Riverpigs visit USA Luge training facility and hit the ice
Dan McClelland
by Rich Rosentreter
The Tupper Lake Riverpigs took a break from the baseball season on August 3 - a day before their playoff loss that ended their year - to visit the USA Luge training facility in Lake Placid, where they met Olympic athletes and took a slide down the luge practice ice track.
Jayson Terdiman, who competed on the USA National Luge Team in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia and the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea (he missed a Bronze Medal by 0.1 seconds) led the tour when the Riverpigs arrived - and he appreciated having the baseball team as guests.
“I think it’s great any time somebody who doesn’t know what luge is gets a chance to come in, to see the sport, experience the sport, talk to myself and my teammates and get a little understanding,” Terdiman said following the players tour of the facility. “We’re a niche sport, so it’s not well-known, but we sure are an exciting one, and I think that the more people that can get introduced to the sport, the more fans we can create - and I’m a big baseball fan, so having a baseball team here is great for me.”
The experience at the luge was fun for the players, many of whom never even heard of the winter sport - but it took the president and director of the league to lead the way as no one wanted to be the first one to slide down the icy track - even after an expert lesson and pointers from the USA luge athletes. It was Eddie Gonzalez who was the first to brave the track - and he spoke to the Free Press right after his bold move.
“I’ve got to show everybody who’s got guts and glory here. They’re all chickens and didn’t want to jump in,” he said, saying he was not worried or nervous going down. “It was awesome. I was more worried about what to with my hands without gloves more than anything. I was happy to know that when I got off, they told me everybody who tries for the first time falls, and I didn’t fall. Nobody was lining up to go, but now it looks like I got them started.”
He agreed the players were probably saying to themselves: “If Eddie could do it, I could do it.”
Then one of the Riverpigs star players was the first to follow the lead - it was Edward Salcedo, who also spoke about his experience after a successful run.
“That was a lot of fun, it was great,” he said, and then was asked what made him the first player to go. “I don’t know, I just wanted to try it. I am enjoying myself here, but I was a little nervous.”
“It was way faster than I thought it was going to go, and I actually didn’t bang into the boards. It was impressive - from my own end. It felt really good, it was a lot of fun. This is awesome,” Ron Krsolovic said, saying he felt an adrenaline rush on the sled. “I’ve never done anything like this, and I think nobody here has ever done anything like this, so it’s definitely different, and there’s definitely a lot of nerves that go through you when you do something that you’ve never done before.”
He said it helped that Eddie had led the way. “Yes, it helped a lot to see somebody go and not get hurt,” he said.
Then the floodgates were open as more of the Riverpigs slid down the ice and afterwards shared their thoughts on the ride.
“It was sweet, the first time down I was hitting the sides and I was burning my arm a little but it was pretty fun. It was quick, it’s hard to keep yourself straight on the way down. It was fun though. All the guys were buzzing,” Magglio Ordonez Jr. said. “A lot of then didn’t even know it existed, so it was pretty eye-opening.”
He said many of the players were still talking about the experience after they returned to Tupper Lake and gained a greater respect and appreciation for the luge athletes.
“We were looking at competitions on Youtube to see what they actually looked like, and they were going about eighty-miles-per hour, it was crazy,” he said. “You don’t know the sport until you actually meet the athletes in person and talk to them and they explain what it is.”
Ordonez surmised it has to be more difficult for the luge athletes since they don’t have anything similar to a baseball league. “I think it’s harder because they have to prepare for the Olympics. We looked at the athletes and thought those are tough guys and gals once you see what they have to do. They put a lot of amazing work into their craft and it was amazing to see.”
He also said that a new connection was established as he and Jayson Terdiman now follow each other on the social media platform Instagram.
Ordonez also said he told father- who played in the majors with the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers, about the luge experience - and his senior also had no idea what luge was.
“He thought it was really cool,” Magglio said, adding that he has no inspiration to pursue becoming a luge athlete. “It’s way too cold and way too fast.”
Cody West said he had a good time and felt confident in his luge form.
“I was searching for the handles a little bit, but I feel like my overall launch was pretty solid,” he said. “If baseball doesn’t work out for me, I’ll be luging.”
“I just wanted to stay as straight as possible because I saw so many others hitting the walls. It was a smooth ride,” Drew Thomas said, adding he too had an adrenaline rush. “Now I want to go again because I was trying to go easy and not go too fast, next time I want to let loose!”
“It was a thrill-seeking experience. It was pretty cool,” Joey Skov said, adding it felt natural, although he delayed going down because of his size. “I actually didn’t think I’d fit in the sled, I had to bend my knees a little bit. It’s awesome, this team-bonding is always a great time.”
Khalyd Cox was more analytical in his description of the luge experience - he had stayed straight while cruising down the track, unlike most of his teammates - and he attributed that to remaining calm.
“It felt good first, but when you push yourself off at the start, it’s a little tougher than you think, then it’s more of a hill and you pick up speed and let the luge do the work,” Cox said. “If you get a little heckity or whatever you want to call it, that’s when the bad stuff happens, you can’t steer it and you hit the wall. Maybe I had a little bragging rights for being able to keep the sled straight. You just put it in your back pocket and just try to have as much fun while doing it - and that’s a good way to go about life I guess.”
Luge athletes
The Riverpigs weren’t the only ones enjoying themselves during the visit - the luge athletes, all members of the USA National Luge Team, were having an equally good time.
Jonny Gustafson gave the Riverpigs a quick lesson on riding the luge down the track - said introducing fellow athletes to a new sport was something he enjoyed.
“It’s cool. I always like to see people when they try luge for the first time, even if it’s just pulling a start like we’re doing here. It’s become so ingrained for us as far as technique, and it’s cool to see people from another sport who have no idea about the sport, to see what their approach is,” he said. “I could definitely tell that they were a little nervous. They all think it’s going to be so fast, but this is only about one percent of what the track is actually like. It’s always fun watching people get over their nerves and try it out.”
“I love people to try luge, I mean I love the sport so much and it’s nice to see other people trying it out,” Gustafson said, adding that some of the Riverpigs handled themselves just fine on the sleds and some even got better in a second run.
“I would say a couple did. Some had some pretty good pulls for a first time,” he said. And his grade? “Oh, definitely an A for sure. For beginners, they impressed. They did great.”
Sophie Kirkby, who recently joined the double circuit on the luge team, said she too had a good time hosting the Riverpigs.
“It’s definitely interesting, not too many people actually know what the sport is, so it’s great to see some people have a common interest in what we do,” she said. “It felt great just knowing that other people appreciate what we do.”
Teammate Ashley Farquharson agreed.
“It’s always fun. Usually we get families of people that don’t really know much about sports in general, but it’s cool having other athletes here with us because they can relate to things more than an average person can,” she said adding that she can relate to the apprehension the players had hitting the sled.
“I’m always a little nervous at being first to go, but when you have a good time, you always want to go again,” she said - and she like having the team as guests. “I really enjoyed it.”
Terdiman along with his luge teammates said they especially enjoyed seeing all the smiles on the Riverpigs faces.
“That was great, watching them come back between the start ramps, everybody was smiling - I love seeing that, people are having a good time when they’re smiling. I see luge as one of the greatest things you can do for fun, and to get to experience that even just a small bit like they did is awesome,” Terdiman said. “I love doing this kind of stuff, being an ambassador for the sport is one of the better perks, and I get to meet some great people - these are competitive ballplayers and we can relate on that level of being athletes and being competitive, and it’s great to be around like-minded people.”
And the Riverpigs appreciated their hosts.
“It was great because for me that was new, I had never seen that before, and to be there with professionals who were in the Olympics, it was a great experience,” Salcedo said, adding that the team was still talking about the experience on the way home - and probably will be for years to come.
Eddie Gonzalez summed up the visit to the USA Luge facility.
“Any time you can get the entire group of guys together, it’s a wonderful experience, it’s always good for bonding, but it’s even better that we’re dealing with competitive sports, taking a tour of this Olympic facility and training facility. It opens eyes and it inspires these guys. It may be a little too late to start learning how to get into the Winter Olympics, but it will inspire them in their sport of baseball and setting goals for the future. So overall, it was a great experience, team bonding and just for them as individuals.”
As far as Olympic history: “They’re definitely going to know it now if they didn’t know it - and just listening to these guys (luge team) speak, and hear them talk about the history of the sport and the Olympics and how long they’ve been here, I’m sure it’s something that’s very educational for them.”
Riverpigs Manager Jonathan Albaladejo echoed that thought.
“Having fun is a part of being a team like this, it brings us together and I’m very happy that we got to do this today,” he said.