U.S. junior champion Alysa Liu landing a triple Axel. Renowned coaches sharing their expert knowledge. 2013 U.S. champion and Worlds competitor Max Aaron and Worlds competitor Mariah Bell delivering a poignant keynote address.
There was plenty of inspiration to go around at the third annual Jump On It! Camp, held April 19–21 at the World Arena Ice Hall in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The camp attracted 113 athletes, 70 coaches, 14 faculty instructors and 11 Team USA athlete assistants.
"This has become more than just a camp; it's a movement," Justin Dillon, director of high performance development at U.S. Figure Skating and one of the event organizers, said. "Coaches, parents and other faculty have flooded our inbox with thank you and congratulatory messages on the camp.
"We have a long waiting list for this camp so if we can expand it to more than one camp, that would be ideal and meet the need of our developing athletes."
The camp, the brainchild of U.S. Figure Skating President Sam Auxier, featured many of the elite coaches in the country, as well as a group of top junior- and senior-level skaters who served as athlete assistants, demonstrating the proper jump techniques for this burgeoning group of athletes.
Athlete assistants included Liu, U.S. junior bronze medalist Ting Cui and World Junior competitors Camden Pulkinen, Tomoki Hiwatashi and Emmy Ma.
"They were very active, getting out there and showing many difficult jumps," Dillon said. "They were excited to be out there and I think it was good for those skaters who participated.
"Watching Alysa doing triple Axels was incredibly inspiring and eye-opening. I think the participants were like, 'Wow, we can do that, too."
Aaron and Worlds competitor Mariah Bell delivered the keynote speech via Facebook Live. More than 16,000 views have been recorded. Aaron, who received his college degree recently, shared with the group that he has a new job already working for a financial institution.
"He spoke to how his gold medal was really about the process, and that while he would have liked to have been at the Olympics or to have an Olympic medal, his gold medal was the journey through skating," Dillon said. "That was a good message, because as an organization we encourage them to be well-rounded athletes and Max really spoke to that."
Read more about this year's Jump On It! Camp and more in the June/July issue of SKATING magazine.
