Twenty-four athletes, seventeen parents, and four coaches from the SSWSC Ski Jumping & Nordic Combined program ended the summer season by participating in the club’s annual Flight Camp at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, UT, August 13-17.

The trip usually starts off with roller skiing, runs, hikes, swimming, and fun activities, followed by a fun cookout and camping at Deerlodge Park on the Yampa River on the way to Park City. However, this year, with rain in the forecast, the team decided to skip the camping and head directly to Park City.

Once in Park City, the camp offered six jumping sessions and four dryland sessions. One of the dryland sessions, a roller ski, was led by former national team member Taylor Fletcher. We also had a fun session of ropes courses, zip lines, and alpine slides at the UOP and a fun evening of pizza & games on Thursday evening. All in all, it was a busy and fun-filled camp where many athletes made major shifts and improvements.

Our goals for the camp are to get in one last intense block of jump training before going back to school, logging lots of jumps in a short time, and it’s a great opportunity to cap off the summer training season by jumping bigger jumps for the first time. A few of our younger athletes were traveling to the UOP for the first time, and a number of PRs (personal records) were set during the camp. Athletes at Flight Camp ranged in age from 8 to 13, while all of the club’s older J/NC athletes attended a two-week camp in central Europe just prior to Flight Camp.

In all, forty J/NC athletes participated in out-of-town/country training camps in August. Now, with a successful summer of training behind them, the SSWSC J/NC program is looking forward to the US Championships in Lake Placid for our older athletes, a competition weekend at the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove, IL for our younger athletes and our annual Minicamp in Steamboat, all happening in October.