There was some trepidation, and a few declarations of nerves, among the nine kids who approached the Whistler Sliding Centre track on Sunday morning (Nov. 22) for a recruitment camp hosted by the Canadian and B.C. luge associations.

As the young athletes — some of whom were preparing to try out the sport of luge for the first time, and others who had been down the track before and were eager for more — walked up to Corner 13 of the notoriously fast track, and received their instructions from coach Tyler Seitz, there was plenty of excited chatter.

“Being nervous is normal,” Seitz, a former Olympian and World Cup medallist, told his charges, who were between eight and 14 years old.

“I’m extremely nervous,” one young athlete replied cheerfully.

Eight-year-old Gigi Kranjc, who had never slid on the track before, admitted to some butterflies before her first run.

“I think it’s going to be fun, but I’m a bit scared at first,” she said.

But after two runs, Gigi sounded pretty hooked: She said she spent her first run thinking about how fun it was, and how she wanted to go again.

“It was really fun. At first, when I did my first run, I was a bit scared, but then once I tried it, it was really fun,” she said.

Her 10-year-old sister Kat, also a newcomer to the track, said she noticed the cold wind on her face in her first run, and marvelled at the speed her sister reached — both girls slid up to 71 kilometres per hour.

“My sister, wow, she was pretty fast for how light she is,” Kat said.

Soon enough, most of the sliders were asking for big pushes to start their runs, and looking to start from higher in the track. Some of the older participants were keenly watching their speeds, with Annie Mossman declaring she wanted to crack 80 kilometres per hour and emerging with the top speed of the session by hitting 80.42.

Seitz, who serves as coach of the youth luge development program at the Whistler Sliding Centre as well as manager of the track refrigeration plant, said he was glad to see that competitive mindset.

“Obviously she’s very competitive and wants to go as fast as possible, wants to be the fastest. That’s the greatest thing to see,” he said.

The youth program, which started last week, currently has nine members, all of whom are from the Sea to Sky communities. While Seitz said he would like to see the ranks expanded with athletes from elsewhere, so the program doesn’t look like an exclusive Sea to Sky club, he said the corridor kids have taken to luge really well.

“The quality of kids here for sport is just a totally different mindset here. I think the mountain really changes the kids. They’re more active, and they’re more athletic, and more willing to try new things,” Seitz said.

Of the nine participants, seven are returning from the previous year. This season, Seitz said, is going to be more about skill development, with last year’s first season having served as a solid introduction to the sport.

“This year is focused more on actual sport development,” Seitz said, as the athletes will be working through elements and learning techniques like the “small movements on the run that make a big difference in the end.”

Working through the skill development program will help equip the athletes with “the skills to get yourself out of trouble if you make mistakes,” Seitz said.

The Calgary native and former national team member was once in exactly the same position as the lugers he is coaching: He got interested in the sport through a sliding session with a school group before the 1988 Olympics, and after he thought it was the coolest thing ever, his older brother Trevor essentially dared him into joining the team.

When Seitz joined the program at age 12, he became one of the first kids to move through the new youth development program all the way onto the national team. He said the young athletes entering the program now have the advantage of coming into an existing structure that has gotten even better to help them rise through the ranks.

“I’m living proof that you can start at this level and then create a long career out of it,” Seitz said.

For more information about luge and getting involved in the sport, check out luge.ca and bcluge.com.

Sliding Centre by the numbers

Between Oct. 25 and Nov. 15, the Whistler track hosted International Training Weeks for the world’s top bobsleigh, skeleton and luge sliders. The Sliding Centre staff compiled these figures for the training weeks:

• 261 bobsleigh athletes, 73 skeleton sliders and 147 team officials participated in the FIBT training weeks, with 913 bobsleigh and 1,006 skeleton runs taken.

• 151 lugers and 73 team officials participated in the FIL training week, with 2,307 runs taken.

• Teams and officials spent an estimated $1.3 million on meals and accommodations in the Sea to Sky communities over the 22-day period.

• The Whistler Sliding Centre is currently slotted into the FIBT 2010-’11 season as the first World Cup tour stop, and in June 2009 was chosen to host the 2013 World Luge Championships.