Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series Hits the Road Looking For Future Sliders

Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series Hits the Road Looking For Future Sliders

The Official Athlete Recruitment Tour of USA Luge

May 22, 2000

Lake Placid, NY - Youngsters with Olympic aspirations will have the opportunity to experience the thrill of luge and to train with coaches and members of the United States Luge Team when the Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series rolls into eight communities along the East Coast. The series, which incorporates sleds on wheels, runs weekends from June 3 through July 30 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 to 5p.m. daily. The cost is $15 per child and includes a USA Luge T-shirt courtesy of Bell Atlantic. For complete information and to register for the Official USA Luge Athlete Recruitment Tour, log on to www.usaluge.org or call 1-800-USA-Luge.

The entire Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series schedule is listed below:

• June 3-4, 2000, Providence, RI
• June 10-11, 2000, Philadelphia, PA
• June 17-18, 2000, Albany, NY
• June 24-25, 2000, Syracuse, NY
• July 7-9, 2000, Old Westbury, NY (Long Island)
• July 15-16, 2000, Arlington, VA
• July 22-23, 2000, Portland, ME
• July 29-30, 2000, Ashland, MA

USA Luge officials view the Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series as the primary means of recruitment for a national program whose athletes captured silver and bronze medals during the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, as well as a gold medal in the 2000 Inaugural Winter Goodwill Games in Lake Placid, NY.

During a Bell Atlantic Junior Luge Series clinic, sliders are taught by USA Luge National and Olympic team coaches and athletes the basics of riding a luge sled including position, steering and stopping. Once these skills are developed, they make several runs down a paved luge course on wheel-equipped luge sleds. Those who show the most promise at these clinics throughout Bell Atlantic's Northeast and mid-Atlantic region are invited to train on ice next winter. They will also be considered to the 2001-2002 United States Luge Association's Development Team.

Olympic bronze and Goodwill games gold medalist Brian Martin (Palo Alto, CA) is a graduate of the 1987 Junior Luge Series. Nearly all members of the current Junior National team were discovered through this program and have progressed to the level of international luge racing.

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