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By Jamie Kumlien
Grand Time in Grand Rapids
My summer is coming to a conclusion,
and as I prepare to return to the life of a fairly average High School
student it occurs to me that this summer was really special in a lot of
ways. The one thing that I took the chance to step out of the box and
try, truly turned out to be a highlight of this year. For the most part
I consider myself a fairly “go by the rules” type individual, but it
sure was fun to bend a few. Freestyle footing allowed some amazing
experiences this summer.
My first stop was in Michigan. I was
skiing on behalf of Eagle wetsuits at the pro tour stop in Grand Rapids.
When we arrived, we were greeted by Dana Reed. He is the Pro Tour
organizer, and he was great. He got us what we needed, and the freedom
to entertain. We put in a few practice runs, and I felt ready. What was
amazing was to sit among the other skiers, and to watch their
preparation. I was in awe of how they floated in the air over the jump.
They are truly dedicated athletes, so often at tournaments I have been
so absorbed in preparing for my runs, that I have never been able to
step back and appreciate. Their routines were polished. From how they
laid out their gear, to what they did to mentally prepare was clearly a
practiced pattern of behavior. I will admit it, I did some people
watching. I also learned a lot. I have a new and very healthy respect
for the traditional three event skiers of our sport.
Walking around, I ran into some fellow
showskiers from Grand City Ski Team. They were really cool. We talked
about our common ski interest, and I was invited to participate in their
pyramid demo. I had fun and we skied well, if I do say so myself. Grand
City just won the Division 2 National Championship. Their skiers are a
class act, congratulations to them!
Next it was our turn to ski. I have to
admit I was a bit nervous. Warming up with a traditional trick run was
okay, but as I got comfortable things got interesting. My sister did a
sweet swivel ski run one way down the lake, then transitioned from a
graceful flip turn to a kick butt back step off. That encouraged me to
take a few flyers off the jump. First footing from a barrel roll; and
then from a flip. My little brother even got into the act. The crowd
sure likes a cute little kid, and a cute little kid SURE likes a crowd!
My sister and I did some tandum footing with some trick footing mixed
in.
Earlier in the day, Mikey and I began
to develop what we now have termed “little man-ventionals”. In show
skiing the doubles skiing act that is done without the harness belt is
called conventional doubles. Well I guess when you step off of skis long
line with your little brother on your shoulders, and his nickname is
“little man”, you can call it “little man-ventionals”. Unfortunately our
day had to end before we could complete the new act. However, we did
unveil it a few weeks later back home.
The highlight of the day had to be the
fact that I hooked up with the coolest wake boarder. I had a hair-
brained idea to ask someone to trick over me footing backwards. Scott
Ferwerda stepped up to the plate, after three others said “ahh I am not
sure about this”. He calmly told me, ”dude I can’t trick at 40 MPH”. We
agreed that the speed would be 25 to 27 MPH. I jumped out of their wake
board boat and away we went, I have never plowed so much water. It was
AWESOME to see Scott buzz by and land. When we stopped we both agreed,
“you like… WE DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!” Second time; twice as fun.
I got a chance to speak to Freddy
Krueger, and as I was trying not to sound like a stupid little kid. He
told me the stuff I was doing was cool. Can you believe that? He just
jumped like a football field, and was complimenting me… sweet! The women
were impressive athletes. I watched Regina Jaquess and Karina Nowlan
complete a triple run off to determine a winner. I was exhausted, but
they kept going. It was Karina’s birthday, and what a present it must
have been to win that one! I also got to talk to Pete Kuhlman, one of
the coolest freestyle jumpers I know. He helped to clean up my
helicopter spins (along with several other of my teammates… Dave, Gerry,
Aaron, Timmy C.) I am much more comfy on my bare feet! It was amazing to
watch him demo new jump equipment. We laughed about the fact that I much
prefer jumping inverted… GO FIGURE!
As the lights came on, I was bummed
that my day was ending. I was to report to our ski site in exactly eight
hours for the Mercury Open Show Ski Tournament. That meant “little man-ventionals”;
and our barefoot backpack start had to be shelved. That was just fine,
it was an amazing day! Dana wished us a safe trip, and we agreed to meet
again at the stop in Milwaukee. Thank You Dana for inviting us, and
thank you to all of the wonderful skiers and spectators that we ran into
in Michigan. I hope next year we can come back and show you how far
Freestyle has come!
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