USA Luge is ultimately governed by the National Luge Committee, known as the NLC.   The NLC meets once per year to elect officers to the Executive Board, approve the annual budget, and address any issues of policy, appointments to committees, and other business.

 

The clubs are an integral part of the USA Luge structure, with each club being afforded a voting seat on the NLC.   Per our club By-Laws, the President of the Club is our designee to the NLC.   In the event that the President is unable to attend, the position falls to the Vice-President, which is why I attended this meeting this weekend in Lake Placid.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

 

The NLC , following the elections held this weekend, now consists of numerous representatives and officers, some voting and some non-voting.   The first set of members are the Executive Board:

 

                President – Dwight Bell

                Vice President – Larry Page

                Treasurer – Lin Hancock

                Secretary – John Fee

                Athlete Reps – Ashley Walden, Mark Grimmette

                Non-Athlete Rep – Vacant

                USOC Athlete Advisory Council – Brenna Payne

                Past National President  - Doug Bateman

                National Team Committee Chairman – Frank Masley

 

There are also 4 members voted by the NLC membership at large:

 

                Active Athlete – Erin Hamlin

                Education Professional – Gerry Tate

                General – Gigi Jenkins

                General – John Mowry

 

An additional 4 members are elected by the Executive Board:

 

                Formerly Active Athlete – Zianibeth Shattuck-Owen

                Active Official – Sandy Maddox

                General – Frank Masely

                Genera – Ted Minde

 

The Club Presidents also have seats:

 

                Adirondack – Ted Elmendorf (represented by Jim Murphy)

                Muskeogon – Dan Girvan

                Upper Peninsula – Fred Anderson (represented by Elmer Rinehart)

                Wasatch – Jason Carone

 

Finally, there is an Ex-Officio non-voting position for the USA Luge Executive Director, Ron Rossi.

 

Some of the people listed here were serving in several roles, but they only get a single vote per person.

 

The only substantive change in the NLC was that the position of Vice President was previously held by Tim Wiley.   An election took place between Tim and Larry Page, with Larry winning the seat.   Larry was previously on the Executive board as a Non-Athlete Representative, so that seat is currently vacant.

 

A special election for that seat will be held in the coming months.

 

 

FINANCIAL OVERVIEW

 

With the reduction in Verizon sponsorship, and the general economic climate, probably the largest challenge facing USA Luge leadership was how to fund and budget operations for the upcoming year.     The end-effect is that we approved a balanced budget for USA Luge for 2009-2010 of $2.5M.   This was greatly helped by a grant from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) of just over $1M – which was an increase of about 30% over last year.

 

Many people attribute this to the results achieved during World Championships last Feb, lead by the Women's Gold Medal earned by Erin Hamlin.

 

Another improved and growing area of revenue is private donations.   This category of cash donations has increased to over $100,000 for the upcoming year.

 

 

SPORTING OVERVIEW

 

Various committees and councils reported their activities from the previous year, most of which include ongoing relationships with organizations such as the USOC and the International Luge Federation (FIL).

 

Some highlights that stood out to me include:

 

There was quite a bit of discussion about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics.  The track has proven to be exceedingly fast, with Felix Loch of Germany setting a record 153.9 kph speed (95.6 mph).   There is general concern about the speed, particularly in light that this high speed is an error.    The FIL has been in touch with VANOC and it turns out that a software error in the design stage led to a track that was much faster than it should have been.   The FIL has actually sent the plans for the Sochi track (2014 Olympics) back to the Russians for further refinements.  They have taken the position that they will not approve a track that exceeds a planned speed of 135 kph.

 

While many U.S. Officials have volunteered to attend the Games, the Canadians have not selected any to be part of the officiating staff.    The only American with an official position for the games is Zianibeth Shattuck-Owne.   "Z", as she's known, was appointed by the FIL as a member of the Jury.

 

Congratulations Z!

 

The National Team Committee has approved a change in USA Luge physical testing standards.   In conjunction with Strength Coach John Kaus, the committee approved an updated testing standard that promotes sport-specific training instead of training "to the test" – especially when those activities were counter-productive to the sport of luge.   For example, aerobic activities such as the 300 meter run have been removed and replaced with anaerobic measurements such as a 30-meter sprint.   This was noteworthy, especially for some female atheletes.  Ashely Walden explained that many of the women are trying to put on muscle weight, but the longer distance running was making that difficult, and promoting lean muscle instead of fast twitch muscle.    Another change is the replacement of sit-ups with a static plate hold, promoting the strength and muscles used to maintain proper racing position.

 

Preparations are still underway for the Inaugural Youth Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria in 2012.   Planning is currently still underway between the IOC and FIL, but Luge events will appear to have about 70 athlete slots for the participating countries, with the exact ages still underway, but the current thinking is ages 14-18.

 

On the lighter side, Ron Rossi's report from the FIL Executive Board included a comment from the FIL directed at European Cup Hornschlitten sliders.   If you're not familiar with Hornschlitten, or Horn Sleds, … well, Google it or do a search on You Tube.  It kind of defies description.   Anyhow, the FIL has reminded competitors "that they should not be going down the track with beers in their hands."

 

On that note, I submit my report to you with the next annual NLC meeting scheduled for Saturday June 12, 2010.

 

It is my hope that we will be celebrating several Olympic medals during that meeting.

 

Jim Murphy