DULUTH, Minnesota — USA Luge will conduct a slider search in Duluth, Minnesota, later this month.

The national organization’s recruiting tour begins its off-season search that will feature sleds on wheels. It’s starting later than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But it will take place this summer as USA Luge determined that people desired to participate in outdoor activities. The search will include new cleaning and sanitizing protocols to help keep participants safe.

The Duluth clinics, held in conjunction with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, are for boys and girls ages 9-13 and will be held at Junction Avenue from East Niagara to West College on Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26. Each day sessions will be held from 9-11 a.m. CDT, noon-2 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. No more than seven youngsters, accompanied by three coaches, will be permitted at each session as each participants need to be at just one session.

Participation is free and each youngster will receive a complimentary White Castle USA Luge Slider Search T-shirt. The hamburger chain is the sponsor of the search tour.

Safety protocols will include a strict policy of social distancing of six feet apart at all times; mandatory face-mask wearing; sleds, helmets and registration items such as pens and clipboards will be disinfected after each use; hand sanitizer will be provided; and a restriction of two adults per youth.

“We’re very happy that Duluth and the university have partnered with us to find more luge talent for our future teams,” said Gordy Sheer, Olympic silver medalist and director of marketing and sponsorships at USA Luge. “Certainly, all of us have encountered new and different times in the past four months, but in reducing the number of children in each clinic, the silver lining is that they will all be safe, and will all get ample attention from the coaching staff.”

Sheer teamed with Marquette native Chris Thorpe at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, to win the first-ever U.S. medal in luge, a silver, in men’s doubles.

Once participants master the ability to maneuver the sled in both directions, they will then slide from the White Castle USA Luge ramp onto the road surface to negotiate a shallow, gentle cone course.

During the free clinics, national team coaches travel each summer and fall looking for future Olympic athletes in the sport. The event can give these youths an opportunity to learn luge and qualify to join the USA Luge Junior Development team. This is the first rung on the ladder to national and Olympic team status.

Children selected from the slider search are invited to learn the sport on ice next winter in either Lake Placid, N.Y., host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics, or Park City, Utah, the 2002 Olympic luge site.

More than 250,000 youngsters have been introduced to luge in this program since its inception nearly 35 years ago.

“The pandemic doesn’t have to dash anyone’s hopes of becoming an Olympic athlete,” White Castle vice president Jamie Richardson said. “This program is helping to keep kids’ dreams alive.”

An Olympic sport since 1964, luge consists of athletes sliding down a track of ice on sleds at speeds in excess of 80 mph. These search clinics have kids luging at much slower, more introductory speeds on the wheeled luge sleds. Participating “sliders” — a name given to both luge athletes and the iconic White Castle burger — will ultimately be considered for the USA Luge Junior Development Team. The coaches guiding each clinic include National and Olympic team athletes, giving each young participant professional instruction and inspiration.

Another search is scheduled for the Green Bay, Wisconsin, area on Aug. 29-30 in Ashwaubenon, with others set in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont later this summer and fall.

For more information, look online at https://www.teamusa.org/usa-luge/slider-search, including the full schedule of summer and fall slider search locations. Participant registration may be completed online or by calling 1-800-USA-LUGE.

For more information on the “Fastest Sport on Ice,” visit www.usaluge.org

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.