August 4th, 2013
This was arrival day for the 13 young, enthusiastic athletes who signed up for five nights and five days of water ramp camp with NYSEF. The drop-off location for this camp was located at Lysek's Hillcrest inn in Lake Placid, New York. Each athlete was quick to figure out where their bed was, and t.o get settled in. Once everybody was settled in the athletes were given a short period of free time before dinner. Our first meal at Lysek's was cheese stuffed pasta shells accompanied by a salad, and garlic bread. Dinner was followed by a mandatory meeting, and this was followed by our first evening activity: a friendly game of eight on seven soccer. We played all the way until the sun went down! After only the first few hours of camp everybody's spirits were very high, and excitement filled the air. On the ride back to Lysek's talk consisted mostly of what everybody wanted to accomplish at the ramps by the end of camp.
Knowing that our first day of camp would start at 6 AM, we had an early lights out at 9:30PM.
at 6 AM alarm came quite the next morning. Just about every athlete was already awake and eager to start the day. Everyone was quick to put on clothes and head to the dining room for breakfast. At breakfast the athletes were met with what came to be known as, "the best chocolate chip pancakes in the world!" After breakfast it was off to the ramps!
I would like to take a moment to introduce you to the coaching staff for this camp.
Justin Perry, or JP as he likes to be referred to as, has been a professional ski coach for NYSEF for the past five years. Coach J.P. is shown here helping Jackson feel more comfortable learning new tricks on the trampoline by throwing the big throw pad underneath him before they land.
In this photo Brett gets to know Hannah Doan. Hannah is a former NYSEF athlete, and an extraordinaire in the half pipe. She has a wonderful way with teaching young athletes. Hannah was the second counselor for this camp, and one of the three coaches.
Next on the roster of coaches, I would like to introduce you to Jake Doan. Jake is also a former NYSEF athlete, a college student at Westminster in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an amateur freestyle skier.
When it comes to the question of how our days went at the water ramps, I would like to let the photos, and the videos speak for themselves.
Brett shows us a nice laid out position in a backflip. However Brett, if you are seeing this, you may notice that you are looking early with your head.
Gavin expresses his creativity by making a pair of tramp skis out of foam, flip-flop, and duct tape. He further expresses his creativity and control by practicing grabs with his new skis.
In this photo Gavin shows us yet another way to get the grab.
Here we have a little flat three Japan action being thrown down by Avery
Here we have Ben. he is new to NYSEF, and to the ramps.
But it didn't take Ben long before he started to work on backflips.
Jake P. a.k.a. cat man a.k.a. ginga' ninja likes his backflips, especially when they come with a side of truck driver grab!
Oh yeah, Jake also likes to go huge! As you can see here he is showing off his Superman skills.
Not to be confusing, but the previous pictures you saw Jake P. In this photo you can see Jake Doan leading by example, and showing Jake R. how to do a trick.
Here you will say are other snowboarder Josh demonstrating how to get a nose grab.
Here you will see Josh demonstrating how to tweak a nose grab.
Nate is also a newcomer to NYSEF. In this photo he is receiving a small throw pad in order to help him perfect a new trick.
Coach J.P. has to have a little bit of fun too.
Jack learned a double backflip at camp. Here he is pulling his knees into his chest, right before he starts the second flip.
Speaking of doubles... this photo is of Gavin pulling his legs and in order to bring around a double cork 1260.
Mason was another athlete who hopped on the double train. This photo is of Mason executing a near-perfect tuck in order to get a double backflip around.
This photo is of Tucker. He too was a first timer to the pool, and to NYSEF. By the end of camp Tucker had learned 2 different flipping maneuvers including the frontflip that you see above.
Here coach Jake is helping Jackson figure out what he can do better by analyzing video, frame by frame, on a coaching app on the iPad.
After a long day at the pool all of the athletes were given the opportunity to jump off of the double deck, and the top of the double kicker.
This was among the favorite activities of all of the campers.
When our training at the pool came to an end each day, the activities were far from over. On Monday afternoon we took a short hike to Copperas Pond, and in the evening we went mountain biking. For those who did not have a mountain bike a walk around the lake and through Main Street was the evening activity. On Tuesday night we attended a reggae concert right on Main Street in Lake Placid.
Then on Wednesday, we took a day off from pool training to go hike Cascade Mountain; with an elevation of 4098ft above sea level, it is the 36th tallest mountain in New York State, and one of the Adirondack's 46ers. For many of the athletes this was their first 46er ever. The hike proved to be a great activity for all of the athletes, and the weather could not have been better! It was a beautiful day.
Here is a view from the top as captured by Instagram.
Everybody packed a lunch beforehand, and hold it all away to the top of the mountain so that we could have this view while we had lunch. Not bad eh?
After lunch we took some group photos. One with the coaches...
one without the coaches...
and a goofy one.
Then it was time to hike down.
Once we got to the bottom, all of the athletes in this photo could officially claimed that they had completed their first 46er.
Water ramp training resumed on Thursday and continued through our final day of Friday. As our final evening activity of the camp we went to Bowlwinkles, the local bowling alley. This was an absolute hit with everyone! We had the place to ourselves, and everyone got to bowl two full games. To top it off the music was jammin', and the black lights were on. It was a freestyle, bowling party. Everyone went to bed exceptionally happy that night.
August 9th, 2013
This was pick up day. All the athletes had their bags packed but no one was ready to go home. The 5 days and 5 nights seemed to go by so fast. For every athlete there it proved to be an educational experience from a training stand point, but most of all it was fun packed summer camp! It was an escape from the reality of normal everyday living, and an opportunity for everyone involved to submerge themselves into everything that Lake Placid, and the surrounding area has to offer!
Out of the hundreds of videos that I and the other coaches took during the week, here are my favorites. There are 67 in total. They play one after the other after the other. Every athlete has at least a couple:
This camp was so much fun! I would like to take a brief moment to say a HUGE thank you to all of the parents, athletes, coaches, and administrators who made this camp possible!
Also, many of the photo's in this blog were shot by Jake Sporn with Jake Sporn Photography. I want to take a moment as well to thank Jake.
- JP
