Twelve-year-old Ezra Mangum likes to go fast. His love of speed led him to the Utah Olympic Oval, where he found coaches who pushed him to go faster and a community that cheered him on.
Over the last three years, Ezra’s story has grown alongside a community that’s spent decades helping young athletes chase their dreams. At the 45th annual Jan’s Winter Welcome, Olympians, community members and supporters gathered to raise funds for the Youth Sports Alliance and local sports clubs — organizations that helped Ezra get his start.
Ezra’s story began a little over three years ago, when his mother, Paige, received two free tickets to a speed-skating competition at the Utah Olympic Oval.
Sports had always been an uphill climb. Ezra, who has severe ADHD and high-functioning autism, had cycled through soccer, karate and baseball, but few coaches would match his energy or pace. The constant restarts had left both him and Paige discouraged.
When they went to the Oval that day, Ezra was instantly excited by the blur of athletes cutting across the ice at high speed.
“He showed up, and he’s like, ‘Oh, a place I can go fast,’ because he’s really fast moving and high-energy,” Paige said.
After the event, a coach invited him to try the slide board, a narrow mat skaters use to practice side-to-side movements that mimic pushing on the ice. For a boy constantly told to slow down, it felt like permission.
“She was encouraging him to go faster,” said Paige when Ezra added, “Which I’ve never had in my entire life because literally everyone, even my mom sometimes, tells me to go slow and walk. And I just don’t have the mental capacity to do that.”
Not long after, he signed up for a Learn to Speed Skate class at the Oval. On his very first day, Olympic gold medalist Derek Parra stood behind him as coach. Paige admits she was nervous — every other sport had ended in frustration or expulsion.
“I thought he’d get kicked off the ice like before,” she said. “He’s wild and high-energy, and I just waited for the moment it all went wrong.”
But it didn’t. Parra stepped in behind Ezra, pushed him faster and guided him around the track for a single lap. It takes less than 13 seconds to circle the Oval, but those seconds changed everything.
“That was all it took,” Paige said. “Thirteen seconds of a coach’s undivided attention. That was what kick-started this whole thing. 13 seconds of just … time.”
From that day on, Ezra was hooked. He skipped Basic Two lessons and moved straight into more advanced training.
“That’s how I knew speed skating was my destiny,” he said.
Three seasons later, Ezra trains twice a week at the Oval. He now skates under Parra’s guidance and often joins Olympic speedskater Casey Dawson during practice sessions. With scholarships from the Youth Sports Alliance, all of Ezra’s expenses, from skates to travel, are covered. Paige said that without that support, Ezra’s participation would have been impossible.
“Speed skating has been awesome. The YSA has supported me so, so much. They helped give me opportunities, gave me the money to get what I need, like my skates,” said Ezra.
Paige explained that the support goes far beyond financial aid from the Stein Eriksen Dare to Dream scholarship. The Youth Sports Alliance is a family, she said. They always stay in close touch, checking in regularly and connecting families to new opportunities.
“They build relationships with families,” she said. “They make you feel like you’re part of something.”
For Ezra, that sense of community has become as meaningful as the sport itself. What began as a new activity has grown into a network of mentors and friends, including Olympic athletes he now sees as equals.
“Every time I go to the Oval, I get to hang out with Derek and Casey. Casey lit a fire in my heart, and now I try to light fires in other people’s hearts, too,” said Ezra.
Paige goes for gold
Watching her son find confidence inspired Paige to start believing in her own potential, too.
One afternoon in the car, Ezra asked Paige what her big dream was. Paige said she’d want to go back to school and get her college degree.
“I watched Ezra dream and grow, and I’ve seen people at the Oval and in Park City always just getting out there and living their best lives,” said Paige. “So I started doing that. But it always started with Ezra, and now he sees “Oh, my mom got her degree,” and he wants to keep doing better, too.”
Paige finished her bachelor’s degree in special education and her master’s in education this year. Now, she’s a first-year teacher, creating the kind of supportive classroom she always hoped her son would find.
“I thought, if Derek can win the Olympics at 32, I can go get my degree at 35,” she said. “I told Ezra that for every college degree I get, you have to get a gold medal for it. He said, ‘I promise, Mom.’”
Jan’s Winter Welcome was founded on that same spirit of possibility more than four decades ago. In 1980, Jan Peterson, founder of Jan’s Mountain Outfitters, organized the first fundraiser to help support his daughter Andrea’s best friend, Tori Pillinger, and others in the community who needed assistance to afford the costs of ski racing.
“All she wanted was to ski,” said Amanda Peterson, Jan’s wife. “Her family couldn’t afford it, so Jan started the fundraiser to help.”
That first year, the event raised about $1,500, with one sponsor buying the same auction item five times just to boost the total.
“It wasn’t about have or have-not,” said Peterson. “It was about learning responsibility and teamwork.”
In those early years, the Jan’s Winter Welcome funds were used to supply team equipment and travel support through the coaches, who managed the resources and made sure every child could participate. The goal was to remove financial barriers while teaching accountability.
“The kids had to take care of their skis, keep them in the locker and help wax when they traveled,” said Peterson. “It taught them how to take care of what they had and how to be part of a team.”
Pillinger worked her way from the local team to the U.S. Ski Team, racing on the World Cup circuit while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
“She was a pistol,” said Peterson. “She and Andrea got in a lot of trouble, but she was determined. She earned everything she achieved.”
Pilinger passed away from cancer in 2017, but her story continues to represent the ethos of the Winter Welcome. Her husband and daughters attended Saturday’s event in her memory. Both girls now ski race as well, continuing the tradition that began with their mother more than 40 years ago.
The original idea, that no child should be left out because of cost, remains the backbone of the Youth Sports Alliance’s mission today. This year, the Jan’s Winter Welcome raised $1.1 million in support of the Youth Sports Alliance and seven partner winter sports clubs. This is a 10 percent increase over last year, which broke records at $1 million in funds raised.
The Youth Sports Alliance impact
When the Youth Sports Alliance took over management of the Jan’s Winter Welcome in 2002, it carried forward Jan Peterson’s vision of making sport accessible for local kids. Under executive director Emily Fisher, the nonprofit has grown into a model of access and inclusion for youth sport in Utah.
Last year, more than 3,200 students participated in their after-school programs, a 25 percent increase from the previous year, with 41 percent receiving scholarships or discounts. Programs like Get Out & Play and ACTiV8 give elementary and middle school students the chance to try skiing, skating, climbing and biking, often for the first time.
That kind of growth reflects the strength of Park City’s uniquely supportive environment for youth sports, said Gar Trayner, Olympic alpine skier, director of education at U.S. Ski and Snowboard and general manager of Woodward Park City.
“The YSA programs and the funding that supports them are critical,” he said. “They get kids outdoors, give parents a little breathing room and create a pathway from trying a sport for the first time to pursuing it long term.”
The organization also oversees the Stein Eriksen Dare to Dream Scholarship Fund, which awarded $225,000 this year to competitive athletes across its seven partner clubs. Those include Park City Ski and Snowboard, Wasatch Freestyle, Figure Skating Club of Park City, Park City Ice Miners Hockey, Park City Speedskating Club, Utah Olympic Park Bobsled and Skeleton and the Wasatch Luge Club.
“Our vision is to provide life-changing access to sport for the next generation,” Fisher said. “Every child deserves to play.”
Proceeds from Saturday’s live and silent auctions, featuring local experiences, gear packages and travel opportunities, directly support those teams and their athletes.
This network of community support was alive all throughout Saturday’s event, where Olympians including Steven Nyman, Derek Parra, Casey Dawson and Eric Heiden joined to celebrate the cause — all of whom made sure to swing by Ezra’s table for a high-five and a few sage words of encouragement on his road to the 2034 Games.
“What do I say to other kids like me? Don’t give up. Keep up the hard work and just don’t ever give up,” said Ezra.