But, unfortunately for Van and other women in the international ski jumping community, their wings are clipped. Ski jumping is one of two sports not to have a women’s division at the Winter Olympics.

Documentarians Ruth Gregory, a South Whidbey High School graduate, and Jessica Mathews, a Salt Lake City native, hope to change the ski jumpers’ flight plan with the release of their film, “Jump Like a Girl.” The documentary tracks some of the world’s top female ski jumpers as they fight for equality on and off the slopes.

Even in the opening scene of the documentary, Lindsey Van’s fiery determination is evident. She was 7 when she launched off her first ski jump.

The documentary opens with family movie footage from 1996. It’s Jessica Jerome’s first day ski jumping, and the footage captures her first jump ever.

Jerome and her friends always built jumps to fly off when they were downhill skiing. So she figured why not ski jump and cut all the downhill time and hassle out of the picture?

While footage of a grade-school-aged Jessica plays, a voiceover of a modern-day interview begins.

A teenage Jessica Jerome — now one of the top five female ski jumpers in the world — talks about how when they were younger and first starting in the sport, everyone, both boys and girls, got the same coaching and looked up to the same ski jump idols.

The film flashes to current footage of Van.

She’s busy waxing her skis. She has cell phone in hand and is chatting away to a friend. Metallica blares in the background. As the music intensifies, so does her waxing rhythm and the conversation.

The film embraces the girls’ feminine side, contrasts it with their athletic side, and also shows how their two personalities are intertwined.

Along with the footage that Gregory and Mathews captured while following the girls for two years, tidbits of their research into the girls’ sport is displayed and examined on screen. For instance, ski jumping is one of two sports not to have a women’s division at the winter Olympics. The other is nordic combined.

The film documents the girls’ intense, seven-days-a-week training of weights, cardio workouts, plyometrics and jump training.

“We want people to see how hard these girls work, their personalities and how attached they are to their sport,” Mathews said. “I hope we bring attention to the fact they deserve an opportunity to compete at the Olympics, just like the men.”

Years after the 1972 Title IX decision proclaimed a prohibition on gender discrimination in sports, Gregory still sees strides to be made in women’s athletics, not by the athletes, but by the governing bodies.

“Title IX is under attack again and there’s still inequity in athletics,” Gregory said.

“I look forward to the day when people don’t even think about jumping, throwing or running like a girl as a bad thing.”

The movie title comes from the 2003 Nordic National Championships in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and the first day during the Nordic Combined National Championship open class when both men and women competed against each other.

After a male jumper cleared a competitive distance following two successful female jumps, his coach said, “Whew, I thought his butt was going to get kicked by a girl.”

Another coach responds that he could still remember when “jump like a girl” was a derogatory term.

To that, the male jumper’s coach yells to Lindsey Van, “Come on Van, jump like a girl!”

“I still don’t know if he was saying it to be a jerk or what,” Gregory said. “It just didn’t make sense. How can you be supportive of women while also demeaning men?”

Gregory and Mathews tracked the girls through Europe and the Ladies Grand Prix, with Van and Jerome having to pay for the trip themselves. During a car ride they talked about being unsure if they’d be able to bring a coach along.

“Come on Lindsey, how much coaching do you need, anyway?” her mother asks.

At one of the four stops on the Grand Prix, there are frequent falls by the girls. Interviews with the coaches discuss how many times the girls are asked to jump in conditions that many male jumpers wouldn’t even be allowed to consider for practice runs.

That night, the women watch the men’s world championships on television.

They sit mesmerized. They study their male counterparts’ every move, visions of their own world championships in their eyes.

As the documentary and the timeline progresses, the girls remain optimistic of future Olympic opportunities.
But that gleam in their eyes is dimming. Skiing comes natural to the girls featured, according to the filmmakers.
“You drive to their houses and you pass the jumps they fly off,” Gregory said.

Ski jumpers’ careers start young. In ski states like Utah, children are invited to camps where they can explore all the different snow sport disciplines.

“They look for the kids who have no fear,” Mathews said.

By the time they reach 18 or 19, skiers have to decide if they continue ski jumping. By then, many can no longer afford to support themselves in their sport while their male counterparts ride endorsement deals. Some have to weigh the wait for Olympic possibilities with the opportunity to go to college.

Jerome, Van and their American and international counterparts talk about the wait for the world to recognize their sport.

In winter 2004 the girls return to compete in Europe. This time there are questions floating of whether the International Ski Federation will allow women to ski fly (jumping off a hill larger than 180K) — the ultimate dream for ski jumpers.

The documentarians captured the media frenzy that followed as the international ski community debated whether or not to allow the women to fly.

In March 2004, Lindsey Van became one of the first women allowed to ski fly. She now holds the North American distance record for women with her launch of 171 meters.

While their younger selves had their eyes on the 2006 Olympics, the girls’ next hopes lies in 2010. But even that seems slim.

In July 2004 International Ski Federation organized the inaugural Continental Cup, the first step toward a women’s world competition in ski jumping which is required before an Olympic event.

“The skiing community doesn’t look like it’s making a move to establish a women’s world championships, which is required before they can compete at the Olympics,” Gregory said.

Lindsey Van is the elder of the two American jumpers featured. Now at the University of Utah, she still trains full time and is considered the number two female jumper in the world.

“I’m going to keep jumping because I love it and it will still be there some day,” Van said.