From Students to Sochi: Tucker West made right choice chasing luge glory

Imagine this: You're a 13-year-old kid who has to choose between attending a traditional high school or to leave behind your family and friends to follow a distant dream.

Tucker West, now all of 18 years, chose the latter, and at the time what was the hardest decision of his life ultimately became the best decision he's ever made.

West, a native of Ridgefield, Conn., is competing in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games as the youngest male ever to make the U.S. Olympic Luge Team. He decided before his freshman year to attend the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, N.Y., a boarding school for elite athletes.

"Leaving Ridgefield (Conn.) to move up to Lake Placid in order to be able to train year-round was one of the hardest decisions of my life," West said in an email.

West will be competing in the men's singles event, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday (Eastern time) with two runs and then has the final two Sunday beginning at 9:30 a.m.

"I had to leave behind my friends and family and essentially the life I knew back home, all just to pursue a distant dream," he said. "My parents (Brett and Pam) made it easier on me by visiting as much as they could, and showing their utmost support. Looking back on it now, I think that decision was one of the biggest moves of my career, and played a big factor into where I am today."

When it became apparent — say three to four years ago — that West would one day be competing in the Winter Olympic Games, he always told people he was aiming for the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The fact that the 6-foot-1 West is in Sochi speaks volumes to his drive, determination and precociousness.

How did West get so good, so soon? His backstory has taken on Paul Bunyan-sized proportions.

West's passion for the sport began as a 7-year-old while watching the luge competition during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games with his father, who decided to build a luge track in their backyard that same year. And this was no ordinary structure, as the wooden track — which took a full year to complete — ran 750 feet and featured a PA system, weather station, electric timing, an automatic icing spray system and lights for nighttime runs.

Talk about a true home track advantage. West literally spent thousands of hours practicing in his backyard, often inviting his friends and other lugers for competition.

"I would invite my friends over to play on the track in our backyard all the time," West said. "The track was fun, but what made it even more fun was the competitive aspect of going back and forth between times with your friends. Most of my friends loved the track — or at least I think they did — but we'd be on it every weekend, or even on days after school playing on it until it got dark."

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Out of all the U.S. sliders, West has the fastest start, the first component of the luge in which the athlete pulls off the handles and physically accelerates him or herself. West said a good start takes "someone who is very athletic with a strong (and) fast twitch muscle structure. They have to be very aggressive, and always willing to try harder.

"The dynamic for sliding, on the other hand, is very flipped over. One must be very relaxed, confident, and I'd almost say fearless. So the characteristics of a good luger are a mix of all of these, and someone who can transition through these characteristics seamlessly."

Although West is proud of being the youngest male ever to make the U.S. Luge Team, making history was never really on his mind as he attempted to qualify for the Olympics. Instead, he viewed his youth as a positive in terms of honing his craft.

"It is nice to know that I have many years ahead of me to perfect my skills and keep improving in this heavy experience-based sport," he said.

West played several sports growing up, including baseball and soccer, but none of them gave him the satisfaction that the luge did.

"Luge just caught my eye because of the high speeds, the danger, and all of the other extreme sports factors that play into it," West said. "Who knows? Maybe I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie deep down. I guess I should also probably add that I wasn't good at any of the sports that I tried, but luge for whatever reason clicked for me."

West is a three-time USA Luge start champion, and the track at Sochi is considered one where a strong start is particularly vital. In terms of his Olympic goals, West said he's already achieved success by qualifying for the Games four years ahead of his own projection.

"When people used to ask me what Games I was aiming for, I would always tell them 2018," he said. "So now that I am in the 2014 Games, I'm thrilled with my progress, and I'm thrilled with the journey that I took to get there. Going into this race, I'm looking to gain experience more than anything.

"This will be the biggest race I've ever competed in, so it will be good to learn how I react to that and how I can better myself in situations like this in the future. If I put down four clean runs, I'll be happy with my sliding."