WE MADE IT!- FINAL MESSAGE FROM BILLY
In its infancy the USANS Story Project was meant to unite a community. It has done so in spades and become a month of stories we all anticipate and furthermore has developed into a fundraiser which supports programs we can all be proud of. Together we have vastly increased awareness of our sports, the number of kids participating and the number of coaches in this country. Our long term goals include winning medals at the Olympic Games but we have decided to invest in systems, which include culture, to be successful and sustain that success.
With your support we aim to be amongst the best nations in the world perennially but have great time doing it! Please join us in building a new model for our sports by giving to our Story Project!
Billy Demong
CURATOR’S NOTE
Bill is a charter founder (with others) of the New England Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined (see their Facebook page- click here) whose mission is to forward the sport/s and community across New England. He asked that I let people know about NESJNC’s reunion in early November of 2020 which will be held in the Hanover area and will be a collegiate themed event to bring former collegiate jumpers, coaches, and support staff together. The idea is to celebrate the history and important role that collegiate ski jumping played in our sport for many decades! Anybody interested in supporting, attending, or helping to plan the reunion should contact Walter Malmquist at wmalmquist@kingcon.com.
BILL McCRILLIS
Newport Outing Club
Hopkinton, NH
wmccrillis@gmail.com
AOC Beginner Learn to Ski Jump Clinic
For the second year the Andover Outing Club (AOC) and New England Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined (NESJNC) hosted a Beginner’s Learn to Ski Jump Clinic at the Proctor/Blackwater Ski Area on Saturday, December 21st. We did this initially last year in January when the Andover Outing Club was down to four ski jumpers and realized that we needed to increase our numbers. The clinic last year had five first-time ski jumpers on alpine skis and yielded two new ski jumpers to AOC and then at the end of the season we added one more.
This year we chose to schedule the beginner’s clinic in December to attract more alpine skiers and Bill Koch League participants before their schedules fill up in January. With an attractive flyer created by Morgan Stepp, the Plymouth High School ski jumping coach, we spread the word far and wide to the New England clubs, area elementary schools, and the local Bill Koch League programs.
The snow looked good early with a 10 inch dump. However, rain and weather took all that nice snow away. All was not lost as, at Proctor, Garry George, the ski area manager, and his trustworthy crew went to work and made snow on the K10 and K18 jumps when the weather turned cold again. Between Garry and crew making the snow, grooming the landing hills with the groomer, and Chris Jones and the Proctor team working the in-runs, the K10 and K18 were ready for the Beginner’s Clinic.
We were very fortunate that Walter Malmquist of NESJNC volunteered to coach the Beginner’s Clinic for us. He did an awesome job giving the kids and their parents a motivating pep talk inside Yarrow Lodge before heading outside to conquer the jumps. All the kids started out by riding the K18 landing hill and then jumped the K10 several times. The more advanced skiers then tackled the K18 jump. For an hour and a half 11 kids ranging in age from 5 to 13 had fun on the jumps trying out ski jumping and having a chance to fly through the air. The kids were supportive of each other and the large group of parents cheered for every jumper. The new jumpers came from Brattleboro, Plymouth, Andover, Concord, and Hopkinton. From that group of 11 new jumpers, there is a good chance that we will see 3 to 5 back on the jumps again and hopefully some will join one of the New England ski jumping clubs! About a third of the kids come from the Bill Koch programs and would be a natural fit for Nordic combined.
This Beginner’s Clinic would not be successful if Proctor, AOC’s gracious host, didn’t have the excellent ski jumping facility that it has. Also, the snowmaking, grooming, and hill maintenance that Proctor provides makes it easy and feasible to put on the Beginner’s Clinic. Finally, New England Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined provides the coaching support through Walter Malmquist along with Jason Densmore and IT support through Morgan Stepp with the creation of the attractive and professional flyer. Kathleen Doyle was the smiling face from AOC who greeted the families as they arrived and checked the skiers in. Many worked diligently and together to create the successful Beginner’s Clinic that everyone enjoyed. We look forward to more successful beginner ski jumping clinics in the future as we draw more kids to the exciting sport of ski jumping.
WE CRACKED $80K & 115 DONORS!
(thanks to some very generous last minute donors!)
BROTHER CAN YOU SPARE A DOLLAR?… JOIN THE LIST!
ALL FUNDS, WHETHER DONATED THROUGH THE NORDIC COMBINED OR THE SKI JUMPING LINK, WILL GO TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND TOP TEAMS OF BOTH PROGRAMS!
LAST DAY OF STORY PROJECT
CONSIDER A DONATION IN (HIGHLY APPRECIATED) STOCK
USANS is set-up to accept donations of public stocks. As a donor you get full credit tax write off for the value of the stock and avoid paying any taxes on the capital gain associated with that stock. Win Win! INSTRUCTIONS: Wire stock to LPL Financial, DTC 0075; Account: USA Nordic no. 3532-8923; contact: Paul Tan. If you have questions, call or email Paul Tan at (435)962-4548 or paul.tan@lpl.com
