NASHUA – As a kid, Chuck Berkeley didn’t have to wake up before dawn to shuttle to practice across town, back and forth, year after year.

His family didn’t spend gobs of money on sports equipment or enroll him in traveling leagues or elite development programs. He was not scouted or recruited or otherwise wooed.

In fact, Berkeley never laid a hand on a bobsled until three years ago – at age 31.

But this week, he will represent the United States in Vancouver at the Olympic Games, the biggest sports stage there is.

You think that’s overwhelming for Chuck?

Try his mom.

“He was a rookie, not knowing the first thing about it,” said Therese Berkeley, a Nashua resident of 15 years, speaking from her living room on Saturday afternoon. “And now, he’s an Olympian. … What a dream to want to do this and actually make it.”

She paused and glanced at her television screen, tuned in to a women’s aerial event.

“I keep thinking maybe I’ll get a shot of him on there!” Berkeley said.

Her son’s surreal story begins in Pittsfield, Mass., where Therese and her late husband, Charles, raised their three kids.

Young Chuck was “hyperactive,” his mother said with a laugh. “He drove me insane. He always had to be doing something.”

That included doing wheelies on his bike (once resulting in a concussion); jumping out a second story window at his house (injuring an ankle); and sliding down the hood of his father’s silver, 1973 Corvette Stingray. (He was playing Superman, okay?)

Chuck Berkeley channeled that energy into more productive pursuits in high school, where he began a successful track career. After graduating, he went west, eventually making his way to the University of California Berkeley on a track scholarship.

But after that, Berkeley’s athletic quests took a back seat to family – he had two daughters – and a career in real estate out in California.

Three years ago, Therese Berkeley’s son learned of another University of California track athlete who made the jump to bobsledding. On a whim, he decided to do the same.

“He was fast,” she said. “He was strong. He was physically fit.”

Chuck Berkeley headed to Utah for a test run in April 2007.

She remembered his report back to her after his first bobsled run.

“He could not believe it,” she said, adding that his initial response was, “ ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die. I’m crazy.’ ”

“Crazy” was also what his parents thought.

“I’m thinking, ‘What is he doing?’ ” Therese Berkeley said. “But he seemed very focused, and he put everything into it.”

Charles Berkeley, her husband, was also a big inspiration to their son.

“He always told Chuck, ‘Don’t be a wannabe or a coulda-been. Just do it. You’ll regret it if you don’t do what you really want,’ ” Therese Berkeley said.

A month after Chuck Berkeley’s first bobsled run, his father died of lung cancer. It was hard on the whole, tight-knit family, Therese Berkeley said, but it may have propelled her son to go for his dream.

Chuck Berkeley rose quickly in the sport, joining the World Cup team as a “pusher,” the guy who runs like crazy to drive the sled at the top of the run. His two-man team did well all over the world.

In 2008, Berkeley competed in Lake Placid, N.Y. It was the first time Therese Berkeley went to see her son in action.

“I had no idea what they do except climb on top of a mountain, jump into something and go down this track,” Berkeley said. “When I saw him go down that track, I thought, ‘What is this boy doing?’ The sled is this skinny little thing with two grown men in it.”

Berkeley said it was a thrill to see her son stand behind the sled, run, hop in behind the driver and fly.

“I had no clue how fast they actually go,” she said. “I asked Chuck, ‘Do you go 50 or 60 miles an hour?’ He said, ‘No, ma. We range between 80 and 90 miles an hour.’ ”

She joked, “He picked one of the craziest sports, if you ask me. Couldn’t he have done volleyball?”

This past year, Berkeley’s two-man team won a gold medal at Lake Placid, paving the way for a shot at the Games.

Late last year, Therese Berkeley was in her car – actually in a car wash – when she got a call from her son. He had qualified for the Olympics, and would push the four-man bobsled in Vancouver.

Therese Berkeley started screaming then, and she’s been on a high ever since.

“I’ve not been able to sleep, and I have butterflies and jitters in my stomach,” said Berkeley, who has worked for six years at St. Joseph Hospital. “I must’ve told every patient I know.”

Then, there are the nerves.

At the start of the Games, she received a text from her son reporting the death of the Georgian luge athlete who died during training on the Whistler Track. She asked her son about his own level of training on the dangerous track, and was reassured.

“The guys are very confident in their driver, and my son has good sense,” Berkeley said. “If he thought his life was in danger, he wouldn’t be getting in the sled.”

Still, Berkeley added, the possibility of crashing is always in the back of her mind. But she pushes that aside, putting her faith to work.

“I say, ‘Lord keep him safe, but let him be first,’ ” Berkeley said, laughing. “If it’s not asking too much, give him a gold medal.”

Medal or no, Berkeley is proud of her son for his sacrifice and accomplishment. She’ll travel to Vancouver with her two daughters and brother to see her son race this Friday and Saturday.

“I asked him if he had any predictions,” Berkeley said. “It was kind of a silly question. He said, ‘Ma. There is no prediction. We’re here for the gold.’ ”

Karen Lovett can be reached at 594-6402 or klovett@nashuatelegraph.com.