Myth #2 Debunked, Part 12

It's been several days since I have asked a real hard question, so it's time for another hard question.

 

If the US gov't were to pass a law making it illegal for anyone over the age of 18 to ever go alpine skiing, how long would your favorite alpine ski area stay in business?

 

By getting rid of all the adult jumpers due to the "When you quit competing, you quit jumping" mentality isn't this the exact same thing that ski jumping has did, make it "illegal" for anyone over the age of 18 to ski jump.

 

The competition has gotten so intense and the sport is so focused on competition that it has put the noose around it's own neck and the noose keeps getting tighter and tighter with each and every passing year.  Everyone keeps waiting for the board to get knocked out from underneath.

 

People like to talk about how there is no money in ski jumping...this is because there are no adults in ski jumping, only kids.  Kids don't have any money, they have to go to there parents to get money.  The adults are the people that have put the money into alpine skiing, cross country skiing, road/mountain biking, running, etc.  No adults equals no money.

 

All the problems in this sport come from the same cause.  They all have the same solution, get more adults.  Stop asking the question "How do we get more kids".  I hear this question come up all the time.  Everyone is so focused on trying to get that Olympic medal.  They think by getting an Olympic medal that it is going to help build the sport of ski jumping.  They are WAY off their rocker.

 

The only reason that skeleton saw such a big surge after Salt Lake City had nothing to do with Jimmy Shea.  It was all about the media exposure that came as a result of skeleton being brought back into the Olympics.  I, personally, had never even heard of skeleton prior to 2002.  If you were to have asked me what skeleton was back in 2001, I could not have given you an answer, other than maybe that thing you see in the doctors office.  Now I can even tell you about one of the competitors here in the east that used to ski jump as recently as last summer.  He saw his opportunites were a lot greater in skeleton than what they were in ski jumping.  From stories I have recently heard, I would have to say that he is correct.  Skeleton is far more of a fair sport than what ski jumping could ever hope to be.  In skeleton you don't have to worry about having all jumpers except those that the coaches favor being given tailwind while the coaches favorite gets the nice headwinds.

 

Yes, ski jumping is way too competitive for its own good.

 

If people really want to rebuild the sport of ski jumping in this country they have a lot of work ahead of them.  First, they have to change the media.  They need to get the media on their side, encouraging people to come out here and jump instead of having the media dissuade people from wanting to get into the sport.

 

Second, they have to stop the finger pointing.  Again, how many fingers do you have pointing back at yourself.  Refer to Part 1 to find out what I'm talking about.

 

Third, they have to follow in the footsteps of the rest of the sports world.  They need to drop the massive competitive kick and get this sport turned into a recreational activity instead.  Make it so people want to come out here and jump for the fun of it.  Yes, I'm talking about adults coming out here for the fun of it, not just kids.

 

Fourth, they need to stop worrying about getting more kids, and put their focus instead on building the adult base.  As the old saying goes, "Like father, like son".  If you want the kids, you need the fathers, first.

 

Tomorrow I shall wrap up this series, for now, and give more tips on building an adult base.

 

Until next time

Keep your ski tips up,

Crash