Humans of Northwood: Raychel Germaine

“I was born in Phoenix Arizona. I moved away when I was two. I moved about thirteen times before I was the age of thirteen. I lived in Germany, the East coast, West coast, North, South, all of it.

I grew up playing soccer, and I was in competitive soccer until I was fourteen when I decided to try out for luge. My dad was on the luge team in the late 80s and early 90s. I came up to Lake Placid from Georgia to try out. I was told that I was too old and too small to make the team. I fought this decision and asked for the summer to prove myself. I went through physical testing and made the team.

Germaine on the podium at a Luge World Cup event. (Photo provided)

I started competing internationally in 2011, I made the youth Olympic Games in 2012 in Innsbruck Austria. After that I made the Junior National Team and competed internationally on the Junior World Cup circuit from 2012-2015 and in 2015 I became the Junior National Champion. I then made the Senior National Team, raced World Cups, and got top tens in a few races.

I tore my shoulder in 2015 and got shoulder surgery. This put me back a lot, I went from being extremely strong and happy about how I was with sliding, to not even being able to put my hair up for a few months. I ended up making the World Cup team that year and World Champs. I was really happy and proud of myself that I was able to go from my lowest times to my highest.

In 2018 I competed for a spot on the Olympic team, but I didn’t make it, and it was one of the hardest years of my life. I thought about quitting but I decided to compete again. I had a really good year competing that year, and was proud of myself for bringing myself up from the bottom to the top. I think a lot of people experience that in their athletic career. You can’t ride the high forever. “