive on the international level."

And he predicted the facility at Quinn's Junction, on Park City's east side near the intersection of U.S. 40 and State Road 248, will stand as evidence that the USSA "is an organization that knows where it's going . . . that's going to achieve."

But more than anything else, Marolt told the athletes, "This will be your house to work hard in, to enjoy, to respect and to make a difference in your life, as an athlete and an individual."

Giving athletes access to the best training equipment and regimens available is just part of the plan. What will separate this facility from a high-powered gym, said USSA high-performance manager Andy Walshe, will be the "physical therapists, biomechanists, coaching specialists and sport psychologists in the building to support athletes day-to-day, combining their expertise with all the technology to back it up."

Observed cross country skier Andy Newell: "I can't even imagine the great training ideas the sport sciences group will come up with."

The center's technological resources will be valuable to its educational component. The USSA will take lessons learned and programs developed at the center and make that information available to 400 youth sports clubs that will supply generations of athletes to come.

For a homegrown Park City athlete such as 2005 world champion moguls skier Nate Roberts, the facility opens a world of possibilities. "What an opportunity for youth programs right here in the best training spot in the world. A lot of young kids will experience success a lot faster," he said. "This is the next step to greatness."

The USSA already has made great strides, said Nordic combined athlete Bill Demong, who has a silver medal from last winter's Nordic world championships as proof. "The future holds more hardware and success," said the Park City transplant, who plans to compete through 2011, two years after the facility's projected opening. "I'll get the most important seasons of my career in that training center."

Bringing this diverse collection of athletes together in one facility will build camaraderie within the USSA, said Nordic Director Luke Bodensteiner.

"That sense of team will really be fostered," he added. "It used to be that you'd meet the whole team for the first time at the Olympics. Now these athletes will share a bond together. They'll feel more comfortable there seeing their friends all around."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Center of Excellence

* The facility: Three-story, 85,000-square-foot building on 5 acres

* Location: On Park City's east side, near intersection of U.S. 40 and State Road 248

* Projected cost: $22.5 million

* Completion date: Early 2009

* Features: A gymnasium, strength training areas, climbing wall, ski and snowboard ramps, trampolines, nutrition center, multimedia rooms for performance analysis and rehabilitation center

* Initial beneficiaries: 27 USSA athletes who call Utah home, 52 who have moved here to train and 400 clubs around the country that will produce future elite athletes