The meeting was called to order at 10:12 am by Chairman Dan Warner.

In his brief introductory comments, Dan explained why the meeting had returned to Lake Placid after several spring meetings at Storrs Hill in Lebanon, NH. Then he introduced Joe Holland, mentioning that Joe has been named Chairman of the USSA Sport Committee. Dan went on to comment that 2009-2010 had been a good season, with an elevated level of activity and performance. Warner then moved to the first item on his agenda.

FINANCIAL BUSINESS

Treasurer Martina Lussi presented an oral report, commenting that the Salisbury Silent Auction was successful despite a temporary change of venue. She said that the sale of souvenir bells continues to generate a modest income stream, and commented that we need a new batch of bells. She quickly ran through the major expeditures, which we will not itemize here.
Moved (Stone, Barker) to accept the financial report. Passed.

Chairman Warner then invited proposals for new expenditures that might be approved.
Moved (Bliss, Stone) to contribute $2500 to NYSEF to help support the NYSEF ski jumping coaching positions. Passed.

Casey Colby reported that the video camera used by the coaching staff disappeared from checked luggage on an airlane flight this winter.
Moved (Barker, Lussi) to approve up to $500 for the purchase of a replacement for the video camera. Passed.

Moved (Stone, Lussi) to send $1000 to the Salisbury (CT) Winter Sports Assn. in support of the construction of their new 65 meter ski jump. Passed.

Moved (Bliss, Barker) to set aside money (same level as last year) to help our delegates (Dan Warner and Casey Colby) with their expenses when they travel to the upcoming national spring meetings in Park City. Passed.
(Martina Lussi is asked to look back and see what was paid last year. Thank you.)

Martina Lussi mentioned that we had not sent out Annual Appeal letters for a couple of years.
(Dan Warner will address the question.)

SEASON REPORTS

NYSEF Coach, Casey Colby reported that the 2009-2010 Fall and Winter season went well, pointing out that

• Eastern skiers took four of the top six places at the National Championships. (1. Nick Alexander, Lebanon NH; 2. Chris Lamb, Andover NH; 5. Nick Fairall, Andover NH, 6. Peter Frenette, Saranac Lake, NY, NYSEF.)
  
• The East placed three (and a half) ski jumpers on the team competing at the World Junior Championships (Andrew Bliss, Lake Placid; Peter Frenette, Saranac Lake; Cooper Dodds, Hanover; plus Will Schott who often trains in Lake Placid).
  
• The East filled two of the three ski jumping spots at the Vancouver Olympics. (Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette)
• In Brattleboro, Eastern jumpers took 5 of the top 6 places on Saturday, and 4 of the top 5 on Sunday.
• The early summer 2009 high-level training camp in Lake Placid went well and Casey hopes to repeat the activity in 2010.
• First year NYSEF coaches Evan Bliss and David McCahill performed above and beyond the call of duty. (Evan dealt primarily with intermediate skiers on the 48 meter hill, while David worked primarily with little kids on the 18 meter jump, and with the Nordic Combined skiers.)
• Several of the top Eastern competitors moved on, some to international competition (Alexander, Lamb, Bliss, Frenette) and some to other pursuits (Alex Madden, Colin Delaney, Cooper Dodds), but skiers in the next age group have stepped in to take up the slack (Spencer Knickerbocker, Zach Daniels, and behind those, Luke Daniels and Miles Lussi).

David McCahill said it was a great season, with Grasshopper camps and "Learn to Fly Wednesdays" continuing to attract new skiers. (Learn to Fly is free to members of NYSEF and only $5 for the public.) Numbers are up and David credited improved publicity and communication, guest appearances by top jumpers (Nick Fairall, Andrew Bliss, Will Schott, Bill Demong), as well as the delicious hot chocolate. David commented that Nordic Combined practice has been folded in with NYSEF cross country. He distributed samples of his one-page color flyer intended to interest cross country skiers in ski jumping, and he invited folks to visit the new NYSEF web page and blog.

Joe Lamb congratulated Eastern Ski Jumping on its success, and encouraged organizers to promote social mixing among the parents of new jumpers. Jennie Frenette has been doing just that, chatting with the new parents and encouraging them to come back and to join in the various activities.

Dan Warner reported that ESJ&NC has built a good relationship with the New England Nordic Ski Assn. (NENSA, a cross country group), and that he had tried to create visibility for jumping at some of the big cross country events. He suggested that David McCahill attend the NENSA spring meeting -- that idea was supported by the Committee.
Dan would like to get Vermont Academy or Andover/Proctor to host the Bill Koch Championships next season, bringing Jumping and Nordic Combined back together with cross country, as the Bill Koch League did at its inception.

JUNIOR OLYMPICS

First a Little History: A few years ago, the Junior Olympics for J-1 and J-2 skiers was split into two parts:

• North American Championships for Junior-1 skiers from U.S. and Canada.
• Junior Olympics for Junior-2 skiers from all U.S. Divisions.

Jennie Frenette reported that the 2010 JO in Steamboat Springs were a great event. She mentioned a National level Junior Jumping Committee meeting, held during the JOs, which ran for three hours. No J-1 skiers came to the Alaska JOs, but 15 participated in Steamboat. Those at the meeting agreed to allow another 2-3 years to permit the flow of J-1 jumpers to JO to redevelop.

Joe Lamb said that the FIS is in the process of moving the maximum age of juniors at World Junior Championships up to age 20, and pointed out that this should be taken into account when JO and Nor-Am age rules are considered.

Dan Warner mentioned that Salisbury (SWSA) is the East's nominee to host the 2011 Junior Olympics Feb. 23-26 on their new, to-be-completed, 65 meter ski jump. Dan said that he anticipates no problem for this nomination to be accepted at the National meetings.

Martina and Jennie agreed to sit down with Ken Barker of Salisbury to share their JO experiences and discuss a few mistakes that they had observed in the conduct of the 2010 JOs, to give SWSA its best chance to avoid repeating these same mistakes, and perhaps others. Finally the obvious was pointed out, that SWSA could use the help of interested people from other clubs to put on the 2011 JOs.

CLUB NEWS

Rex Bell reported that the Harris Hill competition was a great success with 30 competitors (5 brought over from Austria and Slovenia), two beautiful days of weather, and several jumps past the 100 meter mark. Next year they hope to schedule the Harris Hill events on the weekend before the JOs, to try to attract some of the JO competitors from other divisions to ski at Harris Hill.
There has been some talk of a Women's Continental Cup competition but it appears that this cannot happen for another year or two.
There has been no jumping in recent years on the 15 meter hill in Memorial Park in Brattleboro. In response to invitation for new ideas for jump-starting junior jumping in Brattleboro, someone suggested building a snow-bump on the counter-slope for demonstrations by little jumpers on Harris Hill weekend. Joe Lamb suggested contacting the BKL, and others pointed out that youngsters and their parents in the Brattleboro area need to be told that they can now jump at VA, just an hour up the road.
Finally, Rex thanked the many people on the Committee who helped with the Harris Hill meet.

Jay Rand, who became the new chief of NYSEF in Lake Placid about a year ago after several years as the head of management at Whiteface Mt., said that it was nice to have an opportunity to work with Nordic skiing again. He praised the good work of NYSEF coaches Casey Colby, Evan Bliss and David McCahill, commenting that they did a great job on the Wednesday Learn to Fly program. He also commended the team of NYSEF volunteers who organize NYSEF competitions, and commented that the 120 meter hill needs regular use for the benefit of our best young jumpers. He said that it was a crime that the women were not permitted to compete in the Vancouver Olympics. A new plan is being developed to create a good set of smaller jumps in Lake Placid. Finally, Jay mentioned that he received a call from someone asking what it would take to restart ski jumping at Bear Mountain, but he made no claim that a plan was in place.

Rebecca Dayton, ORDA's Marketing Manager, praised the Soaring Saturday program and said that the Soaring Saturday program was already being laid out for the coming summer. The season will start soon after the July 4 events. (Soaring Saturday is a weekly, informal competition to benefit jumpers living or training in Lake Placid, which gives tourists a chance to see organized jumping every weekend.)

Lisa Kling reported that Gunstock has established a new organization specifically to organize and raise funds for the restoration of the historic Gunstock ski jumps, especially the big hill. The two smallest hills are very close to being useable, and the 50 meter jump needs only a small tower and deflection boards. The big hill needs a new takeoff and substantial repair on the tower, but the profile and the tower structure are in place.
Casey Colby suggested that we should find a way to snow the smallest jumps and hold some organized activities on the jumps to establish visibility. Kling said that every year she gets several inqiries how someone might start jumping at Gunstock, and a prepared little hill is the first step in opening that door. She reported that the top level Gunstock administrator would like to see a full spectrum of skiing activities on this excellent facility.

Ken Barker reported that 2010 was a good winter for junior jumping in Salisbury, with 26 kids coming to a one-day introductory program. That number tapered down to 20 and later to 12 who completed the season. SWSA brought four participants to the Bill Koch festival and one to the Lions Club 48 meter competition.
Ken said that SWSA is making good progress in their preparations for a new tower to be built this summer. The capital campaign is going well, directed by a professional fundraiser, and the Town voted to extend to the club a line of credit which should protect them against glitches in the fundraising or the construction process.
Ken asked for suggestions for sponsors for the Junior Olympics. It was pointed out the USSA supplies bibs, medals, and some funding for JO.
Jack Phelps relayed from SWSA registrar Holly Reid the need for each team coach bringing skiers to a competition to have in hand a signed medical release for each skier so that, in case of an accident, the medical staff will be able to do what needs to be done.

Jim Carter, reporting for Proctor/Andover, said that Tim Norris continues to host candy-bar meets, in addition to the annual JO Qualifier. Andover is getting some new little kids jumping, and the Blackwater jump is the site for the annual New Hampshire State High School Championships.

No representatives were present to report on activities at Lebanon Outing Club, Ford Sayre (Hanover NH), Vermont Academy, or Newport Ski Club.

OFFICIALS REPORT

Mark Levasseur agreed with earlier appraisals that it had been a good season, and he praised the "great bunch of judges" presently working in the East. Mark asked a question about who should be listed as TD or Asst. TD on results. Dan Warner clarified the situation by saying that for small hills, no sanction or TD is required. In spite of that ruling, we had agreed in this committee a few years ago that it would be beneficial to have a certified person acting in the TD role, even at small hill competition. This might be a judge "wearing two hats." In cases when a small hill meet has no assigned TD, the defacto jury will consist of the certified style judges.

EASTERN COMPETITION SCHEDULE FOR FALL AND WINTER

The schedule was discusssed but not completed, and it will not be posted until it is closer to finished. Here are a few comments recorded during the discussion:

• SWSA would like not to schedule their meet on Superbowl weekend (Barker).
• The Junior Committee (National) and the skiers will support the traditional Lake Placid New Years events as long as they are tryouts for World Junior Championships (Frenette).
• Brattleboro would prefer to hold the Harris Hill meet on Feb 19-20. (Bell)
• NENSA wants a jump at their March 5-6 event at Mt. Top. (Warner)

FINAL ITEMS

In his earlier meeting, Joe Holland had discussed the situation of Project-X and plans to go forward. Needless to say, the Project needs more funding. Further, they hope to get a professional administrator, and there seem to be changes coming in the coaching staff.

Casey Colby alerted the group that new rules are expected regarding ski jumping equipment, and that young jumpers need to learn the rules and follow them. Apparently there were problems at JOs requiring late night remounting of bindings.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Lake Placid on Saturday evening, October 9, 2010 at 6:30 pm (the "Flaming Leaves" weekend, location to be announced).

The meeting was adjourned at 1:13 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Don West (Secretary).