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Monday, 21 Jul 08
"You've got to do a Pinwheel," says Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke as she overhears Roxy Pop Drop coach Caroline Gleich and I pondering our next trick at the Olympic Park splash pool in Park City, Utah.
"A Pinwheel, oh yeah," says Gleich. "So all you have to do is a back flip and I'll do a front flip." No big deal. Except, we had to do it together. From the top of the "single" ramp at the splash pool, Gleich and I held hands. "Let go, let go, let go," she says as we pick up speed and are about to hit the tranny. No big deal.
Shannon's smiling and Gleich and I can't stop laughing as our heads emerge from the bubbles in the 750,000-gallon pool. That was the type of fun girls ages 7 to 30 had at the Roxy Pop Drop presented by Axis Freeride and SheJumps on June 26-28.
Not everyone's goal was to do a Pinwheel, but just about all 19 girls were able to challenge themselves, whether it was learning a 180 or a front flip. Park City's Sicily Romano (9), was petrified to go off the "mini" jump on the first day, but she finally dropped in with the help from her friend Delaney Flynn (8) and the coaches.
"I'm really proud, because I wanted to do something perfect for my dad and I did a perfect spread eagle, and my first 180 around, I did a really good one," says Sicicly on the last day of camp. "I came to this camp because I love skiing. My favorite thing is to ski. I do farm team and I really wanted to get into a camp that will let us ski all year. This camp is a lot funner because you jump into pools."
Squaw Valley's Presley Doyle, 12, came to camp to learn a front flip. By the end of the weekend, she was sending textbook flips off the single jump, which is about a 15-foot drop into the pool. Not only did she get help from the Roxy coaches — Gleich, Olivia Akerly, Elise Borelli and MC Waryas — but also family-friend Barhke, who told her to "keep my head up and look out."
"They are really awesome," says Presley about her coaches. "It definitely pushes me to do stuff. I'll definitely come back and hope to bring this to the snow."
Getting girls to explore freestyle skiing among a male-dominated Oly Park pool has been Gleich's goal over the past two summers with the Roxy Pop Drop camp. "Over the past four seasons of coaching here for Axis Freeride, I've seen a lot of female skiers and snowboarders, a lot of great athletes of all ages and all abilities," Gleich says. "But in the past it's been male dominated on our junior teams so I wanted to give girls a way to get together and jump together in a way that they won't be afraid and won't hold back. Even from last year to this year, we've had a huge increase in the amount of females signed up for our year-round and summer-long programs." Gleich says that having Roxy involved is another way to get more girls out that may not have known about the local Oly Park programs. "Making skiing cute, young, and fun — that is a powerful thing about having Roxy involved," she says.
Throughout the three days of training, big-mountain skiers Lynsey Dyer and Claire Smallwood played camp counselors to the girls and jumped right alongside them working on front flips and misty and cork 7s. They helped one of the girls from Dyer's hometown, Sun Valley, over come her fear of the single jump. The next day, the camper was sending it off the single during the Roxy Jam Session prior to the Flying Ace All-Star show (i.e. in front of a thousand or so onlookers awaiting the U.S. Ski Team, freeride stars and Olympians perform on the aerial ramps). And the youngest camper of all, Liv Annika Stevenson (7) from San Diego made her way to the single on the last day, too, hucking a huge spread eagle to cheers from the crowd.
"The level of progression we've seen over the past three days is huge," Gleich says. "We've had girls that maybe had never hit a jump on skis getting pretty big size jumps — 12, 15 feet of air. We've seen front flips, 360s, 540s, and just huge spread eagles. Getting that air awareness under their belt is only going to help as they take these tricks to the snow."
Special thanks to Flybar, Cole Sports, and ScullCandy for donating prizes to the campers. For more information about the Roxy Pop Drop, visit www.axisfreeride.com. Photos by Lynsey Dyer.
SheJumps helps challenge girls at Roxy Pop Drop
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"You've got to do a Pinwheel," says Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke as she overhears Roxy Pop Drop coach Caroline Gleich and I pondering our next trick at the Olympic Park splash pool in Park City, Utah.
"A Pinwheel, oh yeah," says Gleich. "So all you have to do is a back flip and I'll do a front flip." No big deal. Except, we had to do it together. From the top of the "single" ramp at the splash pool, Gleich and I held hands. "Let go, let go, let go," she says as we pick up speed and are about to hit the tranny. No big deal.
Shannon's smiling and Gleich and I can't stop laughing as our heads emerge from the bubbles in the 750,000-gallon pool. That was the type of fun girls ages 7 to 30 had at the Roxy Pop Drop presented by Axis Freeride and SheJumps on June 26-28.
Not everyone's goal was to do a Pinwheel, but just about all 19 girls were able to challenge themselves, whether it was learning a 180 or a front flip. Park City's Sicily Romano (9), was petrified to go off the "mini" jump on the first day, but she finally dropped in with the help from her friend Delaney Flynn (8) and the coaches.
"I'm really proud, because I wanted to do something perfect for my dad and I did a perfect spread eagle, and my first 180 around, I did a really good one," says Sicicly on the last day of camp. "I came to this camp because I love skiing. My favorite thing is to ski. I do farm team and I really wanted to get into a camp that will let us ski all year. This camp is a lot funner because you jump into pools."
Squaw Valley's Presley Doyle, 12, came to camp to learn a front flip. By the end of the weekend, she was sending textbook flips off the single jump, which is about a 15-foot drop into the pool. Not only did she get help from the Roxy coaches — Gleich, Olivia Akerly, Elise Borelli and MC Waryas — but also family-friend Barhke, who told her to "keep my head up and look out."
"They are really awesome," says Presley about her coaches. "It definitely pushes me to do stuff. I'll definitely come back and hope to bring this to the snow."
Getting girls to explore freestyle skiing among a male-dominated Oly Park pool has been Gleich's goal over the past two summers with the Roxy Pop Drop camp. "Over the past four seasons of coaching here for Axis Freeride, I've seen a lot of female skiers and snowboarders, a lot of great athletes of all ages and all abilities," Gleich says. "But in the past it's been male dominated on our junior teams so I wanted to give girls a way to get together and jump together in a way that they won't be afraid and won't hold back. Even from last year to this year, we've had a huge increase in the amount of females signed up for our year-round and summer-long programs." Gleich says that having Roxy involved is another way to get more girls out that may not have known about the local Oly Park programs. "Making skiing cute, young, and fun — that is a powerful thing about having Roxy involved," she says.
Throughout the three days of training, big-mountain skiers Lynsey Dyer and Claire Smallwood played camp counselors to the girls and jumped right alongside them working on front flips and misty and cork 7s. They helped one of the girls from Dyer's hometown, Sun Valley, over come her fear of the single jump. The next day, the camper was sending it off the single during the Roxy Jam Session prior to the Flying Ace All-Star show (i.e. in front of a thousand or so onlookers awaiting the U.S. Ski Team, freeride stars and Olympians perform on the aerial ramps). And the youngest camper of all, Liv Annika Stevenson (7) from San Diego made her way to the single on the last day, too, hucking a huge spread eagle to cheers from the crowd.
"The level of progression we've seen over the past three days is huge," Gleich says. "We've had girls that maybe had never hit a jump on skis getting pretty big size jumps — 12, 15 feet of air. We've seen front flips, 360s, 540s, and just huge spread eagles. Getting that air awareness under their belt is only going to help as they take these tricks to the snow."
Special thanks to Flybar, Cole Sports, and ScullCandy for donating prizes to the campers. For more information about the Roxy Pop Drop, visit www.axisfreeride.com. Photos by Lynsey Dyer.
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