Newtown Luger Named To Junior National Team

Charlie Poarch, an eighth grader at Newtown Middle School, was recently named to the US Junior National Luge Development Team. This team was developed after a nationwide search and comprises athletes — eight girls and four boys — from across the United States. Their training will occur in Lake Placid, N.Y., for three weeks during the summer (on sleds modified with wheels instead of blades) and for an eight- to ten-week stretch during ice time from November through April.

In the summer of 2009, Poarch participated in a slider search in Ridgefield where he got to slide down a hill with a sled that had been modified with wheels instead of blades for three runs, and did a strength and flexibility test.

He was officially invited to Lake Placid to train in April 2009, and again this past April. The most recent time was specifically for a tryout for the Junior National Development Team.

Poarch had the opportunity to live the life of an Olympic luge athlete. He stayed at one of the two United States Olympic Training Centers, the primary training site for many of the top US Olympians. He had a rigorous training schedule: an hour in the gym (including sprints, medicine ball, and circuit training), an hour of start training, two hours sliding on the actual Olympic luge track, and two hours of study time to make up missed school work.

The eighth grader was taught proper start technique on the indoor, refrigerated start ramps at USA Luge’s headquarters, one of only two indoor refrigerated start ramps in North America. Poarch got to experience the sport firsthand, reaching speeds up to 45 miles-per-hour, down the Olympic luge course.