{"id":8130,"date":"2016-07-01T16:27:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T16:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8130"},"modified":"2016-07-01T16:27:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T16:27:01","slug":"john-blackburn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/01\/john-blackburn\/","title":{"rendered":"John Blackburn"},"content":{"rendered":"

A multitalented athlete<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

BY JONATHAN KANE<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Community
Community School rising senior John Blackburn. Photo courtesy of John Blackburn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Blackburn, a rising senior year at Community School, has a passion for competition. This passion plays out on Sun Valley\u2019s Bald Mountain as a ski racer, on the golf course, fishing and hunting, and on the soccer field as a member of the Sawtooth United Football Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love to compete,\u201d Blackburn said. \u201cThere are a lot of aspects to it, especially all the work you put into it outside competing to prepare yourself by getting fit \u2013 especially in skiing. There\u2019s so much time preparing in the fall and summer for that brief moment that you\u2019re actually racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackburn said that of all the sports he competes in, skiing is his favorite. He started, like a lot of local kids, on Dollar Mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 2 years old,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember being with my dad and him using edgy-wedgies and a racer-chaser with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Edgy-wedgies and a racer-chasers are ski training tools for young children.)<\/p>\n

Blackburn placed third in his first race at 9 years old, despite crashing and chipping a few teeth.<\/p>\n

That same year he joined the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, \u201cbecause it looked fun.\u201d As a member of the SVSEF, Blackburn specializes in giant slalom, an event that requires more speed than the slalom.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many competitions during the season, and there is a lot of travel. I miss a lot of school,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cMy favorite place outside of Sun Valley is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The town is special and small, like here, and it also has steep mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year Blackburn was voted most improved because he lowered his points by a significant amount.<\/p>\n

As for his other favorite sport, golf, he said it was \u201cespecially hard. You have to be so precise and the mental part is such a big component. If you miss a little bit, it\u2019s a completely different shot. But being so precise is appealing because you are trying to be as perfect as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Blackburn, it\u2019s the same in skiing. \u201cOne little thing can mess you up and then you are out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has high expectations for his senior year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to work hard to get into better condition, that will get me to a new level. This is by weightlifting, core training and soccer, which really helps me get into condition. I love trying to win at skiing because it\u2019s such an adrenaline rush. I also love the sensation because it\u2019s almost like flying. You are cutting through the wind even though you\u2019re not in the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A multitalented athlete BY JONATHAN KANE John Blackburn, a rising senior year at Community School, has a passion for competition. This passion plays out on Sun Valley\u2019s Bald Mountain as a ski racer, on the golf course, fishing and hunting, and on the soccer field as a member of the Sawtooth United Football Club. \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-schools","8":"category-sponsored","9":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}