Deedee Corradini speaks at the reception for Jump like a Girl at Zoom on Friday. Shes backed by a group of womens ski jumpers. Photo by Scott Sine/Park Record..

This past Friday night, Zoom opened its doors to the warm fall air for a party celebrating women's ski jumping. Supporters filled the restaurant, coaches mingled and athletes scurried around the room.

They were there to promote the sport, raise some money for Women's Ski Jumping USA and help introduce the premier about two Park City jumpers, Lindsey Van and Jessica Jerome, at the Egyptian Theatre.

Right around 7:15 p.m., the crowd dispersed from Zoom and headed up the hill toward the Egyptian for the screening of the film, "Jump like a Girl." Gradually the theatre filled, and after a few words from Women's Ski Jumping USA President Deedee Corradini, the film's director and producer, Ruth Gregory pushed the play button, and the movie began.

Deedee Corradini speaks at the reception for Jump like a Girl at Zoom on Friday. Shes backed by a group of womens ski jumpers. Photo by Scott Sine/Park Record.

Shot as Gregory's master's thesis, the film chronicles two years in the lives of Van and Jerome as they practice, compete and grow up fighting for their sport. Women's ski jumping is the only winter Olympic sport without a women's division and "Jump like a Girl" shows Van, Jerome, their teammates and competitors as they fight for inclusion in the Games.

Complied from a collection of news clips, home and professional video, the film has the feel of early 1980s ESPN and tells two stories. The first follows the Van and Jerome through their practices and competitions, striving to improve their jumps and hone their technique, and dealing with the disappointments of defeat, and the joy of improvement.

Within that story line, there are battles with the International Ski Federation (FIS), trips to Europe to compete, dozens of jumps, and (of course) the story of the sport's quest for recognition. The film show the slow progress of women's ski jumping from 2002 to 2004. There is the first Continental Cup for women and the painful but inevitable moment when the women learn women's ski jumping will not be in the 2006 Olympics.

At the same time, "Jump like a Girl" has a much more human side. It shows footage of a little Jerome making her first jumps ever in a cow suit. There are clips from Van's graduation from Park City High School, and the two young athletes' daily trips to the Olympic Park to train, and moments spent joking with competitors.

And with that footage, the film establishes Van and Jerome as characters, two girls growing up with athletics. While the women's ski jumping faces a unique situation, the day-to-day stories of the two women mirror those of any competitive female athlete, and in that way, "Jump like a Girl," tells the story of women's athletics in general, with all of the struggles they face.

After the film, Corradini made an announcement that the United States Ski and Snowboard Association has agreed to endorse women's ski jumping for full FIS recognition. An FIS endorsement is the next big step toward the inclusion of women's ski jumping in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

So, even if "Jump like a Girl," was forced to end without a resolution to the struggle of women's ski jumping and without seeing whether Van and Jerome will ever get to compete in the Olympics, the evening, at the very least, had a happy ending for the jumpers. It showed them taking one more step to their ultimate goal. And at the end of the event released its crowd into the evening a little more impressed with one struggle for equality.