The formal beginning of the Adirondack Luge Club year is just around the corner.
ADK Luge, like USA Luge, begins their membership year on July 1. Before I share
some thoughts as your incoming Club President, I'd like to first encourage
everyone to step forward and take care of the paperwork for membership sooner
than later. While I've been as guilty as the rest at times for holding off
until the last moment, I can also tell you that it's a big relief – and frankly
a little exciting – to get that physical exam out of the way and have that
slider permit in your wallet heading into the fall.

ADK Club Membership forms are available in the "Files" section of our Yahoo
group. Visit:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/adk-luge/

Click on the Files section in the left-hand side of the screen, and there is a
folder for Membership Forms.

Also, all ADK Luge Club members must also be members in good standing with USA
Luge. The forms needed for that are located on the USA Luge web site
http://www.usaluge.org Click on "Try Luge" and select "Become a Member" from
the menu. (However, I don't see that they have the 2009-2010 forms posted quite
yet).

Formalities aside, I'm very excited about what we have on tap for the coming
year. I'd like to share a bit about it and encourage EVERYONE to step forward
and participate.

Coming up this summer, we have our annual Wheels & Start Training Clinic in Lake
Placid. This year, it will take place on Aug 23/24 and we are expecting that we
will have – once again – the pleasure of Ashley Walden serving as our mentor for
the weekend. If you've not been to one of these clinics, it's a fun way to
spend the weekend in Lake Placid at a much warmer time of year, have some fun,
and a way to get the Luge Juices flowing again for the upcoming winter.

Once again, we will also be assisting USA Luge in their Slider Search program.
As the schedule of dates and locations firms up, I will be sharing those dates.
Volunteering to assist in these important recruiting programs is not only a fun
way to spend a day or two, but it also helps fulfill one of the formal club
requirements that we need to address to remain a club in good-standing.

We are working on a larger project for this fall. For the first time, ADK Luge
is looking to host a Fall Race that will not only be open to club sliders, but
will include divisions for the USA Luge Candidate Team (C Team) and Development
Team (D Team). Our intention here is to provide additional race experience to
these important younger sliders as well as give our club sliders the chance to
race in a full-up luge race. We are continuing to work the details with the USA
Luge staff, but once we have dates determined, we will be looking for assistance
in many ways. We will need to arrange for and staff the race official
positions and handle the myriad of logistical details needed to make this race
an "event." More information to follow soon.

We'll of course be working to publish a club sliding schedule as soon as we know
the available dates.

Last year, we made a trip to Igls, Austria. After some discussion with the C
and D team coaches, we would like to plan another trip back to over this season
– to include some members of these teams that the coaches feel would benefit
from some international sliding experience.

If you have interest in making this trip, please speak up and we will begin to
formulate those plans. Dates will be largely driven by track availability, but
I'll be working on that in the upcoming weeks as well.

I could go on and on, but suffice to say that the Adirondack Luge Club continues
to be strong, vibrant, and a source of pride for everyone involved.

Finally, I want to thank Ted Elmendorf for his leadership over the past several
years. Our club came through a very difficult situation about 4 years ago.
Ted stepped forward, albeit reluctantly at first, to serve as President when
there was a very real possibility that the club would not exist if he did not.
While Ted found a certain satisfaction in the job and agreed to stick through
another 2-year term, I will never forget that without Ted, we would not have an
Adirondack Luge Club.

Ted, thank you. I look forward to seeing you on the hill and enjoying the sport
as a slider and an official, unencumbered by additional responsibilities.

Jim Murphy
President-Elect,
ADK Luge