Brattleboro Union High School - Colonel Yearbook (Brattleboro, VT)

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ia -My A W Tl-IE DIAL s A A lg lk If lx 1X lx A fx ff A A A A A A as as 43 ranking, both in public and private schools, will be in- vited to attend the Eastern Interscholastic Championship Meet sponsored by the Hanover High School Outing Club. The Meet is expected to assemble over one hundred schoolboy skiers from New England and New York. Among interesting projects of the Club is the conver- sion of a small cottage into a ski lodge with fireplace, ski posters, literature, and the odor of pine tar prevailing. Nearby is the ski held where daily instruction periods have been inaugurated. In direction of Winter Sports is Coach Fulton, a Dart- mouth graduate, and former coach of the Tilton School Ski Team. Hockey, captained by Willard Wilson and managed by Robert Elston, has commenced at an early date. The team will play mid-week games in the Inter-Community League at Hanover, besides following its regular schedule of games with Lebanon, Woodsville, Bellows Falls, New Hampton, and Hartford. -'Hdllf1l'6l' High School Outing Club H.'vmz'er, N eu' Hampshire Lebanon High School HIE junior Outing Club, the largest and most active -I-club in our school, is looking forward to a very busy season. A large skating rink has been prepared on our playground. This is intended largely for recreational skat- ing and will mean a great deal to the students from the rural sections who bring their noon lunches. The ski trails have been brushed and cleared of all stumps and rocks. They are now covered with eight inches of snow and are being used. The ski jump trestle is being rebuilt and will be in use within a week. Beginners' classes in skiing are being conducted daily on the golf links. The ski classes for the younger boys and girls will be conducted by the more able high school stu- dents. The high school girls' and boys' ski teams are coached by Miss Marguerite Fifield and Erling Heistad, respectively. The girls' teams are planning meets with Newport, N. H., and Hanover, N. H. The boys are look- ing forward to the annual Dartmouth B team vs. Leb- anon Outing Club meets which take place the second and third week in January. They will also compete for the third time for the Franconia Cup. This Cup is a challenge trophy to go permanently to the first school to win it three times. Lebanon has two legs on it. February 19 and 20 is the time for the Eastern Inter- scholastic championships at Hanover, N. H. Lebanon will enter a junior and a Senior team. There are plans being made for a dual meet between Williams College Freshmen and the Lebanon High School team. Cut by Cora Terreri '39 But-emphasis will be put on recreational skiing rather than the competitive, and safety precautions will be re- quired of all members of the teams. -Erling Heirlad Vermont Academy I H1s winter, Vermont Academy is planning to have a good ski team or winter sports team. We have sched- uled ski meets with Andover, Deerfield, Cushing, Mt. Hermon, and Tilton Schools. There are thirty boys out for skiing this year which is more than we have had for the past two years. Besides two of last year's letter men who are back, there are several new boys who should do well in competition. One skied for Lowell Thomas in Tucker- man's Ravine. There are several new developments going on here this year. We are going to have the ski jump in the same place, but we are going to build a wooden take-off and trestle. jumps of seventy-five or eighty feet should be made on it. There is also another hill on which we hope to build a large jump, but it has the disadvantage of being too far from the school. We are going to use the same three-mile cross-country course that we had last year. This is a good course and includes several obstacles such as fences and a brook. Devil's Dip, which we consider a good downhill trail, is going to be a little different from last year. Instead of having several steep, sharp turns at the top, it comes straight down for the hrst few hundred yards. This makes it much faster, and it now has all the aspects of an expert trail. There is also another trail, which can be used for racing, on another hill called jones Mt. Several other scattered trails make good practice runs. A long, steep, open slope over near Devil's Dip offers a fine slalom hill. The only hindrance is that there are quite a few bushes growing there. Our club has first, second, and third class tests which determine the skier's skill. These tests are not the same as the British Ski Association tests, but are simpler. Our first class test corresponds to the British Ski Association's third class test. They will be given by our ski coach, Homer Gregory, and we expect that almost everybody will pass the third class test. We have noted a vast improvement here at school, and everywhere else, also, in the past few years. -Irving Townrlserzd Now, the Exchange Editor wishes to take this opportu- nity to extend her sincere thanks to the faculty members and students who have contributed to this Department. Ski Heil!

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EXCHANGE 'NOW flakes against the skyg long trails winding through snow-decked woods, gay crowds shuffling on hillsides, sleek figures gliding over sparkling slopes! Winter! The season of invigorating outdoor sports! And in keeping with this popular season and the subject of this issue, the Exchange Editor has written to several high schools for brief resumes of the winter activities of each. Melrose, Massachusetts E in Melrose are fortunate in having one of the finest winter sport's centers in Massachusetts, Mount Hood. Our high school has formed a Winter Sport's Club which holds its activi- ties on Mount Hood. Here there are opportunities for all types of winter pastimes. The Terrain offers excellent opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and hill practice. A three and one-half mile cross-country course was laid out for two carnivals which were held last winter. There is also a twenty meter ski-jump scientifically designed with the aid of Robert Culver and Carl Shumway. At these carnivals, both of which were pronounced great successes, there were ski jumping, cross country, skating and hockey events. Schoolboys from all over eastern Massachusetts and Brattleboro, Vermont, participated. The four Brattleboro boys-M. Barber, E. Barber, F. Shaw, and D. Mitchell who took part in the jumping events thrilled crowds up to fifty thousand, over half of whom had never seen any ski-jumping before. It is inter- esting to note that M. Barber from Brattleboro holds the hill record for distance at this jump. A long toboggan chute erected last year was in con- tinual use night and day during the Carnivals and was popular as long as there was a sufficient amount of snow. In addition to the skiing opportunities there are several good sized ponds at Mount Hood and a larger one in Mel- rose center, all of which offer admirable opportunities for fancy skating, hockey, or speed skating. A hockey game between the all-scholastic hockey team of greater Boston and the Boston Bruin Cubs took place at one of the carni- vals. Melrose is a great place for coasting as it has been the custom for streets suitable for coasting to be shut off for this purpose. COASTING, dogsledding, and bobsledding are also en- joyed on Mount Hood. An additional tract of land approximating seventy-two acres, contiguous to the orig- inal Mount Hood tract, was recently purchased so that the reservation now has a total of two hundred and twenty- five acres. This new land offers a splendid opportunity for a downhill and slalom course, a bobsled run, and a dog- sled course, all of which are being seriously considered. Directly across the city is Middlesex Fells, a reservation maintained by the state and bounding upon several towns and cities. This is a territory abounding in natural beauty. The terrain here is hilly and very woody there being almost no open slopes or level grounds. It offers exceptional op- portunities for snowshoeing, cross-country, and downhill skiing. Here there are also several ponds excellent for all types of skating. Melrose is easily accessible by train, bus and automobile from Boston. We in Melrose will always welcome our Brattleboro friends who did so much toward making our first winter carnival so successful. -Ralph 5. Gore, Melrose High School, '37 Hanover High School DECENTLY reorganized, the Hanover High School Outing Club anticipates its most successful season in many winters. Under the direction of Captain Richard Putnam and Manager Robert Eastman, the Club, chiefly a skiing organization, has increased its membership to forty ski enthusiasts, half of whom are members of the U. S. Eastern Amateur Ski Association. The Club is training both a boys' and a girls' ski team for competition in meets sponsored by member clubs of the E. A. S. A., while itself looks forward to February 20 and 21 as its primary objective. That date should be a celebrated one, for some twenty clubs of Eastern Amateur j Cut by Gencrc Edron 39

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TI-iE DIAL I9 Ski Jumping Technique fContinued from page 91 It is hardly a question of nerve, it is more one of love for the sport that makes a skier jump harder. A jumper begins at a very early age and, consequently, builds up his nerve into love, so he no longer thinks of whether or not he has the nerve to jump far. I'm sure I would never have the nerve to go over such a thing! How do you dare to go over anything so large? The larger the jump, the safer the hill. That is, of course, up to a certain point. When a hill is built large, it is made wider and steeper, conditions which eliminate the danger of rolling off the course and of landing ter- ribly hard as one would do if the landing were Hatter. The reason you wouldn't dare to jump is the fact that you didn't start to jump when you were very young. ALITTLE later on, I heard one fellow say to another who was watching a jumper who had just come over, That was a terrible jump! He didn't go far at all. Oh, if the onlookers only knew that distance isn't all there is to jumping! A jumper is given twenty points for form and twenty points for distance. The form points, however, are by far more important than the distance points, for it is hard-in fact, almost impossible-to be able to beat another man by more than four or five dis- tance points, but there is no limit to the number of form points by which a man may be beaten. Points are figured differently. With the longest standing jump in competition as a standard, the judges take off so much from the total of twenty, for each foot or meter that the jumper is short on his jump. The form points, however, are taken off by the judges according to facts on a sheet of paper which lists all the possible mistakes a person can make throughout his entire jump. As the competitor starts down, he must be absolutely steady, and he must prove to the judges that he is really so, as they will take off from one to three points for this fault. For not riding low enough on the approach, the jumper loses one or two points. If he is over anxious, and jumps before he gets to the end of the takeoff, or if he is late in leaving the takeoff, that is, if he jumps after he is past the end of the takeoff, he loses one to three points. The Norwegian judges, who are considered the best in this sport, do not take off for too much bend at the hips or for the participants being too straight while in the air, but they insist in marking off very heavily for the jumper's straightening absolutely, after leaving the takeoff. Again, unsteadiness comes in, for, if one wavers or acts as if he weren't under control, the judges take off more points. One point each is taken off for bent knees, wrong ankle bend, crossed skis in front or in back, or if the skis are too far up in the jumper's face. THE next thing is the landing. Every jumper lands in a telemark position, that is, one ski is advanced in front of the other. If he breaks into this position before he is approximately three feet from the ground, points, again to the tune of one to three, are taken off. He must be steady, and his back must be erect when he lands. If this is not so, one or two points are taken off. After he is down, he must straighten up, then he may ride the rest of the way as he pleases. The only situation in which points can be taken off from now on, is that in which he is more or less steady. If a jumper falls, he is automatically disqualified, because he has lost so many points that it would be impossible, even if he made a perfect jump his second try, to outpoint any other man who stood up on both jumps. There are two completely different styles of jumping. One isicalled the American style, and the other, the Nor- wegian style. The American style consists of jumping straight up into the air when leaving the takeoff. After do- ing this, the jumper must acquire his lean, The Norwegian style consists of diving off the takeoff and, consequently, the jumper already has his lean. Using the American technique, the jumper lands much harder, and, con- sequently, must have a very strong pair of legs. The Norwegians are all small men, and so they have derived their own method of going just as far without getting the tremendous jolt which comes with a long jump done in the American style. All jumpers use variations of these two styles plus their own ideas of landing and flight through the air. Every jumper must know the rules governing his sport in order to keep his style as nearly correct as is possible. Due to the changing rules, he must keep up his knowledge of the subject from year to year. . 2i ' 0 41 Cut by Cora Terferi '39