SKI JUMPING

2009 USSA J2 Junior Olympic Ski Jumping/Nordic Combined
Anchorage, Alaska
March 3-7, 2009

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Note from Coach Dan ~ January 13, 2009 .................................................................................

Hi All,

With the change in weather, we had wonderful weekend conditions for jumping on all three hills!  Jack Novak is our star youth jumper, as he is beginning to “crack the code” on putting some air under his skis on the Big Hill. Congratulations Jack!

We are all very proud of Jack’s hard work which will undoubtedly pay off in his performance at the Junior Olympics that will be held on his home hill the first week of March, 2009!  Jack is jumping consistently on all three hills.  We’ve got both the 43K hill and the 18K hill in prime condition as well, which makes our complex as good as any in the United States.  

We have an enthusiastic new coach on our team, Hiram Henry.  He, himself, is putting in some beauties on the small hill.  John Novak has been hard at work this year as well, looking better than ever.  Trevor Taylor also is looking during his flights off the 64K hill. Even Coach Dan has been strapping on his skis and getting into the jumping fun! Now that the temperatures are above zero, we are hoeing to see even more activity at the hill by those that have jumped in the past and who would like to give jumping a try.

Have you noticed that the US Nordic Combined Team performs phenomenally at the international level?  Given our community interest in winter sports, this could be just the thing for our youth.  It takes a certain amount of daring and commitment to ski jump, but it is not hard or scary for the trained athlete. Hopefully, we’ll see this program continue to grow!
We continue to diligently plan for our hosting of Junior Olympics in Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined over the period of March 3-7, 2009.  Anyone interested in volunteering to help us host the event should contact Pam Mamrol at maorol@gci.net / 346-1035 or Vicki Novak at north.novak@yahoo.com / 345-5402. We need more volunteers!  Coach Doug Taylor continues to be actively involved our jumping program, especially in our preparations for JOs, even though he now is splitting his time between Anchorage and Washington.

For those of you who are interested in competing in this year’s JOs we only have another month and one half before the event.  I am confident that those who put the time and effort into training and listening to the coaches will be able to earn the privilege of competing. I can think of many of our youth who have jumped in the past that could do so. 

Please remember that everyone who jumps in our program beyond an introductory session needs to be a member of the NSAA and also the USSA (Jumping/Nordic Combined). When you sign up for the USSA make sure that you sign up as member to the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage.  These two memberships are necessary under our insurance policy coverage.

Let’s encourage one another to reach for the stars!  (This is an apt phrase for Alaskan ski jumping because many nights out at the hill we are right there with the stars!)
Happy New Year!

Coach Dan

Photos by Tobben Spurklund at JO's in 2004