Jumping News

Ford Sayre hosted a jumping meet on January 30 at the Roger Burt jumps at Oak Hill. Forty athletes on 9 teams competed on the K10, K20 and K32 jumps. There were 9 jumpers from Ford Sayre, and 3 from Hanover High School. The jumpers ranged in age from U8 to High School. The Valley News published this article. . Results of the MeetContinue reading →

NHIAA Jumping Competition was held on January 29, 2016 at the Roger Burt Jumps at Oak Hill.

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Hello Parents,

We are excited about the annual delight that is the Mountaintop Biathlon race this Sunday!   Some details below.

For those who may not know much about it, the kids have the opportunity to ski short loops (on a loop augmented by manmade snow) and to fire real paintballs (and hear the SPLAT) at large targets in an actual biathlon range. It is obviously a little different than carrying around a 22 caliber rifle, but there are pieces that are very similar to the demands of biathlon:  kids have the chance to ski hard and then immediately try to calm themselves, and their breathing, to be able to take careful aim and hit a target/goal.  (Some good life skills for other contexts, it seems.)  For those families that want to learn more about biathlon, IBU races can be found at this link all season (with thanks to FS coach Dennis Donahue for sharing the link!):

http://www3.biathlonworld.com/en/

The race is a perennial favorite of young skiers all over New England, and an ideal first race for those who have not yet competed.  Skiers earn time credit for targets hit in the range (there are no penalty laps for missed targets – the focus is on success!).  While adding fun and excitement to the event, the range also serves as a nice results neutralizer, shaking things up in unpredictable ways and diverting focus off of any single outcome. 

The overall schedule for the day:

9:00-11:00:  Shooting range practice — a very important  component of the day is practicing with the rifle, so make sure to get there in time to have skis on by 10:30 to ski up to the range.

11:00:  Course preview

11:15-1:45ish:  Races

Details on the flow of the day and the coaches who will be on hand can be found on the Race Document, at this link.  Please be sure to sign your child up on the document, and to sign yourself up if there is an available volunteer job that you can help with.  Many hands make happy kids, or something like that.

Online registration ($20) closes at 11:45 PM on Friday, 1/29/16.  Day-of registration ($30) is also available.  All information can be found here, and we do suggest you register ahead if you know now that you are going.

https://www.nensa.net/calendar/index.php?id=1792

One final note on sportsmanship.  It is a concept — congratulating other competitors, thanking the wax coaches and volunteers, and being a gracious competitor regardless of one’s individual performance — that we stress with the kids in general, and the Paintball Biathlon is a particularly good opportunity to reinforce it.  The rifles are not always accurate, can sometimes freeze up, etc, and this has been frustrating for kids at times.  The skiers should certainly take the shooting component seriously as this event offers a wonderful opportunity for them to experience the demands and the thrills of the sport, but if something does happen that they cannot control, they should keep perspective and a smile.  They can obviously talk about the gun not working if that is what happened, but we encourage them to identify other unique process goals that they can reference in defining their performance on race day.  We hope they revel in the opportunity to experience this Olympic sport and think about various elements of their experience without focusing preferentially on the technicalities of the shooting component. And they will make the day of volunteers, at any race, if they thank them for their work as they ski by!

We look forward to seeing many of you up there on Sunday,

Jay and Heidi

BKL Head Coaches

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Hi folks,

I wanted to share a few upcoming activities that might be fun for you and your children.

 

Hanover High School Ski Jumping Competition on Friday, January 29

If you or your child are interested in ski jumping, check out Hanover High students jumping in the NHIAA competition at Oak Hill this Friday night. See details by clicking this link: Ski Jumping Competition in the Dark 1-29-2016 HHS

 

Upcoming Community Ski Event in Hartland, VT

The Hartland Tiki Torch Ski is coming up on Saturday, February 7th from 5-8PM! This is a wonderful family-friendly event with food, a bonfire, and trails lit with tiki torches. It’s free for kids under 12, too! Check it out here: TikiTorch2015Flyer

 

Please keep doing your “Snow Dances” – the small base that we have is melting very quickly!

 

Have a great weekend!

Aricca

 

 

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INFORMATION FOR THE FRIDAY/3 DAY PROGRAM:

Location:	Garipay
Time:	3:30-4:30
Technique:	Skate
Wax Recommendation:	NA
Upcoming Event/Race:	Mt Top Paintball Biathlon https://www.nensa.net/calendar/index.php?id=1792

NOTES:

See you there!

 

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