JAY BECKNER - BGHS graduate

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Jay Beckner has had a lot of explaining to do the past few months - and for good reason.

It's not every day that someone from Bowling Green decides to become a skeleton athlete.

Since taking up the sport of skeleton in August, the most common explanation Beckner has had to offer up was in response to the question, “What is skeleton anyway?”

The answer is pretty easy if the interested party knows a little something about the luge, where a one-man sled is ridden down a bobsled slide feet first. Skeleton is pretty similar to luge, only the sled is ridden head first.

“If they don't really know about the luge, I have to go back and ask them if they know about bobsledding and work from there,” Beckner said.

Just how does someone from Bowling Green decide to become a skeleton athlete?

The answer is simple, really.

Beckner saw the sport on television during the 2006 Winter Olympics.

“When I saw it there, something just kind of clicked for me,” Beckner said. “From there, I just started trying to figure out how to get into the sport and I've just been going from there.”

Beckner, a 28-year-old graduate student at Indiana University Southeast, grew up in Bowling Green playing the same sports that all his peers were into - golf, soccer and basketball.

He was a member of Bowling Green High School's 1997 state championship golf team.

Before deciding to take up skeleton, Beckner's only winter sport experience came in 2005 when he went snowboarding in Reno, Nev.

“The first time I was ever on a ski slope,” Beckner said

After seeing skeleton on TV, though, Beckner started making phone calls and accumulating contacts.

His work paid off when he was able to meet one of the U.S. Olympic assistant coaches and secured a spot at push camp in Lake Placid, N.Y.

“Everything just kind of fell into place,” Beckner said. “I went to push camp in August and then on to skeleton school.”

During that time, Beckner's athleticism was put to the test.

“They just get an idea of where you are xxxxxathletically and what you can do,” Beckner said. “They also teach you push technique and determine if you have some ability there.”

When he got on a skeleton sled for the first time, Beckner was in for a bit of a surprise. The sleds can reach speeds of over 70 mph and there's nothing you can do to really prepare yourself for those type of forces without first experiencing it, he said.

“It's really indescribable,” Beckner said. “You can watch the sport on television - I thought I had an idea of what it's like. Getting on a sled is something that you can't really imagine. Your chin is about two inches off the ice and the forces on your body through the turns is Š a crazy feeling.”

Beckner is currently training - mostly lower body workouts - and waiting to get his first sled, which he recently ordered.

After that, he will head back to Lake Placid later this month to prepare for the club races that begin Feb. 11.

Eventually, Beckner would like to see himself as an Olympic athlete.

But for now, he's just focusing on getting the basics down and preparing for the club season.

“As far as looking past that - I'm not,” Beckner said. “Right now, I'm just looking at what's in front of me.”