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PLATTSBURGH — Courtney Yando's nerves poked her confidence as she raced face-up, feet-first, down the pavement on a sled on wheels.
But six runs later, she knew it was only the beginning.
She was right, as USA Luge informed the 11-year-old she'd earned a spot at a screening camp in Lake Placid and a shot at becoming a member of a junior development team. USA Luge's athletes are mostly graduates of such programs, these days.
"I want to get as good as I can get and go to the Olympics," said Courtney, a sixth-grader at Chateaugay Central School.
'FUN TO TRY'
Her father, Gary, came across an advertisement for the Slider Search, held at Clinton Community College last September, and encouraged his daughter to try it out.
"I had never done it before," Courtney said. "But I thought it would be fun to try it."
Luge is a one- or two-person sled, which athletes steer by flexing the runners with the calves or exerting shoulder pressure to the seat as they race against a timer.
The sport originated in Switzerland in the mid to late 19th century and debuted in the Olympics in 1964.
Athletes race over artificially refrigerated, iced tracks at speeds averaging 120 to 160 kilometers per hour.
SEARCH ON
The USA Luge Slider Search is a nationwide athlete-recruitment tool established in 1985 to identify and train athletes age 11 to 14 for the USA Luge Junior Development Team.
Olympic and National Team coaches and athletes teach aspiring athletes the basics of riding a luge sled and guide them as they start on a 14-foot-high portable ramp and take several runs down a paved course on luge sleds equipped with wheels at speeds up to 25 mph.
"I thought it was a little weird to see the training sleds," said Courtney, who participated in a Slider Search at CCC. "But you go pretty fast."
She and the other participants also underwent a battery of fitness tests.
SEVERAL FROM AREA
Individuals who show promise are invited to screening camps to try luge on ice at Lake Placid or Park City, Utah.
Last October, Courtney's father handed her an envelope.
"I was so excited that I got into the camp," she said.
Other area youths invited to attend the camp, which ran Nov. 1 to 8, were Gabriel Chamberlain of Plattsburgh, Liam Chaskey of Plattsburgh, Colden Mrak of Beekmantown, Brianna Munoz of Lake Placid and Sierra Meads of Saranac Lake.
They could one day become members of the Senior National and Olympic Luge teams.
"Basically, the screening camps are their first introduction on ice," said USA Luge Coach Duncan Kennedy. "The screening camps are a good way to see how athletes work in a team environment.
"It is our main feeder program."
BUSY DAYS
Their day while at the camp started at 8 a.m., with the young athletes heading to the training center to work on starting for the luge.
At 9 a.m. they hit the gym to throw medicine balls, stretch, run and more, and at 10 they had free time until lunch at 11 or went to the gym again.
At 11:45 a.m. they did runs at the luge track, while part of the afternoon was reserved for study hall and homework before dinner.
Racing down the luge track was "awesome," said Courtney, who noticed herself improving as the days passed.
Her sixth-grade class at Chateaugay took a trip to Lake Placid one day to watch her.
LOOKING AHEAD
In early spring, the youths should learn whether they have earned a spot on a junior development team.
Brian Martin, a 1998 Olympic bronze and 2002 Olympic silver medalist, was discovered in a Slider Search in 1987, and current women's world champion Erin Hamlin came up through the program.
"One of the biggest issues recruiting athletes this young is we don't know how big they are going to be," Kennedy said. "It really is a roll of the dice, and we are looking to see how they perform in physical training and sliding and to see their desire."
Sometimes USA Luge can spend a few years on a young athlete only to find out he or she is not getting big enough to handle the sport as an adult.
Still, the Slider Search is largely the default program to get into the sport.
"I never thought I would do something like this before," Courtney said. "I never had the thought come into my mind."
E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com
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