The Voice of New Hampshire Law Enforcement
Welcome to the new and improved New Hampshire Police Association web-site. It is our goal to provide our members and visitors to this Web site with the most up-to-date information available. Please take some time to view the various sections and pages, shop in our on-line store, sign our guest book and join our members only section. The New Hampshire Police Association serves more than 3000 past, present, associate and life members. Please feel free to contact us with information, criticism and suggestions to make this Web site a better resource for our NH Law Enforcement Officers.
Mission Statement
The New Hampshire Police Association (NHPA) was established on November 3, 1940 to represent the rank-and-file members of the New Hampshire law enforcement community. Today's NHPA continues to provide the same high degree of representation, as well as setting and mastering new and progressive goals relevant to today's law enforcement officer.
Although the NHPA is not an arbitrating body, the Association strives to provide all necessary moral and material support needed by its members, by providing harmony, good feelings and better working conditions for the protection and benefit of its members and their dependents.
Through the achievements made by NHPA, the New Hampshire law enforcement offices are more effectively able to serve the needs and demands of the citizens whom they are sworn to protect.
To all members of NH Law Enforcement
The annual 2010 NHPA membership dues are now due. Due to the turn over, retirements, transfers and other reasons the NHPA is seeking your help in reaching out to our present and former members as a friendly reminder that the annual membership dues are now due. Please read the attached letter and help distribute this letter to all Police Administrators, Association and Union Presidents; and all individual members of your police agency
Flying High
Lebanon’s Nick Alexander soars toward Olympic glory. By Cathy Lacombe
Lebanon’s Nick Alexander stands 5’ 10”, weighs 135 lbs… and wishes he weighed 130. It might sound crazy, but when flying is your job, you need to be as light as a feather. Alexander, who dreams of one day becoming a pilot, now takes flight without the aid of engines or wings. Nick Alexander’s sport is ski jumping. And if he keeps jumping—and flying—as well as he has been lately, he just might land in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
On October 10th, Alexander, the 21-year-old son of Lebanon Police Chief Jim Alexander and his wife Deb, a schoolteacher, won the United States National Ski Jumping Championship competition in Lake Placid, NY. On his winning jump, he flew 98.5 meters, just longer than a football field. To earn his ticket to Vancouver, the lanky athlete needs to stay firmly planted in the top 70 of Ski Jumping’s World Ranking List. Right now, he’s #45—and #1 in the United States. But he won’t know until January if he has officially earned a chance to fight for gold in the February Olympics.
Alexander began ski jumping at the age of 10. “When Nick learned to ski, he immediately started jumping off every bump he could find. He loved having air under his skis,” his mother Deb remembers.
Although quiet and shy, the youngster asked his coach if he could try going off the 10-meter jump. “After that first jump,” says his mom, “Nick was hooked.”
As each winter passed, Alexander’s talent grew. Eventually, his skill as a jumper matched his unbridled passion for the sport.
Now, it’s late October 2009, and Nick Alexander is home to get in as much physical training as possible. With a competitive season that starts in late November and extends to early March, there’s little time for hometown camaraderie. Fortunately, Nick has plenty of buddies among the 45 men with whom he competes every weekend. (He often pals around with Canadian ski jumper Stefan Read.)
To Alexander, this tight, friendly network of jumpers is one of the sport’s fringe benefits. The chance to see the world is another. This past summer, for example, took Alexander to Courcheval, France. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been,” he marvels, “with four levels of the city built into a mountain. You can drive up to every level.”
With ski jumping’s benefits, though, come the sport’s challenges. The four American ski jumpers who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics have all since retired. The reasons for this turnover highlight some of the obstacles ski jumpers like Alexander face in their own quests to become Olympians.
First, Alexander believes, it can be tough to get in the training necessary to succeed in the Olympics. “(America’s 2006 ski jumpers)’ coaching was not great, and they weren’t mentally prepared,” Nick offers.
Lack of funding also factors in. “They were all capable jumpers,” Nick adds, “but it’s tough to focus when you’re constantly trying to raise money.”
Alexander knows this from experience. Unlike other Olympic sports, ski jumping receives no support from the US Ski Team. “They just don’t feel we deserve it,” Alexander laments, explaining that only cross-country skiing and the Nordic combined events get team dollars. Sponsors are no help either. “We don’t have any,” he bluntly states.
It’s up to Nick to raise all of the funds required for serious training and competition—a tab that can run as high as $20,000.
The specially designed ski jumping suits, which are tested to ensure that a certain amount of air passes through them, run about $400.00, while each of Nick’s four pairs of skis tops $850.00. Add to those costs the transcontinental plane tickets and hotel reservations required to take part in a global sport.
Now, it’s late October 2009, and Nick Alexander is home to get in as much physical training as possible. With a competitive season that starts in late November and extends to early March, there’s little time for hometown camaraderie. Fortunately, Nick has plenty of buddies among the 45 men with whom he competes every weekend. (He often pals around with Canadian ski jumper Stefan Read.)
There isn’t any money in Alexander’s tight budget for luxuries such as a personal trainer. Nick does, however, have a training regimen, written out for him by the team coach, who is compensated through a successful private effort called the USA SKI JUMPING PROJECT X.
The Alexander family has sacrificed a great deal to keep their son’s Olympic dream alive.
“It has been a real challenge,” says Jim Alexander. “Deb and I contribute as much as possible, but have had to leave a large part of the responsibility on him to raise support. We just can’t do it, not with our daughter Jacqui in college.”
“At times it has felt overwhelming,” Jim continues. “Travel to Europe, then a quick turn around and tickets to Japan, then new skis, then his boots would tear requiring new ones, next a binding would break, then he would need a new ski jumping suit. Or, the competition would be canceled in Finland, and Nick would need to go to Poland. We’d lose the value of the ticket and start over!”
Deb Alexander has chipped in by working summers on a farm, while Nick’s Police Chief father has put in a lot of overtime and extra shifts.
While his dad was able to come to Villingen, Germany for Nick’s first World Cup last winter, his mom hasn’t had many opportunities to see her son compete. But both parents were at Lake Placid in October to witness their son’s crowning glory.
“It was the first time I had been at one of Nick’s events in a year,” says Deb. “When he flew down the hill during his (winning) second jump, I was so proud of him. I’m always proud of what he does and how he handles himself during competitions.”
And if Nick’s Olympic dream comes true?
“We will definitely be in Vancouver if Nick goes,” Deb assures. “We have saved and are continuing to save money for the trip.”
Adds Lebanon Police Chief Alexander, “We are all in this together. His sister gave up travel and vacations in order to pay for his tickets. She is an unbelievable supporter of Nick and even in high school, I never once heard her complain about Nick’s travel and opportunities in comparison to her. If Nick goes to Vancouver, Jacqui will go, as well. She deserves it.”
The Alexanders are used to pulling for and supporting the hard work of their high flyer. By February, if Nick Alexander keeps soaring as far as he has been, the rest of America will be cheering alongside them.
You can learn more about Nick Alexander and contribute financially to his Olympic pursuit at www.nickalexander.us
Cathy Lacombe is a freelance writer and can be reached at Click Here
Amber Alert
