COCHRANE— The tradition of athletic excellence at Cochrane High School continues, as Team Canada has recruited Grade 9 student Bastian van Wouw.
The 14-year-old was recruited into Team Canada’s NextGen Luge Team at the end of 2020, and recently returned from his first experience with the group of Olympic hopefuls, a six-week training camp in Whistler, B.C.
It was a big step for the young Cochranite, who has only been involved in the sport for two years.
Bastian said the experience in Whistler was challenging, but overall a positive experience.
“Every Sunday we would have a race, so we had six races, and then we were in the gym lifting weights twice a week,” he said. “It was lots of hard work. We were on ice five days a week.”
On their days off, Bastian said, the team would go cross country skiing.
Bastian went into the camp with some personal goals, and some that his coaches laid out for him.
“He got us to set our goals, and then he gave us his goals— What he wanted us to accomplish by the end of the year. I got to where I wanted to be and he was happy with what I did while I was there.”
Bastian said he wanted to reach a higher start height, which he did, and his sliding developed over the course of the camp as well.
This year would have taken Bastian around the globe, to competitions in Europe and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 put a stop to those opportunities.
“It’s kind of annoying and frustrating,” he said.
Bastian first became involved with the luge team at Canada Olympic Park in 2018. He said he was skiing at the park when he noticed a poster calling for people to get involved.
“I thought I’d go try it and I’ve been in it ever since,” he said. “I had never heard of it before and it’s different from anything anybody else I’ve known has done.”
Once he tried luging, he fell in love with the excitement and speed of the sport. His top speed last year clocked in at 133 km/h.
“It feels very fast. Everything is coming at you pretty quick,” he said.
Bastian said he hopes to go on to compete in world cups and eventually make it onto Canada’s Olympic team, representing his home country on the world stage.
He has a good foundation in the sport, he said, thanks to the coaches who have helped him make the transition from the Alberta Luge Association to the Canada Luge Association.
“It’s great, they help with school if you need it, they’re there to help me with my career if I have questions about anything, they’re there to help me with it,” he said. “They showed us how to do everything so when we got to this level, we had few questions for the coaches. Obviously, it does develop more and there are new things that come in as you get older. All the new things, our coaches have been great telling us about, but all of the stuff that we needed to know when we were younger and just coming into the sport the coaches in ALA were very helpful with that.”
The six-week training camp at Whistler overlapped with Bastian’s school year, but he said his teachers at Cochrane High have been very accommodating, working with him online to make sure he stays on track academically.
“The teachers that I’ve had at Cochrane High this year have been phenomenal, helping me with my school work even though I’m not there,” he said. “They’ve been very, very helpful with all of that, giving me the work, and if I have any questions, they’ve been there to help me with that.”
Bastian’s season is officially over now, and he has two weeks off before preparation begins for next season.
He’ll be back to conditioning and practicing in March
