DEVELOPMENT COACH OF YEAR Ski Jumping./Nordic Combined Coach of the Year Mike Holland Ford Sayre Ski Club
A World Cup winner and one of the past stars of his sport, volunteer coach Mike Holland (Norwich, Vt./Ford Sayre Ski Club) is making a difference for the next generation of ski jumpers. Under his leadership this past season, Ford Sayre qualified five young athletes to the Junior National Championships – the most ever for the venerable jumping club in Brattleboro, Vt. which has a long history of sending athletes to the Olympic and national team.
Mike Holland and his brothers grew up in the Olympic-rich town of Norwich, Vt. Brothers Mike and Jim were ski jumpers, while Joe skied nordic combined – three Olympians in one family. Mike became a ski jumping legend, winning the Bischofshofen, Austria Springertournee event in 1989 – still today the only American World Cup win.
Holland is a tireless volunteer, working to improve snowmaking, upgrading jumping facilities and recruiting kids from local schools. After retiring as an athlete in 1990, he went into business with his family. He was thrust into coaching temporarily around a decade ago, and it stuck. Now, you can often find him out early packing the hill for jumpers all the while negotiating on the phone for a used winch cat or snowmaking equipment to help make the jumper better.
Today he coaches with brother Joe, working with around 50 kids each year at Ford Sayre in Hanover, N.H., as well as with the Lebanon Outing Club jumps in neighboring Vermont. Using his engineering skills, he also developed a portable roller ski jump which is being used as a recruitment tool by clubs around the country.
“Ski jumping, as a sport, teaches key life lessons. I realized it for myself as an athlete, but more so now as a coach. When you confront your fears, you see a transformation in kids’ personalities. You know it’s going to help them in everything they’re going to do the rest of their lives.”
To get more information, please check out our Registration page. To learn more about our various programs, please go to the home page, and select the desired program.
Junior Nordic Team (JNT) registration will open in November.
If you have any difficulties or questions, please send an email to info@FordSayre.org.
With the hiring of its first full-time Nordic Head Coach, Ford Sayre is having to say goodbye to two beloved coaches. Scottie Eliassen and Dennis Donahue have been synonymous with our program and the Upper Valley nordic ski community for 25 years, and we are incredibly grateful for their dedication and for the program they built. The impact they had on hundreds of skiers in their program extended far beyond fast skiing, and was evidenced by the character of their Junior Nordic Team. They inspired a life-long passion for the sport through their own personal examples, and instilled in their athletes a level of personal responsibility, empowerment, respect, and sportsmanship that was the hallmark of their program and noted by many, far and wide, over the years. This mark is indelible and their legacy continues through the ongoing journeys of those athletes.
We at Ford Sayre will miss them dearly.
Follow this link for a full description of the remarkable accomplishments of our Junior Nordic Team over the past 25 years.
Join the Dartmouth XC Ski Center & Ford Sayre Wednesday, Jan 30, 2019 6:00–7:45 pm
NH High School (NHIAA) Ski Jumping Competition Park at Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center, Oak Hill Drive, Hanover Free Admission
Watch top Male & Female High School competitors from around the state soar over 100 feet under the lights
Music, Hot Chocolate, Campfire, Marshmallows, Athletic Courage
DIRECTIONS
From downtown Hanover take Lyme Road (Rt 10 North to the first rotary just before the COOP Foodstore).
Take the first right off the rotary onto Reservoir Road.
Reservoir road comes to a “T” after roughly 0.7 miles.
Take a left on Oak Hill Drive toward Storrs Pond and the Dartmouth Cross Country SkiCenter.
Park at the Dartmouth Cross Country Ski Center. The jumps are up the hill to the left(hidden by a few trees). From the parking lot you’ll see the lights from the ski jumpingcomplex shining through the trees. If this lot is full, more parking is available close by at the Ray School on Reservoir Road or at the Garipay Field parking lot closer to Route 10.