Elana Meyers lined up behind the 300-pound sled nervously concentrating on her first trip down the chute.

And she was off, sprinting and churning.

There was just one problem: When the pushing was done, how was she supposed to get into the sled?

Instead of letting it and the driver hurl down the chute without her, she did what came naturally: a softball slide through the back of the sled. It might not have been graceful, but it worked.

"It was the completely wrong way to get into a bobsled," she said. "But I've been sliding my whole life, so it helped me to still get in the sled and into the correct position."

A pro softball player turned bobsledder, Meyers, of Douglasville, missed her chance at this year's Summer Olympics. But she intends to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and it seems she has a good shot of getting there.

After just one year of competing in the sport, she was recently named the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation Female Bobsled Athlete of the Year.

Meyers, 23, trains four days a week at Duluth High's track under the guidance of former Falcons wide receiver Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, a friend of her father Eddie Meyers, who played running back for the Falcons.

At age 9, Meyers started a softball career that would make her a decorated athlete at George Washington University.

After a couple of failed attempts at making the U.S. national team, she decided a year of professional softball might help her odds. Still no luck.

When the IOC declared it was cutting softball from the Olympics after the 2008 Games, Meyers was crushed.

"She was pretty disappointed and we were watching the [2006] Winter Olympics and my wife said, 'You can do that and go to the Olympics,'" Eddie said. "And that's when the idea was born."

She started e-mailing the U.S. women's assistant coach and wound up landing a tryout in the first week of September, which consisted of a 30-meter run, a 60-meter run, a vertical run, a shot put toss and five consecutive long jumps. She didn't even look at a bobsled.

"They save that," she said.

She had her first practice run at Lake Placid, N.Y., one month later.

Meyers was a bundle of nerves before her first trip down the chute, and the feeling escalated when she almost missed her ride. Her father tried to calm her down before her first race by reminding her that she loves roller coasters.

"I asked her how it went and she said, 'Remember how you said it can't be worse than a roller coaster? It's a lot worse than going down a roller coaster,'" he recalled.

She officially raced as a brakeman for the first time in late October at the Park City Team Trial.

Her parents were miles away, "tickled pink" and high-fiving each other as they huddled by their computer to watch their daughter's first event.

Since then, Meyers has competed everywhere from Lake Placid to Altenberg, Germany. She said the toughest thing to get used to has been the cold weather.

When she went to Lake Placid for the first time, she didn't own a winter coat. No boots or snow pants, either, which elicited incredulous looks from her teammates.

It's been so cold that the hairs in her nose and her eyelashes have frozen. Her reaction?

"We started taking pictures."

Today, sporting hot pink shades and a sweat-drenched charcoal Team USA T-shirt, Meyers said she has grown to like the snow.

"I think it's gorgeous," she said. "I miss it, actually."

She hasn't completely given up on softball and still takes hitting lessons.

"I'm trying to stay in the game as much as possible, but my main focus is the 2010 Olympics," she said. "I'm going to do everything I can do to make those Games."

In an effort to do just that, she contacted Johnson, best known as the godfather of touchdown celebrations.

Having never trained a bobsledder, Johnson researched for training tips on the Internet.

"The training they do is a lot like training for football and basketball," he said. "Everything is explosive."

Meyers trains four days a week lifting weights and running sprints. That will continue until September when Meyers hopes to reach her goals of running a 3.8 40-meter time and building enough strength to push the 300-pound sled without hurting her speed time.

If Meyers wins gold, Johnson said her celebration moves will be all her own.

"Mine are a little too antiquated," he said, grinning. "But I think that would be a joyous occasion for her and her team, so she's going to have to do something that's done in pairs."