"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
New Heights, Online
the electronic newsletter of
Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping
Fall 2004 Issue
|
Eastern Elite Team
for Winter 2004-2005
After a summer of competition and training, the Eastern Elite Team has been picked for the
coming winter season. This will not only identify them as the East’s top athletes in terms of
results and general attitude, but it will entitle them to OTC use at no charge.
The team consists of the following athletes:
Jumping
Evan Bliss
Nick Fairall
Chris Lamb
Jonathan Kling
|
Combined
Willy Graves
Peter Freire
Robbie Goodwin
|
Congratulations to these dedicated athletes for their efforts and results from the past
summer season. Hopefully they will carry these results to a higher level this winter.
The winter’s results will determine next summer’s Elite Team. All major competitions from
the winter will be looked at for eligibility, including the New Year’s meets, Sig
Evensen meet, World Junior Tryouts, North American Juniors, Brattleboro, Salisbury,
National Championships, Junior Olympics, and any International Competition such as
World Cup “B” or COCJ meets. Also athlete’s general attitude and level of commitment
in the sport may play a role in the selection process.
Larry Stone, Eastern Coach
|
Here are the criteria, announced in the spring, to be used for qualification to the 2004-2005 Winter
Elite Team:
- 4th of July Competition. Lake Placid, NY
- Springer Tournee. Park City, UT/ Ramsau, Austria
- Any US Ski Team Funded camp/ competition
- Flaming Leaves Competition. Lake Placid, NY
- Senior bar start for all competitions
- World Cup Point System as described by USSA handbook
- Attendance in a minimum of 4 of the 7 Eastern Camps
- Attendance in a minimum of 5 of the 8 Summer Series Events
- Athlete's general attitude and direction in the sport of Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined for the following season.
For a complete description contact
Larry Stone or Matt Cook
|
Lake Placid native Evan Bliss
training on the K90 at home.
|
|
Willy Graves of Putney VT
working the cross country.
|
Summer Grasshopper Camps
by Danielle Lussi
|
This year's Grasshopper Camp was the biggest it?s ever been.
There was also large group of girls. At the second camp there were eight! That must be a record.
This year more advanced kids were excited to be able to jump on the 48m while the newer jumpers were
on the 18m. This could happen because Mr. Daniels was coaching on the 48m, while Matt coached on the 18m.
|
Ladislas Etzol on the 18m takeoff
|
Nina Lussi on Lake Placid's K-48
| |
This was great because people who are secure at the 48m level,
but not quite at the 90m level, could come
to Grasshopper Camp and not have to train on the 18m most of the time. Larry Stone?s daughter Molly also
helped and coached the lady jumpers on 48m one day.
It was very exciting to see that many girls jumping. There were three local girls who had never
jumped and by the end of the week had all tried the 18m. The girls were Mimi Miller, Kura Duhame,
René Clouttier, Tara Geraghty-Moats, Nina Lussi, Faye Stratford, Danielle Lussi, and Ariel Picton.
We were all very glad that Molly came to help out.
|
The Grasshopper Family in Lake Placid, Summer 2004.
STONEY'S CORNER
by Larry Stone, NYSEF/Eastern Jumping Coach
season has come and gone and we are ready for Winter 2005! This winter will see some high
profile events in the East with Super Tours at Brattleboro and Lake Placid and World Cup “B” coming to Lake
Placid in Mid December followed by the North American Junior Championships in mid January. It’s great to
see Brattleboro with a Super Tour event and to see that they are willing to be flexible enough to move
from their traditional date in order to capture a more national level field. With a finite number of available
dates and high level jumpers and an increasing number of high profile events, it has become evident that if
every club tries to stay on their traditional dates, some of them won’t be able to attract high level skiers.
Kudo’s to Brattleboro for their willingness to change dates and capitalize on the North Americans swing to
the East. The concept of the Super Tour events has also shown that it works as the top skiers have consistently
shown they will go where the money is being given out.
This summer had some high points with a competitive Summer Series in Lake Placid putting some money in jumpers’
pockets and providing some exciting events. Jonathan Kling skied extremely well this summer winning the lion’s
share of the 7 meet series but Evan Bliss, Willy Graves, Chris Lamb, Pete Freire, David McCahill and Matt
Delaney also either won or skied into the money. Bliss, Graves and Kling also posted several good results
at the July 4th and Flaming Leaves events.
We were also happy to have Kari Ylianttila return to Lake Placid for what has become an annual event. Kari
spent five days working with our Eastern group of jumpers and also gave a coaching clinic for a group of
Eastern coaches. We wish Kari well in his new job coaching the Swedish team at the World Cup level.
Between Matt Cook and myself, we took skiers to meets and training in Coleraine, Park City, Chicago and
Austria. Janne Rand traveled with us to Park City for the first ever Continental Cup for women. Matt’s
Grasshopper Camps really came into their own as 25 plus skiers showed up for each of the camps. This is
a great sign of increasing numbers at the grass roots level. Good job, Matt! It was great also to have
Jay Daniels and Tim Norris involved coaching these camps.
Now it’s time to make the transition to the winter competition season and see if our hard work will show
improved results. From the way our skiers looked at our last camp on October 22-24, we are on the way to
a good season. See you on the hill!
Plyometric exercises at a summer training camp.
Larry asked us also to pass along the following message:
|
National Championships 2005
This year’s National Championships will be held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, March 24-25, 2005.
Due to problems at last year’s event, the Eastern coaches have decided that in order to attend the
National Championships as a part of the Eastern contingent, athletes must ski to a 70% standing in
the Eastern ranking list through the winter’s meets. Athlete’s who rank below that may be considered
on a case by case basis by discretion of the Eastern coaches based on attitude, and behavior during
the winter’s travel. All athletes on any trip now will have to sign the Eastern Code of Conduct and
any infraction mentioned in the newly drawn up document will result in being sent home at the
athlete’s expense and losing travel privileges for the next two meets.
|
"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
Subscription Information
New Heights needs
contributions to continue.
If you would like to receive a whole year of this newsletter in print,
please send
$5.00 to:
New Heights,
c/o Larry Stone
Intervale Olympic
Ski Jumps
Lake Placid, New York 12946
"Aude Volare" -- Dare to Fly!
|
|