Jay Panther shows he can take pain
in order to compete

Former Heavenly Foundation skier finishes ninth at
nationals with a separated shoulder

By Steve Yingling, Tribune sports editor
Friday, March 27, 2009

SQUAW VALLEY — No one can question Jay Panther’s competitive spirit or his love of freestyle skiing.

But even Panther’s dad, L.J., questions the extremes his son will go to in order to compete.

Panther, a former Heavenly Ski Foundation team member, participated Friday in the U.S. Freestyle Championships with a grade-three separation of his AC joint. He wasn’t able to lift his left arm above his waist comfortably, but Panther wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to compete in a rare national championship near his former hometown.

“I’m a competitor. When I hurt my shoulder and they told me I was done, I never doubted that I’d be able to ski today,” said Panther, who injured his shoulder Wednesday while training. “There wasn’t a single person supporting me. Even my dad said I shouldn’t be skiing, but I wanted to come out here and show what I can do. It only takes 25 seconds (per run), so grin and bear it.”

A persistent Panther finally found someone to support his choice to compete with the injury.

“The doctor said if he could bear the pain, he’d let him ski,” L.J. said. “He had his range of motion back 24 hours after the injury.”

The 25-year-old Panther didn’t perform like he was injured. The U.S. Ski team developmental skier qualified 14th in the early afternoon, then improved to ninth in the finals.

“I love to ski in front of the home crowd, and I’d love to win, but I just wanted to ski. That’s what it’s all about,” Panther said.

Panther is somewhat of a novelty in his sport. He took up mogul skiing at an early age, but then focused on football, soccer and baseball in high school after his family moved to Louisville, Ky. With his talent in baseball, Panther earned a scholarship to Vanderbilt University. But Panther lost his love of baseball during his freshman season with the Commodores when there was a change in the coaching staff. He decided to return his scholarship and resumed his freestyle skiing career.

“As far as my skiing career goes, my body, I’m 16 years old. I took seven years off,” he said. “The wear and tear on my body is minor compared to (someone else) my age.”

Panther has remained visible to U.S. coaches by performing well on the Nor-Am circuit and dedicating himself to the sport in Park City, Utah. He won a Nor-Am event this winter and finished second overall in the series.

“They are taking my skiing to the next level,” he said of the team’s coaches. “At this point, it’s a matter of staying healthy and putting the runs down when it matters.”

If he does that, Panther will have a shot at realizing his ultimate goal of competing in the Winter Olympics.

“If I have the desire and stay strong, I want to do two more Olympics if I can,” Panther said.

Considering that he endured a lot of pain to compete on Friday, Panther might be hooked on the sport for life.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007 - THE COURIER JOURNAL

Ballard grad hits slopes with an Olympic dream
He's moving up ranks after layoff from skiing 

Jay Panther

 
By C.L. Brown
cbrown@courier-journal.com
The Courier Journal

 

Jay Panther's final jump as a 12-year old freestyle skier didn't just end with a damaged vertebrae and a trip to the hospital.
It gave his parents the push they needed to leave Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and return to Louisville after a 30-year absence.
"The doctors told us if he continued to do this with his body still growing that it could be problematic," said Panther's mother, Star.
So for seven years, Panther stayed away from the slopes. He gravitated toward baseball, football and soccer at Ballard High School. All the while, he had skiing in the back of his mind.
"I guess everyone has that one thing that they hang on to and is their passion," Panther said. "It was something that never left me even when we lived here (in Louisville) and I was doing other stuff."
It's at the forefront now.
Panther's goal is to make the 2010 U.S. Olympic team as a freestyle mogul skier. His blind commitment to this dream caused him to leave Vanderbilt University abruptly after his freshman year and move back to Lake Tahoe to be closer to fertile ground for skiing.
Freestyle mogul skiing calls for competitors to perform two jumps off slopes angled up to 32 degrees and about 900 feet in length. Participants are scored on speed, jumps, turns and form.

Panther, 23, barely leaves the slopes. Nowadays he calls Park City, Utah, home and-aside from visiting family and friends in Louisville in May- he's in training year-round.
He has to be. He has a lot of time to make up.
Panther's sabbatical not only caused him to miss out on years of training, but the sport had a metamorphosis while he was away.
"Absolutely I am behind the curve. The sport has progressed tenfold," Panther said. "That progression all happened while I was gone. So when I came back, I didn't even know what this stuff was."
Panther was accustomed to straight maneuvers off jumps, like twists or spreads. When he returned, the repertoire included back flips, front flips and 360-degree turns.
"I couldn't imagine being out of the game for that long and then getting back into it," said Andy Cantor, an assistant freestyle manager for the U.S. Ski team. "It just seems extremely difficult to me."
Panther's dedication has helped him make up for lost time. After returning West, he focused on skiing for two years. He paid the bills by delivering pizza for a year and working as a waiter.
Mick Berry, the director of Park City Freestyle ski team, and Panther's coach, Todd Schirman, worked with Panther on his transition.
"Sometimes it takes a little bit to get up to par competing at a high level if you haven't been doing it the whole time," Berry said. "But he's advanced very quickly. It doesn't look like he took that much time off. He's improved and caught up with everybody."
Panther also is pursuing his college degree again. He's a senior at Nevada Las Vegas and plans to finish his requirements for a finance degree online.
He earned his way onto U.S. Skiing's "D Team" by collecting points based on his finishes in sanctioned events. That gives him access to the national team's training regimen and competitions, but it also presented new challenges.
Similar to being a walk-on, Panther competes alongside the funded skiers from the A-C teams, although he doesn't get a share. He has to raise money through sponsorships on his own.
"Each team gets different levels of funding, but I'm just a grunt right now; the "D Team" doesn't get any funding," he said. "I'll be traveling the world like I was on the "A Team" so I'm constantly looking for sponsors."
Only four freestyle skiers will make the Olympics. That means he must outperform roughly 15 others to land a spot. The team won't be determined until four months before the Olympics. So he has time to develop.
"You could be the best skier in the world this year and next year and have an off year and not make it," Panther said. "Or you could be a nobody and that year of the Olympics just ski out of your mind and make it. Both of those things have happened, so it's a total coin flip and I like my chances."