LSUS professor receives
USOC’s ‘Doc’ Counsilman Award
06/23/06

Dr. Kyle Pierce, an LSUS associate professor of kinesiology and health science and director of the LSUS USA Weightlifting Development Center, has been named the recipient of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s 2005 James E. “Doc” Counsilman Science in Coaching Award.

Pierce received the award today (Friday, June 23) in La Jolla, Calif., at the Night of Champions Reception, which opens the U.S. Olympic Assembly.

Named for the legendary Indiana University swimming coach and instituted by the USOC in 2003, The Counsilman Award honors coaches who conduct and use research along with developing innovative training methods. Pierce, who is widely published and sought after internationally to make presentations on sports science, was a finalist for the 2004 Counsilman Award.

Pierce currently serves as a member of the International Weightlifting Scientific and Re-search Committee, is general secretary of the Pan American Weightlifting Federation Sports Science Committee, serves on the USA Weightlifting Board of Directors, is chair of the USA Weightlifting Sports Science Committee and is the USA Weightlifting junior women’s coach.

Pierce has trained a number of nationally and world ranked weightlifters and is currently training two LSUS students who will be top contenders to make the U.S. team for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In his coaching career, Counsilman published more than 100 papers on swimming research. At Indiana, he coached Mark Spitz, considered the swiftest swimmer of all time, who in 1972 became the first athlete to win seven gold medals in an Olympiad, with world records being set in all seven events.