Report: The crazy world of ski jumping

Report: The crazy world of ski jumping

07/08/2013 17:21

After waiting for months until the ski jumpers would start into their new season with the Summer Grand Prix the 25th of July was finally here: The beginning of the season in Hinterzarten was straight ahead. As already last year I was lucky to be there again. But this time not only as a spectator beside the run-out but also as a volunteer at the Team Care in the team areas.

I had a really good start into the weekend when the German head coach Werner Schuster and Michael Neumayer passed me by in a car from the DSV on the parking of the press center!

More or less unaware of what to expect I made my way to the hill directly after I checked in at the hotel on Thursday afternoon. There I introduced myself to the other volunteers who were very friendly to each other. Already at that point you could see that they are working together as an experienced team.

The first highlight of many more this weekend was the chance to see the Rothausschanze for once from the view of the ski jumpers – namely from the top. The view downhill onto the run-out was simply stunning!

Later in the evening there was a ‘Celebrity-Match’ at the sports field at which the coaches and other team members played agains regional football stars. After a small photo and autograph session with the German athletes there was already my second highlight of the weekend: The Norwegians arrived at the sports field during the penalty shooting so I could take some nice pictures from almost every one of them.

Friday afternoon my work as a volunteer at the Team Care was officially about to start. A part of my job was the info point beside the inrun of the hill where for example starting and result lists were printed for the teams and the catering tent for the teams.

Well, you really can’t say that there was nothing to do all the time. Especially between the trial rounds and the qualification round or the competition rounds it was very hectic in the team area. Although you don’t get a lot of the various trial or competition rounds you always remarked when there was a break. From one moment to another the team area and especially the catering tent was crowded with ski jumpers, coaches and other officials. So it was very important to have enough sandwiches, fruit and – most important – enough cold drinks.

When there were no breaks and no crowds of athletes, coaches and officials who wanted all at once something to eat I had a bit of ‘spare time’. This time I mostly spent taking some pictures from the beautiful view or the athletes who were about to arrive at the team area with the lift. I was told not to talk to them during the trial, qualification and of course not during the competition rounds – due to the concentration...

Later in the afternoon me and another volunteer were allowed to collect the BiBs from the athletes. So you simply take a small box, place yourself beside the lift and wait until the ski jumpers return to the team area. So it could happen easily for example to make Janne Ahonen laugh with a bit of small talk or to see Andreas Kofler making a little fun by telling us that he doesn’t have his BiB anymore. Only seconds later he laughed and pulled the starting number out of his helmet to give it to us.

But not only during the work there was a lot to laugh. It was already enough to spend your free time in a deck chair near the lift observing what was happening around you. Among others you could see an Austrian serviceman who tried to get into the lift with five huge bags and who already was lying on the ground including the luggage after one meter. After he noticed me watching him, he commented: “Well, then with the second attempt!” However you should be careful not to spend too much time lying in a deck chair. And if you do you should not be seen by the same people all the time. Otherwise it may happen that people like the French coach or Dieter Thoma call laughing things like: “Hard life, eh?!” or “Do you actually ever have something to do?!” at you.

Also otherwise it was interesting to see who else was walking through the team area. The favourite of all my volunteer colleagues was the Canadian coach and his typical North American clothing style. So it was actually no surprise that he showed up at the Team Captain’s Meeting with Flip-Flops, Shorts, a way too large T-shirt, a cap and sunglasses, smacking and chewing gum and just shouted: “Hey, what’s up?”, while the FIS race director Walter Hofer stood beside him as neat as a pin in shirt and white trousers. The coolest accessoire of the Canadian were not his sunglasses but the little red plastic ice hockey bat he used as a flag to signalize his athletes when to jump.

In the evening after the qualification round it was rather hectic in the team area. The men left the area around the hill hastily and made some space for the Ladies who still had their competition tonight. Despite this bustle I managed to ask Janne Ahonen and Lauri Asikainen for a picture – my highlight of the day!

Due to the fact that there were only competing 30 Ladies the team area was empty – compared to the afternoon. There was nothing more to do so I wanted to make my way downhill to the run-out. The only problem was that I wanted to avoid using the lift. That thing didn’t look very trustworthy to me... Luckily there was a (small, curvy and pretty steep) way beside the Rothausschanze through the forest which goes by the judges’ tower. After the winner ceremony I met our Ski-Jumping-Italy photographer Kathrin. Thanks to her I knew about the promise Alexander Stöckl gave to the photographers: a team picture of the Norwegians in front of the gym on Saturday morning.

The following morning I arrived at 10.30 am at the gym where already 15 other photographers (who were really friendly) were waiting for the Norwegian team. Me – the only one who took her pictures with a smart phone – didn’t stand out there at all. Before the Norwegians arrived at the gym, it was the Polish team’s turn with posing for a nice picture. Less than five minutes later our actual ‘shooting stars’ rolled along and were immediately asked to take a seat on the bench underneath the trees – the light was better there. Andreas Stjernen and Anders Bardal must have found it even that nice to be welcomed by almost 20 photographers so early in the morning that they both grabbed their iPhones to take a picture of us at the same time.

I wouldn’t watch today’s Mixed-Team competition from the team area but this time from beside the hill. Now it became a real problem that I forgot my sun crème... The sun was shining all the time while there were even more than 30 degrees and within a short period of time my shoulders were sunburnt badly – ouch! During the competition I managed to get autographs from Noriaki Kasai and some other athletes which made me forget about the sunburn quickly.

Actually I wanted to ‘visit’ my volunteer colleagues after the competition but I still didn’t want to use the lift and for walking up the hill it was way too hot. With less than three hours at the hill, Saturday was the shortest ski jumping day for me.

But short or not, unfortunately, there was a really shocking moment – the fall of Andreas Wank. At his landing all the spectators were cheering enthusiastically at him for the width of his jump. However, the cheering died away when he fell. Luckily, everything looked worse than it actually was in the end and nothing serious happened to him.

Well, and then it was already Sunday. It was unbelievable how quickly the time in Hinterzarten was running out. On the one hand, it was a real pity. I’ll definitely miss seeing my favourite sport from a completely different point of view. On the other hand, I was pleased having reached the end of the weekend. These four days were truly exhausting and very exciting. Even that exciting that I almost couldn’t fall asleep at night.

Additionally, I made my way to the hill rather early. At 9.30 am – or even a bit earlier – I arrived there and was on my own. No one of the other volunteers was in sight. Due to the morning sunlight which threw a beautiful light onto the hill I decided to enjoy a maybe last view downhill onto the run-out and over the town of Hinterzarten.

Not much later, the other girls of the Team Care arrived in a van at the hill. The first job for today was to prepare loads of sandwiches and in general to prepare everything for the athletes who would be here in only one hour. Afterwards, I spent most of my time at the info point where you can really always have a laugh and experience some funny things.

For example, the fact that at 10.30 am it is way too early to speak English permanently with the team members of the different nations. The Polish team still ‘owed’ us the fee for using the gym what one of us explained to the coach like that: “You pay the ten euros and then we are totally... fertig miteinander!”, followed by huge laughter and some sceptical views by the Polish coach. Soon, it became more hectic at the info point. The trial round was about to start and members of various teams wanted to get a starting list. Unfortunately, there was another problem with the website from where we took and printed the lists. Not rare it happened that the site hung up, the lists were uploaded too late or simply the printer didn’t want to do what we wanted. Anyway, there were already about seven people waiting for a starting list. Last but not least, Werner Schuster showed up. It seemed like he was in a hurry because stopped rapidly at the info point, slapped with his fist on the table and shouted: “Starting list!!” We had to tell him that we couldn’t print the lists until now. He just said: “Weak. That’s really weak.” That was completely different when Dieter Thoma came to the info point. In the same moment he wanted to say what he wanted one of our girls turned around from the printer and gave him a starting list. He reacted friendly and with a big smile on his face: “Perfect, thanks! You are the best!”

After the competition I tried – in spite of the duties as a volunteer – to grab some autographs. Lastest realization: The Finnish Assistance-coach Toni Sarparanta is much friendlier and especially chattier than I thought first. :) One of the highlights of the day were the autographs from Janne Ahonen, Kamil Stoch, Maciej Kot & Lauri Asikainen.

My last action as a volunteer at the Summer Grand Prix Hinterzarten was to clean and tidy up the catering tent. So I had to fold together the benches and tables and load them on a trailer. I almost slapped the Austrian coach Alexander Pointner with such a bench – oops!

But the last highlight of the weekend is still missing. I said goodbye to my volunteer girls and passed the parking which was reserved for the teams and their vehicles. The Polish and Finns were still here and packed their luggage into their vans. I went down the way to the parking where my ‘personal taxi’ already was waiting for me. Half of the way later, the Finns rushed by in their van and somehow I didn’t believe my own eyes. Mico Ahonen, the son auf the one and only Janne Ahonen, held is head out of the side window of the van and waved to me. That was really a nice ending for an eventful ski jumping weekend!

Well, that was my personal experience report from Hinterzarten. A weekend which I will surely never ever forget! All in all it was very interesting to see what it’s like behind the scenes of ski jumping and how ski jumpers, officials and coaches are ‘in real’. Something like that you can’t experience either in front of the TV or as a spectator at the hill. I can only recommend everyone to be at least for once a volunteer at any competition. It’s really worth it.

• by Evelyn Schröfel (@_SkiJumping01)