RBC Training Ground Opens Doors to New Generation of Canadian Tobogganers
So nearly everyone is aware of the Grade 10 student’s racing passion. But when Luka announced to his pals at Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School in Courtenay, B.C., that Luge Canada had decided to fast-track him into the world of sliding?
“I think they were a little bit surprised.”
Luka pauses. “I was surprised, too. I didn’t know that I’d become a luger.”
Any astonishment on the kid’s part can be easily explained.
One year ago in Victoria, Luka participated in a regional showcase of RBC Training Ground, the highly regarded identification camp that brings together budding athletes and scouts from national sport organizations.
Knowing that representatives from a wide range of pursuits — such as volleyball, wrestling, squash and skeleton — were on site, Luka pushed through a day of tests designed to measure power, speed, strength and endurance.
And, really, who knew what would come of it? “I had zero idea,” says Olivier, his dad. “His attitude — very positive, very self-driven — maybe shined through a little bit. Other than that, I had no idea who would be interested.”
As it turned out, it was Luge Canada’s talent assessors who saw something they liked. They approached the 5-foot-10 Luka, then 14.
“Our interest was based on a combination of his general excitement and positive attitude he brought naturally and towards luge and the adrenaline-fuelled rush of the sport,” explains Sam Edney, high-performance director of Luge Canada. “That partnered with his experience (from mountain biking) of what we call the ‘racing line’ — that ability to understand how to get more speed out of a driving line — which should pay off in the long run as he gets more experience with the fundamentals of luge.”
Only a couple of months later — and despite knowing nearly nothing about the sport — Luka was in Whistler, B.C., careening down the ice-less track on a roller sled during a summer camp.
“It was pretty fun, not too scary,” he says. “I’m sticking with it and seeing where it will take me. I’m sure the more I do it, the more fun it’ll be, and the more I’ll get involved.”
Soon after, Luka received an invitation to compete at the RBC Training Ground finals in November in Halifax. Test results there placed him among the top 30 of the 100 athletes in attendance. The distinction was well-earned.
“I trained really, really hard,” says Luka. “I woke up at 5 every morning before school, trained, got back from school, trained again, and repeated that for a whole month. I was very disciplined. I knew it was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity and I wanted to make the most of it and not wish that I could’ve trained more.”
Now, officially, Luka is a summertime mountain biker and a wintertime luger, with the blessing of his parents.
In fact, it had been his dad who first learned about RBC Training Ground, before signing up Luka and his older brother William, a road cyclist.
“Being in sports my whole life, obviously, I would’ve loved to go to the Olympics,” says Olivier, a mountain biking competitor who participated in World Cup downhill events in the early-2000s — and still races. “I saw commercials for RBC Training Ground and I’m like, ‘This is a really, really good opportunity for the kids to be exposed. Maybe they have potential. There’s nothing to lose.’ For me, the Olympics is the top you can achieve as an athlete. I would be super proud if either of my kids got there one day, if that is what they want.”
Now, thanks to that program, Mom and Dad are learning about the fastest sport on ice — and how it feels to see your boy rocket feet-first down a track.
“As a mother, I worry about all things — that’s my default setting,” says Rebecca, laughing. “So, I have to talk myself out of worrying sometimes. But they only get the green light to go higher up the track when they’re ready. I feel it’s pretty safe.”
It would seem, for success in mountain biking and now luge, there is one ever-present quality. Fearlessness. Olivier, though, politely disputes that characterization of Luka — even if his son, casted, is currently nursing a broken scaphoid after a snowboarding mishap.
“The good thing about Luka is that he is not fearless. He understands the limits and the danger,” says Olivier. “The first time he tried a big drop with his mountain bike, he didn’t go blindly. He went up, I heard him breathing for two minutes — he was just thinking about his technique and how to do it — and then he did it. For him it’s calculated risk.”
Which makes the 15-year-old ideally suited to this fresh challenge.
Luka, who attended Luge Canada camps in December and February, is pleased to have been hand-picked and welcomed into the sport’s developmental stream. He’s embarked on a multi-year strategy called Track to Podium, a pilot program for promising athletes.
“It’s well-organized and it’s all planned out,” he says. “It’s a cool sport and I’m excited to get better. I’m pretty happy and fortunate.”