LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – The USA Luge off-season recruiting tour – the White Castle USA Luge Slider Search – has added three more stops during the fall months.
The recruitment series that got underway in the spring will now offer youngsters chances to become members of the USA Luge Junior Development Team when the circuit continues in September and October.
The latest stops are scheduled for:
- Sept 11-12, Medway, Mass. at John D. McGovern Elementary School, 9 Lovering Street
- Sept 25-26, Malvern, Penn. at the St. Gobain facility at 20 Moores Road
- Oct 2-3, Salt Lake City, Utah on Colorow Road between Tabby Lane and Huntsman Way
Earlier stops took place in Green Bay, Wis., Duluth, Minn., and White Castle’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio. These free clinics are for boys and girls 9-13 years of age.
White Castle has been the title sponsor for the Slider Search since 2017. The restaurant chain, America’s first hamburger fast food company, has embarked on a year-long celebration of its 100th birthday which fell on March 10 of this year. The festivities will continue throughout 2021 and include a customer sweepstakes, new team member uniform designs, celebratory menu items and partnerships with iconic lifestyle brands.
This year’s Slider Search schedule, featuring sleds on wheels, will be conducted at all locations with COVID safety protocols in place. Clinics are scheduled daily from 9-11 AM, 12-2 PM and 3-5 PM. Attendees need only to participate in one session. All participants will receive a complimentary slider search T-shirt. Pre-event registration is mandatory and can be completed by calling 1-800-USA-LUGE X 107 or log on to https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Luge/SS-Registration-Form. Positions are filling quickly so please sign up asap.
At all Slider Search stops, the organization will deploy cleaning and sanitizing protocols that were instituted last summer. USA Luge’s five rings of safety protocols during the recruitment season will include:
1. A strict policy of social distancing (six feet at all times)
2. Wearing of face masks is mandatory
3. All sleds, helmets and registration items (pens, clip boards, tables, etc.) will be disinfected after each use with OSHA recommended cleaning products
4. USA Luge will provide hand sanitizer for all participants
5. Attendees are restricted to two adults per youth
“We’re very happy that White Castle is once again partnering with us to find more luge talent for our future teams,” said Gordy Sheer, Olympic silver medalist and Director of Marketing and Sponsorships. “And as we did last year, we have safety procedures to ensure that all will be safe, and will all get ample attention from the coaching staff.”
Once the 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.
Under the guidance of national team coaches, the event will give these youth 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 White Castle USA Luge Slider Search will be invited to learn the sport on ice next winter in Lake Placid on the same track where national team athletes train and compete each season.
Over 250,000 youngsters have been introduced to luge in this program since its inception over 35 years ago.
An Olympic sport since 1964, luge consists of athletes sliding down a track of ice on sleds at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour. The White Castle USA Luge Slider Search clinics will have kids luging at much slower, more introductory speeds on the wheeled luge sleds. Participating “sliders” (a name given to luge athletes and the iconic White Castle burger) will receive guidance at each clinic from National and Olympic team athletes, giving each young participant professional instruction and inspiration.
More information can be found at https://www.teamusa.org/usa-luge/slider-search, including the full schedule of summer and fall slider search locations.
About White Castle®
White Castle, America’s first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty Sliders as a family-owned business for 100 years. Based in Columbus, Ohio, White Castle started serving The Original Slider® in 1921. Today, White Castle owns and operates more than 360 restaurants dedicated to satisfying customers’ cravings morning, noon and night and sells its famous fare in retail stores nationwide. The Original Slider, named in 2014 as Time magazine’s “Most Influential Burger of All Time,” is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted Sliders and other mouthwatering food options, including White Castle’s Impossible™ Slider, named by Thrillist in 2019 as the “Best Plant-Based Fast Food Burger.” White Castle’s commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants, bakeries and frozen-food processing plants. In 2021, 100 years after the first Slider was sold, Fast Company named the fast-food pioneer one of the “10 Most Innovative Dining Companies.” White Castle is known for the legendary loyalty of its team members, more than 1 in 4 of whom have worked for White Castle for at least 10 years, and also for its faithful fans (“Cravers”), many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app, available at iTunes App Store or Google Play, makes it easy for Cravers to access sweet deals and place pickup orders at any time. They can also have their orders delivered using one of White Castle’s delivery partners. For more information on White Castle, visit whitecastle.com.