Giving Olympic, Paralympic hopefuls a boost

Getting to the Olympics takes more than grit - though plenty of determination is needed.

It takes time and money to fund all that travel, gear, food and time in the gym, which can make it tricky to hold down a job.

That's where Dick's Sporting Goods comes in.

The Pittsburgh-based retailer, with a store in Cedar Rapids, worked out a deal to hire Olympic and Paralympic athletes at its nearly 650 stores across the country - giving them the flexibility to keep training while still maintaining a job that pays the bills.

The partnership between the company and U.S. Olympic Committee means your questions about hockey gear could be answered by an athlete who won the gold medal in Sochi, Russia, at the 2014 Paralympic Games.

'I light up when people come in to ask about hockey,” said Dan McCoy, 22, a winger for the 2014 U.S. sled hockey team.

McCoy works in the team sports department at a Dick's in suburban Pittsburgh. He was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, which means that his spine didn't develop properly in utero and he is paralyzed from the legs down.

He's been playing sled hockey since he was 5 years old, and is one of the original members of The Mighty Penguins Sled Hockey organization, which provides sled hockey opportunities to disabled players.

McCoy made the U.S. Development sled hockey team when he was 14 and the U.S. men's team when he was 16. He has been on six U.S. men's teams. He'll be representing on the U.S. Development team this year.

'Until now, it's been a struggle to find a job and fit in training and travel,” said McCoy, who started working at the store in December - just in time for the Christmas rush. 'Having the opportunity pop up when it did helped offset the training costs. Here, they understand that I'm an athlete first and they want to support that.

'A number of athletes I've talked to have employers who didn't understand that and let them go because of scheduling conflicts.”

When he's not on the ice or in the store, McCoy is probably hitting the books. He's on track to graduate in 2017 from the University of Pittsburgh where he's studying communications. Then he's pursuing a master's in sports medicine.

Dick's announced the deal with the USOC in 2015, which allows the company to serve as the first official sporting goods retail sponsor to the USOC and Team USA for the 2016 summer games in Brazil. The partnership with the USOC includes sporting goods equipment donations to the U.S. Olympic Training Centers.

Dick's gets the right to use the Olympic rings in its marketing. The company's Contenders Program supports 200 Team USA hopefuls across 36 Olympic and Paralympic sports in 106 stores in 34 states.