Baja California Centre celebrates 10 years of existence

BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico, February 26, 2013 – As it gears up to host the Boys’ Under 19 Volleyball World Championships in 2014, the Baja California High performance centre is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of its founding. And there is a lot to celebrate as the Centre has played a pivotal part in sport development in Mexico over the past decade.

The Centre’s pace of development has been remarkable. The Athletes’ Academy was opened in 2009, five years after the first foundation stone was set. By the end of the 2012 the new Multisport Facility began to host the Taekwondo and Fencing state programmes and is expected to also be used for Shooting and Bowling.

The idea of using the Centre to host international sporting events was born out of the US Olympic Committee’s “Amazing Awaits” campaign that was launched in 2007 prior to the games in Beijing. The closeness to the US Olympic Training Centre located in Chula Vista inspired the Baja California Authorities to develop a similar project that would host hundreds of competitors in many international events including volleyball.

Over time the Centre has developed strong ties with local and national US sporting authorities to a point that some Mexican athletes have been offered scholarship to American universities.

The results of the Centre’s long term development plan have definitely begun to show. At the start of 2013 three local teams won medals at USA Volleyball's Youth High Performance competitions that took place in California and Illinois. And further plans for the Centre are on the card.

On February 14, during the presentation and official conference of the FIVB Volleyball Boys' Youth World Championship, the Mexican Olympic Committee President, Carlos Padilla Becerra, expressed an interest in hosting a Pan American Olympic Festival in Baja California.

"We have explored the possibilities and seen these facilities that are certified by the Committee and there is no question that we will host our Festival here,” said Padilla. "This is very important for us, because we are starting the new Olympic cycle of Rio 2016, and in the middle of it we have competitions such as the Central American and Caribbean Games that will take part in Veracruz in 2014 and the Pan American Games of Toronto in 2015," he continued.

Holding a festival in the same year that the National Junior Olympic and Paralympic Championships as well as the Boys' U19 World Volleyball Championships will mean that 2013 will be a busy year. But the Centre’s more than stellar record has shown that it is up to the task.