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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. |
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