Jay Panther

Hello,

It has been a while since my last update as I took the spring off from skiing but summer has begun and so has training. I spent April and May in Santa Monica, CA playing beach volleyball and working for a friend landscaping her property. I entered a two-man volleyball tournament and we got third so I earned my semi-professional B card from the California Beach VolleyballAssociation! I really enjoyed being able to compete outside ski season so I plan on doing more tournaments in September and October. I also got to watch my little brother graduate from Palo Verde High School in Las Vegaswith my Mom and Dad in the beginning of June. Shane is now heading to the University of Las Vegas, Nevada on a full soccer and academic scholarship! I could not be more proud of my brother!

I spent two weeks in Park City and did a lot of water ramping. I had a blast working my mogul tricks but I also played on the bigger jumps(see attached video). I have been in Mt. Hood, OR now for a week and the skiing is great(see attached picture). I am coaching and training with the StrattonMogul Team. We went surfing on Friday and I put in a solid five hours in the water, funtastic!

I am heading home to Louisville on the tenth for some much needed family time. I head back to Park City for a week on the third of August and then I am off to Australia for three weeks! I have never been to Australia and it is the the one place I have always wanted to visit. The ski training is great because it is the their winter, and supposedly they love American accents.

Please add me as a friend on Facebook and enjoy my newest skiing compilation on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anqApxTk250

Happy Fourth of July!

Jay Panther

Jay Panther U.S. Freestyle Nationals

Hello,

The season feels like it just started yesterday and alas now it is over until next December. I had a great weekend in Squaw Valley at U.S. Nationals and nearly had an amazing weekend. I had a great first run on singles day and qualified 3rd. This meant that I would go 3rd from last in finals and was in a great position to win. Unfortunately I did not have a perfect finals run and ended up 10th. Duals day again I skied great in qualifying and came in 5th. In my first dual I had a horrible start and was playing catch up the entire run. I had a remarkable middle section to catch up but just over rotated my bottom air and was unable to hold on. Below is video from my qualifying run on singles day.

I am walking away from the weekend happy. Obviously I was there to win. Instead I gained experience in how to deal with the pressures of standing in the gate knowing a win is one great run away. This was easily the best skiing I have done all year and I was perfect with myCalifornia Roll all weekend. The key for me is to figure out how to ski like I did this past weekend at the next U.S. Team Selections event in December. If I can show up there skiing like I am now, I will really be in a position to win!

I got a really nice write up in the local Tahoe newspaper. The story included 2 pictures of me....one jumping and another a candid picture of me showing duct tape the trainer put on my minor back injury. Steve Yingling watched me ski as a child and wrote a great article for me at Nationals last year as well. Here is a link to the story....sorry....no pics in link.

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20100326/NEWS/100329816&parentprofile=search

I am certainly ready for a little bit of down time before my first training camp in Colorado the beginning of May. My plan is to head to the beach to play some volleyball. Thank you so much for your love and support. I will let you know how my next camps goes.

Jay Panther

Jay Panther Steamboat Nor Am

Hello,

The North American Tour is officially over and I ended fifth in the overall. Last weekend in Steamboat I got seventh and tenth in singles and duals respectively. The weekend did not go exactly as planned as a win or even a podium is still eluding me but I am very happy with my results. Again I competed my California Roll (D-Spin 1080) both days and landed them all. That in itself is a victory as the learning curve on bringing a new trick to contest is usually a full season, so I am happy having immediate success. This fact really brightens my hopes for Nationals and puts me in a great situation for next year as I will not have to focus on a new trick. I can focus on my skiing (which is 50% of the score) and consistency! I have attached video from my finals run on singles day in Steamboat. The trick I do off the first air is my California Roll. Enjoy!

Nationals is March 24th-28th and is my last chance to move up the U.S. Ski Team rankings. The winner of the singles event at Nationals gets a B Team spot and the winner of the duals event gets a C Team spot. My skiing is feeling better than it has all season and my jumping is getting more consistent. I am heading into this last event full of confidence and ready to win! Thank you for your love and support. I will let you know more details about the live webcast as the event gets closer.

Jay Panther

Jay Panther on North American Tour

Hello,

I just got back from my third North American Tour stop in Apex, British Columbia where I got tenth place. I skied okay and jumped really well. I competed my D-Spin 1080 for the first time and had great success. I landed the trick with consistency all week and the judges rewarded it with near perfect scores. It feels really good to bring that trick to contest. My skiing, however, was a little off all week. I have been working some significant changes in my technique and as a result skied slow, especially for me. I am hoping it is a take one step back to take three steps forward, situation.

We are now in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for our fourth and final Nor Am Tour contest. The contest is Thursday and Friday, both days starting at noon, Mountain Standard Time. To watch the contest live go to www.urtur.com, and click on the LIVE link at the top right hand corner. We trained today and the course is great. I am very excited to compete and plan to finally get the winning result that has eluded me all season. Unfortunately, Micheal Kingsbury from Canada has already mathematically won the North American Tour overall, so there will be no U.S. Ski Team spots awarded this season. My next chance to move up the U.S. Ski Team rankings is Nationals at the end of March.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Jay Panther

Jay Panther on North American Tour

Hello,

The Killington, VT Nor Am is now over and I am back in Park City. I got 25th on singles day and 6th duals day. The weekend was solid and I am glad to add a 6th to the 5th and 8th I got in Lake Placid, NY two weeks ago. The results are still not what I am looking for as I have yet to win or podium, but I am still finding my stride. It will be nice to be home for this week and get some focused training. I want to bring the California Roll back as I dropped it during the last two contests because the courses were difficult. There are still three more Nor Am stops, a total of six competitions. This means there is still a lot of skiing to do. At this point I am fifth overall in the Nor Am Grand Prix so I am in a good position to make a run at winning it all.

I have attached some video from Killington. It is my qualifying run on duals day.

Thank you for your love and support. I will let you know when I am heading out for the second leg of the Nor Ams.

Jay Panther

Jay Panther on North American Tour

Hello, I am pleased to report a successful weekend in Lake Placid, NY with a 5th place Friday and 8th Saturday. Friday was one of the gnarliest days I have ever had on snow. I woke up to a text message from my coach informing me that it was negative seventeen outside with fifty mph winds and the contest was on hold. The contest did happen but due to the conditions it was turned into a one run contest. I put down a solid run on a very difficult course that was a sheet of ice. I watched nearly all of my competitors blow out of the course completely. Part of the reason the contest took so long was there were six men that had to be taken off the course in first aid sleds. There were some extremely scary crashes but luckily there were no broken necks or backs. Today was significantly better. It was supposed to be a duals event but due to the weather and the slow contest yesterday, the judges decided to make today a singles event to ensure we finished the event. It was still negative twenty and the course was rock solid but there was no wind and the sun was out in full force. I qualified for the sixteen man final with a 10th in the first run. Going into my finals run I decided that 10th was as good as 16th so I was going to let it all hang out and go for the win. My goal for this season is to ski every run to win, and today I did. My finals run was amazing, a total smoke show. I shredded the course with the fastest time of the day by over a second and boosted both of my airs to the end of the landings. I am absolutely ecstatic about how I skied today and have truly disconnected myself from the result. All I can control is my skiing, and today I did it masterfully. What the judges decide to do with my skiing is out of my hands. It was nice, however, to have a half dozen coaches congratulate me, sing my praises, and tell me that I deserved at least a podium. We are heading to Killington, VT next week for our second stop on the North American Tour. We compete Friday and Saturday again. There is going to be a live web cast for this event so if you have some free time, check it out. The web cast will be at www.urtur.com . Click on the "Results" link at the top right hand corner of the web page to get the run order so you can see when I go each day. Then click on the "Live" link to see the video. Each day men's qualifying will start around eleven a.m. eastern time. Thank you so much for the love and support. Jay Panther

Jay Panther Early Season 2009

Hello,

I am pleased to write this update after a couple of solid weeks on snow. We have been in Colorado since November 2nd and the training has been great. The first week and a half of our stay we skied a single groomed run working a lot of turn technique. It was a great way to start the season, get my ski legs back, and really fine tune my skiing. The last three days, however, I am ecstatic to report we have been jumping! I have been really anxious to get in the air and the adrenaline has been good for the soul. As you know I worked very hard this summer training a D-Spin 1080 (California Roll) and have been excited to bring it to the mogul course. Yesterday I tried my first ones on snow and had nerves comparable to a competition day. I embraced those nerves as moments like that are what I live for, and I am happy to report I landed all three attempts. Today I did six or seven more with the same result. It feels great to see hard work come to fruition and I feel confident this new trick will be ready to help me win Selections! I have attached a video of a California Roll (D-Spin 1080) I did today so you can all enjoy it with me.

We will be in Colorado until the 22nd of this month and then I will return to Park City because the mountains will be opening there. I was extremely excited to find out my Mom will be going to Las Vegas for a few days in the beginning of December so I will certainly be taking a few days off at that point to be with her, my little brother and dad. Thank you all for your love and support. I will keep you updated as we get closer to U.S. Team Selections event December 16th.

Love

Jay Panther