An exciting ski jumping competition was held at Oak Hill Saturday January 28 sponsored by Ford Sayre. I was there to take photos on assignment for Kid Stuff magazine. The photos will appear in the November 2017 issue. I hope you will pick up a copy at many locations around the Upper Valley. Suspecting you wouldn’t want to wait that long, I requested and received approval to post here some of the photos I took.
Although there was a shortage of natural snow, Tom Dodds and Mike Holland did a great job making snow, packing it, setting tracks, and raking the landing areas. Coach Mike Holland supervised the judging of the jumps, Coach Joe Holland did the announcing, and Coach Heidi Nichols ran the show. She was also very helpful to me in getting my photo assignment accomplished.
Mike Holland stated in an email to the team:
“I’m so happy to share the gift of this beautiful sport with you. Chances are you don’t realize how ski jumping will likely impact the rest of your lives (the main reason coaching is fulfilling):
- You are learning to confront difficult, unnatural, scary tasks
- You are learning to GO FOR IT!
- You are learning to develop skills (I love to see young kids blow away high school athletes)
- Your personality changes when you master something extremely challenging
- At a very young age you are learning an approach to life that only a tiny fraction of the population ever learns”
Ford Sayre is a great organization. My wife taught Ford Sayre kids to downhill ski many years ago at Oak Hill. And Oak Hill is a special place in my heart. On Oak Hill and at the nearby Storrs Pond area I have hiked, mountain biked, cross-country skied, downhill skied (using the old kid-dumping lift), swam, played tennis, and ice skated. I have never gone off the ski jump but, after seeing the kids last Saturday, I wish I had.
I had fun with some of the photos. Here is Oscar Miller of Ford Sayre going off the 20 meter jump.
And here is Morgan Summerton of the Lebanon Outing Club launching from the 10 meter jump.
Moving up to the 32 meter jump, here is Teddy Ruth of Ford Sayre …
… and Tate Franz from NY.
But you are probably anxious to see the real photos. So here they are. If you wish, you can click the “pause” in the center of the photos and then use the arrows to step through the photos at your own pace. You can also use the arrows on the filmstrip to move ahead or back quickly.
