Augusta has the luxury of being the site for USA Boxing's new open-door policy. Phase III of the 1996 team's training camp, called an ``acclimation period,'' was awarded to Augusta on Friday. The team will train here in July 1996, and then head to Atlanta for the July 20-Aug. 4 boxing competition at Georgia Tech.

The Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center will be the site of the Olympic Box-offs April 19-21, 1996, the competition which determines the 12 American boxers. It is the first time one city has drawn the Box-offs and training.

``This is a big step for USA Boxing,'' Woody Gregory, the Atlanta Games boxing competition manager, said Monday during a visit to the Landmark Hotel. ``We've never approached the Olympic Games with this kind of training or competition.

``In the past, we've taken the team into real seclusion, like Fort Bragg (N.C.) in 1992. We'd have one media day, then complete isolation and no outside competition at all.''

Prior to the 1992 Barcelona Games, some boxers spoke out about the rigorous training schedule. The team met at Fort Bragg on July 3 and didn't see family or friends again before departing for Barcelona.

``We found in talking and a lot of our research has shown that athletes can be secluded for only so long,'' Gregory said. ``If you come out in the community and meet people and feel like people appreciate what you're doing, that does a lot for the athlete's morale.''

Augusta boxing officials have plans to showcase the team through various public appearances at hospitals and youth clubs and various other autograph opportunities. At least two nighttime public sparring sessions, with no admission, are planned for smaller venues ``to add to the intensity of the athlete and also simulate what they're going to get at Georgia Tech,'' Augusta Boxing Club coach Tom Moraetes said. A gala July 4, 1996, send-off to Atlanta is also planned.

``It's a guarantee that the local citizens will be a part of this,'' Moraetes said. ``We were insistent that this be the case. That was a part of the negotiations. But the USA Boxing people had the same idea from the start. So we were on the same page.''