NYSEF Elite Ski Jumping Coach Casey Colby has been in Europe with NYSEF athletes Andrew Bliss and Peter Frenette.
Update from Casey...
Well, the really good news this weekend is Nick Fairall. he has found his ski flying ability very quickly. his first ski flying competition ever and he earned his first world cup points ever. it was awesome to watch. and he was so close to a top-20, just a little bobble over the knoll cost him probably 20 meters... but he got 15 world cup points this week in the hardest event i have seen a long time. the top 3 and sometimes the top 5 are so far ahead of everyone, it is awesome to watch them jump.
at the FIS cup in Harrachov things were not so celebratory, but i think the boys learned a lot of things, hopefully. this event was hard, keep in mind that alexander and mike both got COC points last week in GER, and they also had a tough time equaling those results in this FIS Cup weekend. very impressive jumps by the winners. the first day everyone jumped as if they were walking a tightrope. i don't know why they tense up so much during the comp rounds when the mood before the comp is so light and cheerful. that's a puzzle for us all to figure out.
Brian Wallace had great trial jumps, best jumps of the trip for him, both over 80 meters. but then his comp jumps weren't quite as good for timing and he landed in the 50's. he is soaking it all in and its good that he is seeing what this level of jumping is like.
Pete Frenette was getting better every session, even every jump... his official training and trial jumps were 86-88, right around the top-30 cut. but his comps jump were trying to jump so hard that his technique just collapsed on one jump and just a slight miscue in direction on the 2nd jump. he finished in the high 30's, about 5 meters from the cut.
blake hughes had a decent first comp and a bad 2nd comp, he tries to jump so fast that any break in technique is seriously magnified. he finished 30th the first day and 32nd today and his jumps have been 89.5 & 86 87.
andrew Bliss definitely tried too hard to kill the take-off on a couple of his jumps. it was easy to see how tense he was in the air... when he knows he is the top skier he is so relaxed, but when he has to work for it or depend on a really good jump just to make the top-15 then he tries too hard... 2 jumps of 89 put him in 28th the first comp and in tougher conditions today he had a good trial of 91 then a little short of K for the comp put him in 28th again. he certainly knows exactly what the answers are to gain 10-12 spots so we'll see if he relaxes for the next event.
Nick alexander is not on his game right now, even after his best COC finish ever last week. 23rd & 21st this weekend; but i don't think he is taking these events seriously because he may see it as a step down from the COC events. he jumped 91 & 92.5, 88 and 92... but he surely needs to treat these comps as the real deal...because they are. there are a lot of good jumpers here, many JWC competitors are here i think.
Mike Glasder was the best this weekend, he was 17th both days with jumps around 92 & 93. his trial jump on saturday was one of the best of the day for all the competitors. with 2 good jumps mike is a contender for top-5. just a small change in his direction in the comp and he lost 4-6 meters that cost him dearly. Mike definitely has the best attitude on the jump, most focused and relaxed approached and the most confidence of the group right now, he is a good leader this week.
but all the cheers went to Fairall this week, he did a great thing at his first ski flying event. other than his best ever result, the world cup points and the perma-grim on his face; he also made it possible for all their world cup travel to be paid for from now on for a coach and 2 athletes. so instead of spending all that money on travel, room & board from their own pocket... they get it paid for now when they are at the world cup level.
and for you parents... the boys are spending much less money than you all budgeted for. i think R&B has cost them 130 Euro total so far for Tue night thru sat afternoon.
We just arrived in Oberwiesenthal GER for some training. a couple days of jumping then we head to Lauscha for the events this weekend.
hope all is well.
casey
at the FIS cup in Harrachov things were not so celebratory, but i think the boys learned a lot of things, hopefully. this event was hard, keep in mind that alexander and mike both got COC points last week in GER, and they also had a tough time equaling those results in this FIS Cup weekend. very impressive jumps by the winners. the first day everyone jumped as if they were walking a tightrope. i don't know why they tense up so much during the comp rounds when the mood before the comp is so light and cheerful. that's a puzzle for us all to figure out.
Brian Wallace had great trial jumps, best jumps of the trip for him, both over 80 meters. but then his comp jumps weren't quite as good for timing and he landed in the 50's. he is soaking it all in and its good that he is seeing what this level of jumping is like.
Pete Frenette was getting better every session, even every jump... his official training and trial jumps were 86-88, right around the top-30 cut. but his comps jump were trying to jump so hard that his technique just collapsed on one jump and just a slight miscue in direction on the 2nd jump. he finished in the high 30's, about 5 meters from the cut.
blake hughes had a decent first comp and a bad 2nd comp, he tries to jump so fast that any break in technique is seriously magnified. he finished 30th the first day and 32nd today and his jumps have been 89.5 & 86 87.
andrew Bliss definitely tried too hard to kill the take-off on a couple of his jumps. it was easy to see how tense he was in the air... when he knows he is the top skier he is so relaxed, but when he has to work for it or depend on a really good jump just to make the top-15 then he tries too hard... 2 jumps of 89 put him in 28th the first comp and in tougher conditions today he had a good trial of 91 then a little short of K for the comp put him in 28th again. he certainly knows exactly what the answers are to gain 10-12 spots so we'll see if he relaxes for the next event.
Nick alexander is not on his game right now, even after his best COC finish ever last week. 23rd & 21st this weekend; but i don't think he is taking these events seriously because he may see it as a step down from the COC events. he jumped 91 & 92.5, 88 and 92... but he surely needs to treat these comps as the real deal...because they are. there are a lot of good jumpers here, many JWC competitors are here i think.
Mike Glasder was the best this weekend, he was 17th both days with jumps around 92 & 93. his trial jump on saturday was one of the best of the day for all the competitors. with 2 good jumps mike is a contender for top-5. just a small change in his direction in the comp and he lost 4-6 meters that cost him dearly. Mike definitely has the best attitude on the jump, most focused and relaxed approached and the most confidence of the group right now, he is a good leader this week.
but all the cheers went to Fairall this week, he did a great thing at his first ski flying event. other than his best ever result, the world cup points and the perma-grim on his face; he also made it possible for all their world cup travel to be paid for from now on for a coach and 2 athletes. so instead of spending all that money on travel, room & board from their own pocket... they get it paid for now when they are at the world cup level.
and for you parents... the boys are spending much less money than you all budgeted for. i think R&B has cost them 130 Euro total so far for Tue night thru sat afternoon.
We just arrived in Oberwiesenthal GER for some training. a couple days of jumping then we head to Lauscha for the events this weekend.
hope all is well.
casey
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