USASJ Story Project- Nov. 7 LUBANSKY/REQUIST

Story No. 13 

SCOTT LUBANSKY
AGE 52
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth Ski Club

Scott Lubansky in happier times- yesterday before the election.

I remember training in Switzerland in the late seventies.  USST John Broman, me and I believe it was Landis Arnold decided it would be a good laugh if the three of us were to go down the 70 meter hill together at the same time.  It was summer training so we were skiing on plastic.  We didn’t notice the inrun was troughed in until we all started down the inrun and eventually slid in line with each other.  I will never forget coming off the take -off feeling my tips hitting the backs of Broman’s skis and Landis Arnold’s tips hitting the backs of my skis while in flight.  In those days it was polovision instead of video!  To this day I cannot locate the tape, but I know it is on film somewhere.  Maybe Tim Dennison, Glenn or Penti are still viewing it on occasion, ha!  The worst feeling was whether or not we would survive the landing --- fortunately we all made it by the skin of our lifa underwear.  Whew… Never again.

Kindest regards to all.


Story No. 14

MELISSA REQUIST

Age 15

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club

Melissa (R) and friend Nikki Katthain (L) in Park City.

Ski jumping is something that I have done for so long that I can't remember my life before ski jumping, probably because I was only 4. What you learn, growing up as a ski jumper/Nordic combined athlete is that no matter what happens in school or anywhere else, the hill is a different world. For years, I have been saying that Howelsen Hill (which is where the jumps are) is like my second home and that all of the jumpers are like my second family. Still, no matter how much you love something, there are bound to be hard parts, such as injuries and not making certain teams. However, there are bound to be good parts as well. For me, one of the best parts of ski jumping is that every day I get to go to the top of the hill and sit on the bar and see my entire town from above, blanket on snow as it were a snow globe. I get to go out every day and do what I love and be with people who support me. When I am training, it doesn't matter that I always jump the shortest, or ski the slowest, that can change. What matters is that I am there doing it, having fun, and grasping onto every minute of it because I know that it can't last forever. That’s not to say that there are no difficult days, no days where I wish that I could just sit in the lodge and drink hot chocolate, or days where I curse the sky for snowing so much because I don't want to wake up early and go pack the hills. What you learn, though, is that those days are often the best ones when you look back.

Looking back on the hard days, I remember them being much worse than I'm sure that they were, but I also remember the fun parts: the jokes we would tell each other when we were packing, the random snowball fights at the bottom of the lift, crazy songs about fruits that we sing at the top of the jump for anyone who has never jumped that jump before so they will have something else to focus on. Sure, there are times when I don't want to be around certain people on my team, times when I wish they would just disappear, but then I realize how many times there are when I couldn't imagine what I would do without them. I think that the biggest thing that I have learned from ski jumping are to face your fears, no matter what they are, because it will make you stronger and happier if you do, to work hard at what you love, because you will never get anywhere if you don't try, and to pay attention to the people around you, they have a larger influence on your happiness that you would think. Ski jumping isn't just about the jump, yes that's what it centers around, but it teaches life lessons, helps you push past fear, and gives you a team to fit into and coaches that support you in more than just ski jumping. I can't remember my life before ski jumping, and I don't want to imagine what it will be like after.