The USA Wrestling team will hold a training camp at The Cooler athletic center in Alpharetta in May. The team is preparing to compete in the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which starts July 23.
John Bardis, owner of The Cooler, has been named team leader for the U.S. Olympic team in Greco-Roman wrestling, an Alpharetta Convention & Visitors Bureau statement said.
The training camp, which runs May 14-24, will include men and women wrestlers, coaches and training partners. The list of Olympians and world champions planning to attend include Helen Maroulis and Kyle Snyder, Kyle Dake, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, David Tayler, Jacarra Winchester and many more.
The USA Wrestling team members were determined at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Fort Worth, Texas, April 2-3.
“In total, this is arguably the most talented and capable team we have ever had in the long and storied history of American wrestling at the Olympic Games,” Bardis said. The team leader served in the same role for USA Wrestling for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Bardis is an entrepreneur in the healthcare industry. Currently he is Chairman and CEO of ShareMD, which acquires real estate for medical office space. He served as assistant secretary for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump Administration and resigned in 2018, months after the resignation of former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
Speaking to his passion for wrestling, Bardis said, “I have had a long-standing engagement and love of the sport. It is truly an honor to be associated with this U.S. Olympic Team.”
When the Alpharetta training camp ends, the wrestlers will travel to compete in the 2021 Pan American Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala, May 27-30.
In the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Pan American Championships, the wrestlers will compete in freestyle and Greco-Roman disciplines, the statement said.
The wrestling team’s visit to Alpharetta will feed city tourism, Janet Rodgers, president and CEO of the Alpharetta Convention & Visitors Bureau, said.
“We feel so honored to host our country’s best wrestlers and are eager to show them our Awesome Alpharetta hospitality, Rodgers said. “Not only will they get to train at a world-class facility at The Cooler, but they will also have the opportunity to shop, dine, play and stay in our beautiful community.”
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