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New Heights, Online the electronic newsletter of Eastern U.S. Ski Jumping June 2009 
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The Editor’s Stool… Yes, I do sit on a bar stool at my computer…I don’t use a computer chair. Hence why I didn’t call it The Editor’s Chair.I’ve have taken over for Matt Cook who used to edit the New Heights newsletter. It has been a while since the last issue came out and this time around it has taken on a whole new way of being delivered to you. It used to be a printed/mailed version that also had an online version available. Now it will be an online version where you can print your own copy if you so desire. This coming year is going to be a busy year here in the Eastern Division with Lake Placid once again hosting the US National Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships Columbus Day Weekend. It will also host all World Junior Tryouts and North Americans will also be in Lake Placid in early January. Brattleboro will be hosting the SuperTour Finals in February. Looking into 2011, Salisbury, CT has been selected to host Junior Olympics in 2011.It’s a great time to come out and see some top notch ski jumping here in the east. Give a hand at the jump meets coming up this year as help is going to be needed to keep things running smoothly. If you get a chance, grab a few photos as well and send in some images for the newsletter. I welcome your comments and suggestions on ways to improve New Heights and I also encourage you to submit articles or photos that you would see like to see included in the newsletter. When submitting photos I do ask that you reduce them down in size(roughly 640X480) before sending them. In this issue of New Heights:
Have a safe and enjoyable summer and remember...keep the ski tips up. Ryan ‘Crash’ Crawford, Editor of New Heights
Hello! My first duty is to thank Art Tokle for his service to the Eastern Assn. for his time spent the last 8 years! Thanks Art! Next I would like to thank the members for having the confidence in me to run the ship. We are at a time in our program that needs strong leadership and direction. I believe that it was started last year in Lake Placid in Oct. when the nation wide meeting was held at the US Olympic Training Center. Some good ideas came from the meeting and it was carried on to the Eastern meeting in Brattleboro in the fall. The clubs then took the ball and ran. I think all of the clubs had an increase in young jumpers and combined skiers. Great job! Now to some issues. Those of you that were at the Eastern meeting know that I would like more people to get involved. Younger people! We need to reach out to the skiers that have come through the club programs and ask them to help out. We do a very poor job of keeping them involved with the program after they stop skiing. This needs to change. We are looking for someone to get the Gunstock program up and running. Any ideas? How about helping out with the Officials Golf Fundraiser this summer, or the silent auctions, or think up another sponsorship idea. For a few years I have been working with the sites to upgrade our jumps. Lebanon did it for JO's, Brattleboro has the new hill built and is ready to move to the International FIS comps and Salisbury has a bid in for JO's in 2011 with a new hill as well. We need to be looking ahead 5- 10 years at our programing not only to keep Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined going but growing! I will be at the National Convention here in Park City in a few weeks representing the East and will give a full report upon my return. Get those young skiers signed up for Grasshopper Camps this summer. And last but not least a big thanks to all of you who put in some much time and effort for our program. I can be contacted at Dan "Mouse" Warner or 207-364-4870 Dan "Mouse" Warner, Chairman
The OFFICIALs Line As I write this A few of us went to the FIS officials seminar in Steamboat Spings, Co. Art Tokle, Dan Warner, Mark Levasseur, and Peter Claus. We brought back the valuable information on rule changes that Dan Warner (Education Chairman) needed to conduct our Eastern Seminar. While in Colorado, Mark Levasseur and myself were nominated as FIS candidates, what an honor!! As we progress through the season, we saw a brand new hill in Brattleboro, VT, and we had a great compitition. Kudos to all those involved in the new Harris Hill, and to Mouse who was instrumental in the building process to meet FIS standards. We also saw three judge candidates move up in the ranks to Eastern Judges. Congratulations to Jody Graves, Nicole Leshaw, and Bill Ryan. Jim Carter also saw some action as assistant T.D. Last but not least, farewell to a very good friend of mine and the ski jumping world, Ken Tokle. Ken devoted fourty-two years to the sport of ski jumping as coach, mentor, and judge. Hats off to Ken and every last one of us who belongs' to the Eastern Nordic Officials Association. Lets continue to strive to be the best at what we do, sincerely, Peter Claus, Chairman PS For those interested in the process of becoming an official, ask one of us or look in your comp guide!!!!!!!!
Casey’s Corner Synopsis of the winter ’08-’09 and summer ‘09 season The summer and fall of ’08 saw a great improvement in the level of jumping across the board for the elite level athletes in the NYSEF program. With better management of fall school sports schedules by the athletes themselves, the level of competitiveness remained much higher than in previous years for the end of the summer season and into the winter competition season. As a result of this improved cooperative schedule, at the national championships held here in Lake Placid in October, current NYSEF athletes, all under 18 years old, had strong performances throughout the weekend. Andrew Bliss finished in 10th and 4th place and Nina Lussi came away with two top-10 results for the weekend. Peter Frenette had one very unlucky day with the poor wind but returned the next day to score a 10th place finish on day two. As the snow approached the team headed to Park City and Steamboat Springs to prepare for the upcoming World Junior Championship qualifying events to be held at home in Lake Placid. After all the results were posted the NYSEF program had a skier on each of the three teams that would represent the USA. Andrew Bliss, Colin Delaney and Nina Lussi all performed very well. But another notable mention goes to Alex Madden and Pete Frenette who also performed well…but were unfortunately the guys that missed the team by one spot. On the ski jumping team for JWC, NYSEF alum’s, and returning athletes, made up 3 of the 4 remaining spots that joined Andrew; Nick Fairall (scored WC points twice this season), Chris Lamb and Nick Alexander. Pete and Andrew spent over a month in Europe competing in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia at Continental Cups, FIS Cup events and JWC. These two boys, as well as Nina Lussi on the ladies side, are directly in the pipeline for the national team and are at the top of their respective training groups winning national level events here in the USA. Alex Madden and Cooper Dodds stepped up to fill the shoes of Andrew and Pete while they were overseas. At the end of the winter season these two nordic combined boys were tied as the overall winners of the season-long SuperTour series for jumping. The ‘09 winter season consisted of six SuperTour events held in Lake Placid and throughout the Midwest region; and Alex and Cooper came out on top of the podium, tied for the win. Top results are definitely being achieved and look to still be in the future for these athletes and the other local athletes that are chasing them on a daily basis. In the overall national ranking for ski jumping this past season, NYSEF has 4 of the top-10 ranked ski jumpers. Moving on to the summer of 2009. Coming up very quickly is a whole new season and a whole new plan for the NYSEF team and Eastern ski jumping as a whole. In partnership with the Lake Placid Olympic Training Center I have been awarded two separate ski jumping programs. The first program is for the national team members known as Project X, Nick Fairall, Chris Lamb, Anders Johnson, Nick Alexander and Mike Glasder. These five athletes will be living and training here in Lake Placid with our team and with our NYSEF program throughout the summer. Having the best guys in the country train with our group can only be a benefit for our local kids and hopefully gives them the confidence to know, and realize, that the best athletes in the country are returning to Lake Placid and NYSEF for the season long preparation because they feel it is the best program. The second program is for athletes considered to be in the developmental group just behind our national team group. Nine athletes from other parts of the country are coming to Lake Placid and the NYSEF program to train with us. These athletes have housing at the Lake Placid OTC from May 4 – July 5. They will pay NYSEF coaching fees and train as part of the local team. This camp was very well received by the entire national community of ski jumping and the interest level from athletes across the country was definitely higher than what we could accommodate as a program without adding another coach to the staff. At the end of this camp a number of the development athletes will be staying in Lake Placid on their own to continue training with us. Not to mention we have three more athletes from VT, IL, and MN that are interested in looking at the local sport schools for the ’09-’10 school year. We also have the reemergence of a recruitment program this summer. After every ski jumping event we have in the summer of ’09, numbering approximately 11 competitions, we will be having a "Learn to Fly" camp for the kids in the crowd or any local child that would like to try ski jumping. These events will take place every Saturday beginning July 5th for a 7-8 week long phase of Saturday Series competitions. There will also be one weekend in October. ORDA runs and publicizes these events in the local media. This introductory lesson will be completely free of charge for all kids and will be attended by the NYSEF staff as well as guest athlete/coaches that have just finished their competition 20 minutes prior to the lesson. While the kids try jumping, the parents will be asked for contact info so that NYSEF can keep in touch with any interested families. Of course we know that most people will not be from the Lake Placid area but it will be very simple for us to put these people in contact with the Nordic club nearest to their home. And as we all know in the ski jumping world, all roads in the eastern and New England divisions eventually lead to Lake Placid and the NYSEF program. Many of our alumni and former Olympians in ski jumping and nordic combined grew up in programs in New England. When they need a higher level program they always migrate to Lake Placid for a number of years. Travel for the season will be the same as in previous years. A large competition and week long camp in Park City, UT in July, SuperTour events in Lake Placid and Chicago, and three nordic combined development camps run by Billy Demong and the USST staff in Steamboat Springs, CO., Park City, UT and Lake Placid. We currently have five athletes that have been invited to train with this group and potentially travel to Europe for an extended training camp with the Nordic Combined B-Team coaching staff. For the future of the ski jumping and nordic combined program I see that we need the following things to help our situation improve itself. For the year that we had access to the video program Dartfish, we saw a great deal of improvement in the athletes techniques. This tool was invaluable to us. Its ability to give instant feedback to the athletes and coaches as they jumped, cross country skied, and did practice jumps in the gym was second to none. There is no doubt that this tool was a major part of educating the elite level athletes in the proper techniques of ski jumping. Athlete understanding, and more importantly results, improved significantly in the 8-9 months that I was able to utilize this program. To accompany the previously mentioned program, a quality video camera is needed. We currently have a very low quality video camera for the nordic teams. But only one camera for 2 programs that encompass every age range at two separate venues is not at all efficient. A second camera is definitely needed for the cross country program as soon as possible. This past season NYSEF Nordic came into possession of a set of new/used radios which was a great deal of help to all of us. Not only for running events at home but to utilize while traveling to different venues. Most, somewhat modern, ski jumping venues do not allow the athlete to return to the place where the coaches need to stand, so the radios that Janet Bliss acquired thru a donation was a significant help to us all. She deserves a great deal of thanks for those, and for the large number of tasks and duties that she does alongside Jennie Frenette, Martina Lussi, Margaret Maher and Matt Cook. Thank you all. And lastly, currently being the sole jumping coach for the program I must make something very clear. If I am expected to make this program grow by adding older athletes to the elite level and recruit athletes at the most basic beginner levels, all at the same time, I feel both ends of the spectrum will eventually suffer. For the next two months, through July 5, there will be times that I am running trainings sessions with 20+ athletes that range in age from 11-30 years old, and range in ability from world cup point scoring athletes down to part-time beginner athletes that have been jumping for only 1.5 years. Help will definitely be needed in the very near future if the progress that is being made now is expected to continue, or even simply maintained. Casey Colby, NYSEF Ski Jumping Coach
Everyone must pay NYSEF coaching fees. If your home coach is able to come and coach you, that is great!! But if athletes come without their coach then fees must be paid. This has slipped in the last couple of seasons but will not be tolerated any longer. Anyone that comes to Lake Placid, or any other event during the season at any venue, and expects the NYSEF coach to take care of them, will pay the standard daily/weekly/monthly coaching fees. It is not fair for all the full-time NYSEF athletes and families to pay coaching fees for the year and then have everyone else not pay the same fees, broken down into smaller chunks of course. The new jump fee schedule is as follows: $20 per day Another option is to buy a punch-card type pass. You pay $100 or $200 up-front and then you can attend 5-10 sessions without worrying about payment each day. This is an easy thing to keep track of and makes each day a little simpler and less hectic. Athletes are required to pay in advance and to sign a NYSEFliability and medical release. For daily training it is mandatory to sign in on the daily athlete log. Due to insurance requirements NO ATHLETES ARE PERMITTED TO TRAIN WITHOUT PAYMENT AND SIGNATURES ON FILE.
History Made Again At Storrs Hill September 7, 1997 While there is the potential one, two or three kids from the Upper Valley will be jumping in the Winter Olympics next February. February 2010 will also be marking the 150th consecutive month of ski jumping on the K25. As far as it is known their is currently only one other ski jump in the country/world that is ski jumping 12 months a year, the K30 in Iola, WI. They started their consecutive month streak back in the fall of 2005. Congrats Lebanon on keeping the ski jumping streak alive and going strong for this long and lets hope for many more to come.
Jumper Makes It 100 In A Row January 2001 In May he came out and started summer jumping in Lebanon. Following in Lebanon's footsteps he has continued the tradition ever since and other than April 2001 Ryan has jumped at Storrs Hill every month since January 2001. On Sunday, April 26, 2009 as Lebanon was jumping for its 140th consecutive month, Ryan was jumping for his 100th consecutive month. According to both 'Cannonball' and Ryan there has been several times over the past nine years when Ryan has been the only person to jump in a given month at Storrs Hill...typically it has occured in November. "Jumpers have a tendency to want to get their feet wet in April with summer ski jumping but by the time November comes around everybody is busy with school and they just want to start jumping on snow. As a result I end up having the hill all too myself", said Ryan.
Summer Ski Jumping Camps/Practice Schedules Lebanon Outing Club Jump practice at Storrs Hill will be held on Monday evenings now through the first Monday of November at 6PM. Practice sessions will begin with a short run followed by some stretching and then some immos before suiting up to jump. There will be no practice if it is raining. There will be no practices on Memorial Day, July 6th, Labor Day, or Columbus Day. The first four sessions are free and after that Jon asks you join the Lebanon Outing Club ski jumping program for $100. The fee will cover this summer and next winter. If you choose not to join the ski jumping program it will be $10 per session. If you have any questions you can contact Jon Farnham at 802-387-5411.
NYSEF Summer Camps & Trips Grasshopper Camps These camps are for the beginner jumper or those that are ski jumping on plastic for the first time. They are held on the K6 and K18 jumps. July 3-5 K48/K90 Camps These camps are for the seasoned veterans to get more training in on K48 and K90 ski jump. NOTE: NYSEF staff needs to know at least 2 weeks ahead of time if you plan to attend a camp that involves staying at the OTC. If you make your own plans for a place to stay then please just let Casey know when you are finalizing plans so we can accommodate everyone at each training as best as we can.
NYSEF Summer Trips Casey Colby has announced the potential for two trips this summer out west for competitions. One to Park City, Utah and the other Chicago, IL. The dates of the trips are below. For more information about either trip contact Casey.
Current Lake Placid Training Schedule The current schedule of practice times for training in Lake Placid can be found at: For more information on summer ski jumping in Lake Placid contact Casey Colby either by email or at 518-523-1900.
Upcoming Ski Jumping Competitions The tentative 2009/2010 competition schedule is now available at:
Eastern OTC Qualified Athletes Andrew Bliss
Interested In Learning To Ski Jump During the summer months there are currently two jump sites in the Eastern Division which offer summer ski jumping. Lebanon, NH and Lake Placid, NY. During the winter months several more sites are available. Below is a list of the jump sites across New England that offer ski jumping. You can click on the name of the town and it will bring up a Google map of where that particular ski jump is located. If you are interested in learning to ski jump and live in or are planning on being in the area, contact the person in charge for more details. Anyone of any age can learn to ski jump.
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