WATERLOO - Unbeknownst to many, the Cedar Valley was a hotbed for competitive weightlifting in the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Stan Mingus and Roger Sadecki were among those who competed nationally and ran a training facility on Ansborough Avenue in Waterloo, where in 1981 the first Women's National Weightlifting tournament was held.

Thursday, Mingus and Sadecki were on hand as United Sport and Athlete, Inc. (USA Inc.) held a press conference at its new facility in Waterloo to officially announce its designation as a "Regional Training Center" by USA Weightlifting, the U.S. national governing body for the sport of weightlifting.

"I believe this place will bring all that back," Mingus said. "We'll have national caliber lifters here."

The goal of the facility is to give underprivileged children the opportunity to become world-class athletes, said Robin Lund, vice president and assistant director of USA Inc. It will also provide athletes a chance to train with other elite-level athletes and coaches.

One of the major catalysts in pushing the USA Inc. facility to its Regional Training Center status was the hiring of weightlifting coach Jianping Ma. The China native was an Olympian in 1984, a three-time World Cup medalist and five-time Chinese national champion. He already had ties to USA Weightlifting when he worked as the head weightlifting coach at the U.S. Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University.

"We are incredibly fortunate to have Jianping," said Brian Derwin, former USA Weightlifting board president. "Not only is he an excellent coach, he has excellent people skills, as well."

USA Inc. hopes Ma will bring with him some of the success he has had in coaching champions in China, Africa and the United States. China is well known as a global powerhouse in competitive weightlifting.

"I anxiously await the first and then the continuous line of Olympic weightlifters coming out of Waterloo," said Derwin.

The press conference also marked the official designation of the USA Inc. site as a Peak Performance training facility. Peak Performance is one of the top taekwondo programs in the nation, founded by three-time Olympian and national taekwondo coach Juan Mateo.

"The real winner will be the city of Waterloo and the underprivileged kids who would have never gotten to experience this," said Mateo.

Russ O'Connell will fill the role of head taekwondo coach for Peak Performance Iowa at the USA Inc. facility. O'Connell founded Cedar Valley Pro Fitness and Martial Arts, which changed its name to Peak Performance Iowa in March of 2006. He has worked closely with Mateo in developing the national coach's system in the Cedar Valley.

"Russ is known as the biggest secret in Waterloo, and our job is to reveal that secret," said Smith.

The USA Inc. facility is located at 1045 Southtown Drive in Waterloo, on the south side of the former Evans Furniture building. It occupies 21,000 square feet and includes a fitness center, an aerobics room, a taekwondo and kickboxing room, a multipurpose combat room, and an Olympic weightlifting room. The facility will also host a 3,700-square-foot turfed track for the local XL Sports Acceleration program, as well as a 700 square foot laboratory area that will be used in association with the University of Northern Iowa.

USA Inc. offers varying levels of memberships for anyone, including scholarships for those in need of financial assistance.

Contact Drew Andersen at (319) 291-1418 or drew.andersen@wcfcourier.com.