NLC meeting for this year was held at OTC in Lake Placid on 7 June.
The biggest item of note is a $400000 decrease in USLA's operating
budget for the coming year due in large part to Verizons continued
withdrawal from sponsorship. It could have been quite a bit worse, but
the Dimitri and Gordy did a good job on the marketing end and got
quite a few associate sponsors and new donors to do more.

How does this affect us? Directly, probably not as much as we might
fear, however, when our parent organization is stressed in this way,
it cant be good for us as a Club, or for the sport. On the brighter
side, Luge is still in the middle of the pack for funding of the 30 or
so Olympic Winter Sports.

Where will the cuts be made? Ron Rossi didnt present a line specific
document as to what would go or stay, but did say that everything was
on the table, and that USLA would be limited as to what they could
accomplish when compared to the past. We will have to see where this goes.

On the up side, new developments in steels and koufin fabrication are
underway and being tested by the National Team. US Steel and Dow
Chemical are providing these items, and testing so far shows great
promise. As these technologies evolve, we can hope that future
recreational sleds will be that much faster and more comfortable as
some of these ideas trickle down to our level.

Ted Elmendorf