Last week, SheJumps held its second Jump Camp. We work with Fly Freestyle coaches at the Utah Olympic Park to offer teens and women a chance to practice their ski tricks into the splash pool for an affordable price. Below Hailey Griffin of Alta Ski Area, tells us her story. Thanks for taking a jump, Hailey. Photos by Gregg Davis

Being a relatively new skier, I was quite nervous about attending the Jump Camp at the Utah Olympic Park sponsored by SheJumps and Fly Freestyle.  With only two seasons under my belt, the idea of strapping skis onto my feet and launching into a pool off a wooden ramp was intimidating.  However, with the support of my friends, the Fly Freestyle coaches and the inspiration of other female jumpers, I decided to take that "leap of faith."

The morning of the Jump Camp, I woke up feeling anxious.  I had looked at the Utah Olympic Park website the night before and fell asleep wondering what I had gotten myself into.  The drive from Alta to the park seemed to take hours in our car packed full of people, ski gear, and a new found sense of excitement.  The first thing you see of the Olympic Park from I-80 are the enormous Nordic ski jumps.  With the intimidation factor elevated, the nervous feeling from that morning hit full force.  It wasn't until we arrived at the park and I saw my fellow jumpers and friends that this nervous feeling was relieved, once again turning into excitement.

We started off our day watching an instructional video about the facility and what we were to expect for the day.  I sensed that all the girls in the room were just as eager as I was to start jumping.  After the video we proceeded outside to do some stretching.  Coming to the realization that I could barely touch my own toes, I began to worry about my trampoline abilities.  The last time I was on a trampoline, I had managed to acquire a sprained ankle. 

We broke up into two groups for the trampoline training. The coaches were teaching us all sorts of fun tricks like 'swivel hips', back flips, and 360s.  It was a blast and very funny watching everyone progress on the trampolines.  After a couple of hours, many of the girls decided to move on to the pool, but myself and a few others decided to stay behind and work on our back flips.  In order to do this, we were strapped into a harness and ropes that the coaches were able to maintain and keep us from landing on our heads.  I had never done a back flip before and despite scraped up toes and fingers, I was pleased with myself for giving it a try.

Just before lunch, the remaining girls from the trampolines and myself headed over to the practice ramp.  I struggled putting on a pair of rear entry boots that I borrowed and couldn't help but laugh at myself.  I watched the other girls head down the ramp and run into the padding/stop barrier at the bottom.  While side stepping up the ramp, I thought to myself "how in the world can you ski on this plastic carpet?".  I reached the bar we were supposed to sit down on and found myself holding on for dear life.  Suddenly the ramp seemed to grow larger and the idea of standing up was quite confusing.  "I just stand up?" I asked.  "Yes," was the answer.  It was a lot easier than expected and actually kind of fun.  The 'plastic carpet' felt like skiing spring snow and I even managed to not slam into the pads at the end.

We came back from lunch and proceeded to pull on our borrowed wetsuits.  Being 5'9" this proved quite the task.  When I finally pulled the wetsuit into place the knee pads were at my thighs and the sleeves were 3/4 length.  Needless to say, I looked ridiculous.  I pulled on my life vest and hot pink helmet and proceeded outside to the mini-ramp.  As I trudged up the stairs to the top, my hands started shaking and my lunch started churning.  Oh, great.  I watched the other girls jump while I waited in line.  The girls that had started that morning were already doing tricks, while those who were jumping their first time were face planting into the water.  All of us laughed together.

As I clipped into my skis I thought to myself "you can do this, you're going to do awesome".  I was given the go ahead.  Okay. Ready. Set. Go!  My skis tilted forward and I was cruising down the ramp.  Arms in front of me and eyes forward.  Here comes the jump!  I'm going to make it!   Oh, no... I began slowing down as I went over the jump.  All of a sudden I saw nothing but blue and SMACK! face first into the water.  I came to the surface laughing.  Getting out of the pool with skis on proved to be an exhausting, yet hilarious task.  I was told that the second jump would be better and it was!  The third time was even better, my head didn't even go under water.  I could feel myself progressing with every jump and as I watched the other girls it was inspiring to see their confidence building as well. 

Some of the girls went over to the bigger, single jump.  I decided to stay behind and really work on my 360 with a few others.  Fear left my body and was fully replaced by excitement.  I couldn't get enough of launching myself off the jump and into the pool.  Everything the coaches had taught us on the trampoline translated to our jumps.  They were great at giving us tips while supporting all of our goals.  Though many of us hadn't done such tricks before, by the end of the day we were throwing 360s and some were even doing back flips. 

For my last jump, I decided to go off the single jump.  Physically and mentally this was difficult for me because the single jump had seemed ominous up until this point.  Once again I found myself shaking with fear.  Although the jump itself was the same size, it was much higher above the water.  Also, in order to go down this ramp, we were required to do a jump turn.  As I stood on the ramp it suddenly seemed to shrink to half the width as the previous one.  It took everything I had to commit to that turn, but once I did it I was home free!  I sailed down the ramp, arms in front, eyes up and launched off, feet first, into the bubbling water below.  I managed to eject out of a ski, but it was retrievable.  I had gone off the single jump and nailed it. 

Our day spent at the Olympic Park was amazing.  Watching my peers progress and feeling the confidence build within myself was, and still is, inspiring.  Without the support of SheJumps and the Fly Freestyle coaches none of this would have been possible.  Myself and all the girls that participated in the jump camp that day are very appreciative of the opportunity that was given to us.  I look forward to the new ski season and applying what I learned out on the slopes. 

Thank you for everything!