Come 2022, you might see Silicon Valley kids in the Winter Olympics. Luge coaches from the U.S. National and Olympic teams visited Palo Alto on Sunday to recruit young athletes who might someday take home medals in the sport.
In the nationwide White Castle USA Luge Slider Search, coaches teach 9 to 13-year-olds the basics of riding a luge sled, which includes positioning, steering and stopping. After this, some advance to a training camp, and maybe one day to the Olympic and National teams.
"My parents asked me if you could do any winter sport, what would it be, I said luge. Then a few weeks later, they saw a facebook thing," said 10-year-old Lilly Arnold, on her second year at the event.
The slider search has traveled 220,000 miles and recruited more than 25,000 young athletes since its establishment in 1985.
"There are only two places in the country where there's a track, with the exception of any town that will let us close a hill for the day," said USA Luge Organizer Aidan Kelly, who went to the Sochi Olympics after being discovered in a slider search himself.
Kelly said the U.S. Olympian team finds about 75 percent of its athletes through recruiting events like this one, which are free for all participants.
For example, Erin Hamlin, who was discovered in a 1999 Slider Search, eventually took home the 2014 Olympic bronze and 2009 World Champion titles. Eight athletes from the 2010 U.S. Olympic Luge Team and six on the 2014 U.S. Olympic Luge Team were also recruited through the search.
"If you see it one day and you think maybe I'll give it a try, come on down, because you could be at the very least the only person you know that's tried luge," Kelly said.
KQED's Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.