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Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search Rolls into Pittsburgh, Pa., on June 9-10, Looking for Sliders of Tomorrow
By Jon Lundin // U.S. Luge Association // May 9, 2007
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- How do members of the U.S. national luge team customarily get their start in the Fastest Sport on Ice®*? In the summer, of course, and through the Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search, which targets boys and girls, aged 10 to 14. Young athletes who want to experience the thrill of luge and train under the guidance of USA Luge national team coaches and athletes can do so on Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3, when the Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search rolls into Pittsburgh. The event will be held on Eden Park Blvd., between O’Neil Blvd and the Penn State Campus entrance in McKeesport, from 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day.
During a Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search clinic, USA Luge coaches and athletes teach youngsters the basics of riding a luge sled, including position, steering and stopping. Armed with the basics, the young athletes make several runs on a wheel-equipped luge sled. Finally, the youngsters measure their physical skills through a battery of fitness tests.
Those who show the most promise at the clinics are invited to train in Lake Placid, N.Y.; or Park City, Utah. They also will be considered for the 2008-09 USA Luge development team.
Currently, most of USA Luge’s national team are graduates of the Slider Search, including Brian Martin of Palo Alto, Calif., a 1998 Olympic bronze and 2002 Olympic silver medalist; and Tony Benshoof of White Bear Lake, Minn., who competed in both the 2002 and 2006 winter games and who is also USA Luge’s most decorated singles slider. The Search also produced eight members of USA Luge’s 2006 Olympic team, including the entire three-member women’s squad: Erin Hamlin of Remsen, N.Y.; Samantha Retrosi of Saranac Lake, N.Y.; and Courtney Zablocki of Highlands Ranch, Colo.
The cost is $15 per youngster and includes a Verizon USA-Luge T-shirt. For complete information and to register for the Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search, visit www.usaluge.org or call 1-800-USA Luge. Registrants should arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of each clinic.
USA Luge uses the Verizon-USA Luge Slider Search, now in its 22nd season, as its primary means of recruitment during the warmer seasons for a program whose athletes have captured almost 500 international medals since 1994. Included in that total are silver and bronze medals during the 1998 and 2002 Olympic Winter Games, 25 World Cup victories, four overall World Cup doubles crowns, 16 Junior World Championship titles and 11 Senior World Championship medals.
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