While we were watching the Winter Olympics this year, Lucas said he wanted to try Luge. Finding sports that are a good fit for my little guy has been difficult so I had briefly looked into Luge since he’d shown interest and was dissapointed that I hadn’t found any place nearby for him to try out the sport. That’s why I am so excited to share about a National recruiting initiative by Team USA Luge and White Castle that is bringing free clinics to youth around the country that let them try out this winter sport.
The Slider Search is an annual grass-roots recruitment program to introduce youth to the sport of luge and identify the next generation of USA Luge team members and Olympians. The series of clinics is open to boys and girls ages nine through 13, and will provide an introduction to luge using wheeled sleds and coaching from National and Olympic team athletes. Top participants from the nationwide tour will be considered for the USA Luge Junior Development team.
The summer and fall tour will travel around the nation to introduce youth to luge in Chicago, Columbus, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Burlington, San Francisco, Long Island and Salt Lake City. The tour will also make its way to Lake Placid, hometown of USA Luge. At each series stop, participants are taught the basics of riding a luge sled at controlled speeds, including positioning, steering and stopping. Once these skills are developed, athletes take several runs down a paved luge course on wheel-equipped luge sleds and test skills through a battery of fitness tests.
Those who show promise in the summer program are invited to Lake Placid, NY; Park City, UT; or Muskegon, MI, to try luge on ice at a USA Luge sanctioned training site. The top young athletes from this group are selected for the next year’s development team.
Registration is required and can be completed online at http://www.teamusa.org/usa-
“The White Castle Slider Search is critical to finding luge athletes to represent the United States who will someday go for the gold,” said Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorships for USA Luge, and 1998 Olympic silver medalist. “A morning or afternoon of trying something fun and new could be the first step down a path to glory.” Over the years, the White Castle USA Luge Slider Search has traveled over 220,000 miles and introduced the sport of luge to more than 20,000 eager young athletes.
For details about USA Luge, the Slider Search program, or to register for a clinic, visit http://www.teamusa.org/usa-
That is great they offer free clinics for kids. Mine would like to be in the olympics for swimming or skating.
This is awesome. My kid has no desire to be in the Olympics but I love this idea.
This looks so much fun. My son would love it! I wonder if we can make one of these? Hmmmmm.
This is a great way to introduce this sport to more people. I also like that it helps encourage a child to set goals and dream a bit.
I love that this is available to introduce kids to sports. I could definitely see my friend’s daughter in the olympics, she loves being active! I’ll have to look more into this.
This sounds like a really great program. We could do with something like this here in the UK :)
Louise x