The jump from Salisbury to Vancouver

It would be hard to argue that the fate of the little town of Salisbury is intertwined with the fate of any of the American teams competing at the Winter Olympics, now underway in Vancouver.

However, there are some significant connections and they are, in fact, likely to have an impact on winter sports here in the near future.

First there are the American ski jumpers, a scrappy trio that includes two young men who have competed almost annually at the Salisbury Winter Sports Association’s (SWSA) annual jumping competition. They were not here this year because they were on their way to Canada to compete.

But Peter Frenette (and his sister, Annie) and Nick Alexander have jumped many times from humble Satre Hill, home each year to the SWSA jumps. The announcers commended Frenette in particular each time he prepared to fly from the high tower — and remarked several times that, at 17, he is the youngest male member of the U.S. Olympic team.

Alexander is 21. He and Frenette have both been living and training at the ski jump facility in Lake Placid, N.Y.  For the next four years, they will train and travel with the Olympic team.

Both jumpers made it through the first qualifying round.  Frenette ended up in 31st place; if he’d made it to 30th, he would have been able to compete in the final round.

In addition to consistently complimenting Frenette on his skills, the announcers on NBC also made a point of noting that the ski jumpers are not part of the U.S. ski team. They do not have buses, entourages or someone to wax their skis, the announcers said.

“They have to hold bake sales to raise the money to come here,†they observed.

As president of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association, Ken Barker is familiar with how little funding there is available  for ski jumping. He and other volunteers hold events around the year (including the annual Jumpfest weekend) to raise money to train local youngsters to jump, and to send them to competitions around New England.

Last weekend, three Northwest Corner children went to Lake Placid to take part in the Junior Olympics.

This year in particular, the organization is feeling the importance of fundraising. They are trying to raise $700,000 to build a new jump tower. If that can be accomplished, Salisbury will host the 2011 Junior Olympic jumping events.

Barker is hopeful that the solid performance of Frenette and Alexander in Vancouver will help bring some donor dollars to a sport that is usually ignored in favor of  more high-profile events such as snowboarding.

“The United States Ski and Snowboard Association works like any business,†Barker said. “You have to show results before they’ll give you funding. But this year’s Olympics might earn us another look.â€

Even more persuasive than the jumpers is likely to be the American team’s performance in the Nordic Combined, which is ski jumping and cross-country skiing.

This year, the American team medaled in the sport for the first time in history.

Team members Johnny Spillane and Bill Demong both jumped here in Salisbury when they were younger, Barker said.

In theory, the annual Jumpfest is a Nordic Combined competition. There is supposed to be a cross-country track in addition to the jumping. However, the snow has been scarce in recent years.

“We can make snow on the jump tower and landing, but we don’t have the capability to make snow on the cross-country course,†Barker said.

In 2009, however, the weather conditions were favorable and there was a Nordic Combined contest.

There is one other Olympic change that might bode well for Salisbury: At the 2014 games in Russia, women ski jumpers are expected to be allowed to compete for the first time.

Anyone who has attended the annual jumps knows that often the most beautiful jumping is by the young ladies.

For more information on the Salisbury Winter Sports Association, go online to jumpfest.org.