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| Another load to the top of Blackhawk’s K58- Adam Loomis shares memories of summer camps in Madison. |
ADAM LOOMIS
age 22
Flying Eagles Ski Club
Eau Claire, WI,
Some of my finest memories from growing up jumping came at the Blackhawk Ski Club, near Madison, WI. In fact, I took my first ever jumps there in the summer of ’02. (Once I decided to be a ski jumper, I didn’t want to wait for the snow to fly). In my early teens, my mom would occasionally drive me down there to jump after school. That was serious commitment – at least 2.5 hours of driving each way for one jump session.
At the top of the list of good times at Blackhawk are a few informal summer training camps. We’d stay at the Schott’s farmhouse, where CC was generous (or crazy) enough to take in a half dozen 12 – 15 year-old boys for a week. In addition to Nick and Will – the Schott brothers – our crew consisted of a few jumpers from the UP, a couple of Minnesotans and myself.
Of course, we took plenty of jumps on Blackhawk’s distinctive K58. Our coach, Kip Kopelke, taught us how to train like the big guys. Rand Schott would usually rally us up between jumps in the back of an old pickup, and we’d be back from a jump session in no more than a couple hours.
We found plenty of time for all kinds of messing around. Foosball games were frequent and heated, someone usually had fireworks to light off, and CC’s food kept us full and happy. (Especially her pies). On a couple of occasions we made the trip to the Wisconsin Dells and raced around on the go-karts until they kicked us out. We were always competing. Eventually, by the end of the day, we were tired enough to fire up the old desktop and practice our technique in the form of DSJ3 ski jumping.
At the end of the camps, we’d spread back out across the Central division, exhausted but looking forward to the next time we’d meet up again. These jump camps were better than your traditional summer camp, and the best form of team bonding. This sort of closeness mixed with competitiveness is what I’ve always found and loved in the world of ski jumping and Nordic combined.
Editor’s note- see Adam’s FIS bio and international results- click here
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| Adam jumping in Olympic trials. |
