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Show Park Record Thursday, May 18, 1989 Page A7 Desire, determination spur rapid recovery for Doilney by DASi PAMBIANCO i ; ' 1 1 of one integral part-a r Rprnril Staff wHI I I cnnnA tt Hia anniAant Record staff writer Jake Doilney is taking life one step at a time. A year ago, the steps came slowly slow-ly for the 18-year-old Park City High School senior, but his pace has gradually quickened and his confident stride has returned. Jake's march into the world of a young adult came to a startling halt in April, 1988 when his knee was virtually destroyed in a skiing accident. At the time, he was poised pois-ed on the brink of stardom in the sport, with an invitation to try out for the U.S. Ski Team. "I fell on my side and my tip caught in the snow as I came down at about 60 miles an hour," Jake recalled. "I felt an explosion in my knee and thought, 'so this is what it feels like to blow your knee out. After that, I don't remember feeling feel-ing anything.'" When doctors at the Sun Valley, Idaho hospital examined the joint they found only a single ligament undamaged. Six hours of surgery later, hopes of even walking again appeared thin for Jake. His skiing future wasn't the only segment of life affected by the accident. acci-dent. The emotional trauma of recovery had to be overcome to retain re-tain his standing as a top scholar at PCHS. The summer of rehabilitation rehabilita-tion also prevented him from practicing prac-ticing and enjoying another of his favorite sports golf. One thing that did remain undamaged, un-damaged, according to his family, was Jake's disciplined, determined nature. That, says, his father, Mike, was the main impetus behind a recovery that brought him back to the slopes and other pursuits in less than a year. "His personality was strong, determined to come back," said the elder Doilney. "But it's still really tough to come back from a devestating injury like that without support, so we were there to provide pro-vide that." Along with his father, that support sup-port was provided to Jake by his mother, Toni, and sister, Essie. Like Jake, Essie had been a competitive com-petitive skier, but has eased up on the sport to pursue other interests during her junior year in high school. Familial ties like those that aided Jake's recovery also played a major ma-jor part in another athletic endeavor. After being taught to golf by his grandparents at age 10, Doilney has grown to relish the links, perhaps even more than the slopes. i P. jf": V " ',.,,,, ' 'VA V-v ' I. hit ' t ' ; , v ' , - . . - 1 ' i. ,. ,i iii.ilir..r..l. li-.i t n 'in I mini ... x Jake Doilney has happily traded the crutches that supported him through recovery from a skiing accident for the golf clubs he used to excel in high school competition this spring. As a member of the Park City High School golf team, Jake steadily steadi-ly improved this spring to finish in a tie for second individual honors in Region 9 and lead the Miners to a fifth place finish at the state meet. After a slow start due to his lack of practice the previous summer, Jake saw his season peak with a top 10 finish in an elite youth tournament tour-nament in Salt Lake City last month. The placing earned him a trip to a prestigious tournament to be held in Japan July 13-20. Looking back over the past year and his rehabilitation, Jake sees a definite link between the knee accident acci-dent and current successes. "My knee injury was kind of a blessing in disguise, because the rehabilitation taught me about hard work and motivation," said Jake. "When I golf now, it seems so easy I can go out and just have fun and be relaxed. "I used to be tense, always thinking think-ing I had to play well. Now, .,, x. t Park City Wp&i Me whenever I make a bad shot, I just keep going. After going through a bad experience like my knee injury, in-jury, golf seems much more fun." That attitude seemed to spill over onto other members of the team, observed golf coach Paul Willard. "His maturity and confidence were something the kids could see every day," said Willard. "He played with steadiness no fluctuations. fluctua-tions. His leadership was a quiet one by example, rather than an aggressive one." As acting principal of Park City High School, Willard has had opportunity op-portunity to observe Jake's academic achievements as well. That dedication to studies has led to recognition as the valedictorian of the class of '89. i-. "He's gotten that honor by taking J, -1 ,.! all solid AP honors classes, not by taking basket weaving," said Willard. "It just supports the fact that Jake will excel in anything he chooses to do." So far, that choice has been a difficult dif-ficult one for the athlete-scholar, who plans to continue participating in sports but is uncertain as to which one. One decision he has made is the institution of higher learning he plans to further his education at next year. He will enroll in Stanford University in the fall. "I'm interested in sciences and math subjects where there is an answer but I'm not quite sure what I'm going to major in yet," said Jake. "I might go into engineering or business, but I just want to do well in school before I decide what kind of a job I want to work at." Doing well seems to have come easily to this point, but like his athletic recovery, classroom success suc-cess hasn't come without a considerable con-siderable degree of work. As a member of the Park City Ski Team, time spent studying was especially important due to the half-school days sacrificed to practice prac-tice on the slopes. "I do my homework all the time," points out Jake. "Some kids in school might think I'm naturally smart that I just go take tests and get 100 percent on them. But that's not true. I spend a lot of time studying." stu-dying." If Jake sounds too good to be true the hard-working, intelligent, athletic Ail-American ideal add blond, blue-eyed, well-scrubbed good looks to the list. But despite the positive attributes currently in his favor, his story wouldn't be a true fairy tale without the inclusion of one integral part a return to the scene of the accident. Nearly one year to the date of the devastating spill, Jake went back to Sun Valley, once again as a part of the Park City Ski Team. With a mere three months of training behind him, a return to competition alone was a near miracle. But memories of the achievements reached during his young career as a Junior Olympian, Olym-pian, U.S. National competitor and participant in the North American trophy series stirred his desire to relive the successes. "Most of all, I wanted the challenge to see if I could come back from something like that," said Jake, who had been told by doctors that it would be at least a year and a half before his knee would be ready for skiing. "I wanted my knee to be strong as it could be, so I worked hard on it and came back." His run at Sun Valley, with the entire U.S. Ski Team in attendance to witness it, was "respectable", by his own standards. But it wasn't long before the runs were once again gaining the high respect and awe of others, culminating in a victory at an In-termountain In-termountain championship race at Snowbird near the end of the season. Jake's skiing resurgence has him eyeing the slopes with plans for next winter, possibly as a member of the Stanford ski team. But with the links calling from Park City Golf Course, in the very shadow of the Doilney family home, golfing may yet take precedence in goal setting. "Right now, my primary interest is golf, probably because I'm doing well," he said. "I really haven't decided what I want to do about skiing yet. If I make the golf team and do great, I'll forget about skiing. ski-ing. I've gotten a lot out of it, and it's been great to me. "But if I don't make the golf team, I'll definitely ski next year either at Stanford or here. If I do decide to pursue it, I'd like to win the national championship." With a flexible approach, and the talent in both sports to back it up, there appear to be few obstacles that might stand in the way of future plaudits for the young Parkite. But the key to higher achievement, he believes, lies within a philosophy born out of his accident experience. "I always think that you can do anything you put your mind to," said. "If I work my hardest, I know I can achieve anything I want to." (MDcQsaa ' ' .. W--,"C--"' LIGHT AND BRIGHT!!! Enjoy the views from the sunny deck or the warmth of two fireplaces. 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