The meeting was called to order at 9:08 am by Chairman Art Tokle.

Moved (Warner, Fairall) to accept the minutes of the fall meeting held Saturday, October 7, 2006. Passed.

Reports from this past season

1. Development programs – new ideas: Larry Stone reported that the “new ideas” really referred to some ideas of Joe Lamb who is becoming more active in the local jumping program. However Joe was not at the meeting so no details were available.

2. Training Camps: Matt Cook reported that the Nordic Combined Development Team trained in Lake Placid last fall around the Flaming Leaves weekend and plan to return this year.

3. Eastern Skiers: Larry Stone mentioned that the Eastern Division placed three competitors on the team competing in the World Junior Championships in Tervisio, Italy: Nicholas Fairall, Peter Freire and Chris Lamb. In addition, Larry took a group to Japan including Nick Alexander who jumped well there. Jon Farnham pointed out that the U.S. has eight Nordic Combined skiers in the top 100 in the world.

4. Junior Olympics (J-II) in Park City: Matt recognized Sean Burke, who recently traveled to Alaska, for his valuable assistance during the season. Matt mentioned the problems caused by the ruling not to include a certain eleven year old jumper from the J.O. team, and the Junior Subcommittee members agreed to make sure that, to avoid any repeat, all the qualifying rules are clear and allow for special consideration and demand special care in special cases. The Junior Committee agreed to meet just before the final selections are announced, to make sure that everything is as it should be. However everybody agreed that a written rule regarding age of JO team members would be inappropriate.
   Otherwise, the 2007 JO competition was good, and the Eastern team performed well, including a gold medal performance by Colin Delaney. Art Tokle was TD and credited the hosts with some clever innovations which made the competitions interesting.
   (Next years event will be in Ishpeming.)

5. National Championships in Steamboat Springs: Dan Warner lamented that the National have been in the Rocky Mountains for eight years in a row now. He mentioned that the East may have come away with the on-paper team competition, but that the outcome has not been published. He also criticized the late date for the event, which required hill preparation starting at four am so competition could begin at eight.
   Warner mentioned that there has been some talk of making the National Championships into a summer (plastic) event. He also suggested that if a group of Masters jumpers were to request it, the hosts would be likely to welcome the extra entry fees and be willing to organize a Masters Class in the Nationals.
   Moved (Carter, Dodds) that this Committee go on record as opposing any plan to change the U.S. National Championships from a winter event on snow to a summer meet on plastic. Passed.

6. North American (J-I) Championships in Calgary: Matt Cook reported that major construction next to the jumps disturbed sand which blew onto the track and rocks which rolled onto the landing. Otherwise, the event was not bad, with the Eastern team turning in the best U.S. performance. (Next years event will be in Park City.)

7. Masters Events: Don West reported that the U.S. was represented at the IMC in Hinterzarten by a team of four, while three others entered and bought tickets, but were unable to travel. Warm weather made the events difficult, but the U.S. four brought home two medals.
   The East was represented by five skiers (of a total of 17 competitors) at the U.S. Masters Nationals in Iola, Wisconsin and brought home six medals. This time the weather was so cold that it took the joy out of the event.
   In the East, we had four Master in the Eastern Championships in Salisbury, five on the K-48 at the Empire State Games, and six on the K-50 in Lebanon. Jon Farnham likes to claim that Masters is the largest growing sector in our sport.

8. Nordic Officials: Dan Warner reported on encouraging progress of new officials in training, including Bill Ryan and Martina Lussi. He also mentioned that Eastern officials has some good out-of-division assignments: Art Tokle and Warner were TD’s at JO’s and Nationals, respectively, while Peter Claus judged at JO, Mark Levasseur at Nor-Ams and Jim Carter at Nationals. Dan suggested that the current judging system is good in that it makes the judges accountable for their scores. He also mentioned that we need more up-to-date information on the use of artificial means for hardening snow, including chemicals and compressed gasses.
   The Officials Association will meet in October during Flaming Leaves weekend.

The Nordic Combined World Cup B tour will go to Asia in their first period so Lake Placid will not repeat their December event in 2007-2008. In recent years Joe Lamb and Lamb Lumber have been generous supporters of this event.
Also, Steamboat has begun a July 4 event which will conflict with the traditional Lake Placid competition.

At 10:42 am, the Committee took a short break and resumed work at 11:00.

NEW BUSINESS
Safety requirements: Art Tokle mentioned the coming deadline in 2008 for installation of deflector boards on both sides of inruns and any unsafe side of landings, such as in front of stairs or distance measurers. Clubs might sell advertising on the boards to help pay for installation.

Equipment measurement: Nobody in the U.S. is equipped to certify suits, but many hosts will measure skis and binding placement, and give guidance regarding fit of suits. We will probably not consider body mass index (BMI) but competitors need to know the rules, and should ask officials for clarification if they need it, or ask for measurements if they are concerned. At all SuperTour events, several top finishers and several randomly chosen competitors will be measured. For details, the best source of up-to-date information is Joe Lamb.
Tom Dodds commented that BMI tables are designed for adults and do not apply appropriately to young teenagers.

National Development: The only two USST A-Team jumpers are retiring and the team is not being refreshed at this time. The USST encourages clubs, programs and divisions to form sponsored teams as a development medium for jumpers hoping to reach international level of skills. It is expected that teams will be selected from such groups for important international events. In the past, such regional teams competed for sponsorships against USST and were forbidden to accept sponsorship from companies who competed with USST sponsors. We are told that this rule will be relaxed, so that the teams will have a better chance to gain financial support. The Committee agreed that Jumping needs new strong leadership, separate from USSA/USST if we wish to survive in the new order.

Reduced USSA membership costs for Masters jumpers: Art Tokle had a long conference call on this subject with Luke Bodensteiner, Todd Wilson and Greg Boester, but reports no progress. Our next move should be to submit a particular proposal, all fleshed out, to present at the upcoming meetings in Park City. Jon Farnham agreed to work on that.

FUND RAISING
Sponsors: The committee discussed possible new ways to raise needed funds. It was agreed to look into producing an Eastern booklet (Central Division has produced on for several years), with information and paid ads, that we could distribute at events. It would be similar to programs still produced for some competitions.

Silent Auctions: Marianne Fairall reported that the two silent auctions this year (in Salisbury and Lake Placid) raise approximately $2000 each, and that this activity will be continued.

OPEN AGENDA ITEMS:
Jumping Venues: It doesn’t look good in the near future for activity at the five star jumping facility at Gunstock (Laconia) NH, though Chris Jones speaks of moving there and lighting the fires again.
Brattleboro has scheduled a Harris Hill competition again, after a two year hiatus.
Larry’s NYSEF answering machine had a call from Bill Koch inquiring about how to set up a new junior program in Peru, VT.

At this point, Larry asked Ken Barker to share with the Committee the reason why he arrived a couple of hours late. Ken did, but it will remain an in-group story. (Sorry, ask a member.)

At 12:33 pm, the Committee took a break for lunch, which was efficiently provided by Kim Farnham and Marianne Fairall. Thank you, ladies! Work resumed at 1:00 pm.

Larry Stone mentioned that the NYSEF van is getting old and may not last past one more year. This vehicle supports the NYSEF program and also the broader Eastern travel needs, and someone suggested that it might be easier to obtain sponsors for a replacement if it is an “Eastern” van rather than the “NYSEF” vehicle. Larry will look into the situation and discuss it privately with Committee members and others, and we will consider the question again it at the October meeting.

Financial report: Marianne Fairall distributed a printed report (several pages) and commented on it for the Committee. (Copies available on request.)
Moved (Warner, Farnham) to accept the report as distributed. Passed.
Art Tokle agreed to send a note to Doug Hoffman, expressing the Committee's appreciation for his efforts in keeping track of our finances.

Support for our representatives at the upcoming Park City meetings: Art Tokle, Dan Warner, and either Larry Stone or Matt Cook (perhaps both). Moved(Carter, Norris) to appropriate up to $1200 to help these representatives with their travel and housing costs at the Park City spring meetings. (Distribution may not be equal -- it was anticipated that Warner might receive up to $500 of the total.) Passed.

Election of Officers: Art Tokle called for nominations, in order, for four officers:

Secretary – Don West was the only nominee, and was elected by acclamation.

Treasurer – Doug Hoffman was the only nominee, and was elected by acclamation.

Vice Chairman – Ken Barker was the only nominee (others declined the office) and was elected by acclamation.

Chairman – Art Tokle was the only nominee (others declined the office) and was elected by acclamation.

SELECTION OF JUNIOR SUBCOMMITTEE:
After several years serving as Junior Committee chairman, Jim Carter asked to be replaced. Jon Farnham’s offer to become the chairman was accepted by acclamation. Larry Stone, Matt Cook and Tim Norris will serve on that committee and Jay Daniels, Jenny Frenette and Martina Lussi will be considered as additional members. Jenny Frenette and Martina Lussi were co-leaders of the 2007 JO team and will be asked to continue to serve in that role in 2008.

CLUB NEWS
Andover Outing Club: There is some talk of putting plastic on their ten meter jump. Dan Warner suggested that it might be possible to obtain the plastic to be removed this spring from the Lake Placid 18 meter jump.

Harris Hill in Brattleboro: After two years of no jumping, the four person delegation from the Harris Hill group brought the news that they are committed to building a new tower this year and holding a competition in 2008. They had hoped to create a new inrun up to FIS specifications, but have now decided to rebuild an inrun not much different from the present profile, but with all the modern appointments: modern starts, guideboards, deflections walls and new stairs for the measurers. This news was greeted with applause by the Committee!
When asked what this Committee could do to move things along, Pat Howell suggested that letters of support would help in the job of finding funds to pay for the new construction.
Moved: (Warner, Stone) to donate $5000 to the Harris Hill group to support this project. Passed.
Jon Farnham suggested that we might help by holding work bees at Harris Hill when the project is ready for labor, and Committee members agreed to try to schedule some of these.

Ford Sayre (Hanover): Tom Dodds reported that it was a difficult season, with winter weather arriving in mid-January, and that Ford Sayre numbers are down, with just four junior jumpers and about eleven high school competitors. However, this season a few of the high school skiers turned on to jumping enough to get their USSA cards and compete in a few Eastern meets after the high school season was finished.
It was agreed that the Ford Sayre complex needs a ski play area, but the layout doesn’t lend itself to that.

Newport, NH: Ryan Crawford reported that over the last year, the Newport club had run air and water lines down the landing for ease in making snow. The fire hydrant provides enough pressure that a water pump in not required to make snow.

NYSEF (Lake Placid): Matt Cook said that cross country skiers have been training on the course at the jumps and that he hopes that he might attract some of the racers to try jumping. He is also considering the tactic of using alpine boots and bindings with jumping skis to make some beginners feel more familiar and they try jumping. Lake Placid plastic jumping should start some time in May.
Matt also mentioned that he can use some additional copy for the spring issue of the Eastern newsletter New Heights.
Jon Farnham offered thanks, in the name of Eastern jumping, to Matt Cook and Sean Burke for all that they did and do for our jumping community.

Salisbury, CT: Ken Barker mentioned the need to get into the schools to try to attract new kids to the sport. Larry Stone will travel to Salisbury, where he grew up, to make some presentations in schools. In addition, Ken says that they will try to liven up the ambience at practice sessions with music.
The Salisbury Winter Sports Assn (SWSA) is engaged in a long term project to build a new, modern tower, and this year they plan to improve the road that leads to the back of the tower so they will be ready when construction time comes. They also plan to buy another snow gun to speed up their snow making process.
This summer, SWSA will hold two fundraising activities: In May, a down-river canoe and kayak race, and in September, Highland Games on the outrun of the jumps.

Lebanon Outing Club, NH: Jon Farnham reported that LOC will hold jumping sessions on the plastic covered 23 meter hill on Thursday evenings at 6:30 and one Sunday afternoon per month (dates to be announced). He also mentioned that Storrs Hill, like all other ski facilities, is struggling with the challenge of funding their operation.

CLOSING REMARKS: Art Tokle said that we really need a nice video presentation which could be put on DVD and distributed to any group or individual who want to promote the sport. The presentation should emphasize ski jumping as a sport for girls as well as boys, and mention that the U.S. women’s team is among the very best in the world. We need to find some one (or a team) to produce such a disk by the start of school in the fall, so that we can try to attract new kids.

The fall meeting of this Board will be held in Lake Placid in conjunction with the Flaming Leaves ski jumping October 6-7. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 6, at 7:30 pm in the Olympic Training Center (room TBA).

The meeting was Adjourned at 2:27 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Don West (Secretary).