John Morris wipes the sweat from his face. He’s sitting in the gym at the Olympic Athletes village in Vancouver, the home for competitors during the Olympic Games. John has just finished his last repetition of sit-ups. He’s done dozens. He has also done dozens of push-ups and at least a dozen chin-ups. His heart is pumping. He smiles. In just a few hours he’ll be competing for the
gold medal… in curling.
“Curling hasn’t always had the best image. There used to be a culture of ‘have a good time and then go out and curl’. Not anymore. I’m proud to say that we curlers can hold our own, physically, with pro hockey players. We have to if we want to win gold medals.”
John admits he was brought up in the “old-style” world of curling. He ate plenty of cheeseburgers and still won a number of top events, including two junior world titles. Then he began competing at a higher level. It wasn’t as easy. When he was in his early 20’s John and his team lost a heartbreaking national final.
“We’d done well to get there but by the end of the week we ran out of energy. When you’re tired you make physical mistakes. You also make mental mistakes. The difference between winning and losing is often just a few centimetres and we were giving that up and it was costing us crucial games.”
Not long after that, John finished third in the qualifying tournament for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. He was getting close to his dream of representing Canada at the Olympic Games. But he was still devastated.
“I looked in the mirror and asked myself what I was missing in my training and preparation. The answer was my physical conditioning. That changed then and there.”
John flexes his arms. He feels good, fit, and strong. Curling stones are not light. They are chunks of granite that weigh more than 40 lbs. Curlers have to propel the stones with speed and accuracy toward a very small target at the other end of the ice.
“Velocity, the speed of the curling stone, has become so important in curling. You have to be strong to whip the stone down the ice hard enough to knock the other rocks out. And the sweeping is both crucial and gruelling. You have to sweep hard enough to melt the ice. That helps you control the accuracy of the shot and the distance.”
John had played other sports all his life. He adapted some of those training techniques to curling, and designed a fitness programme that would strengthenthe precise muscles used in his sport. This
includes plenty of strength training, as well as running and cycling, especially in the off-season. John also took courses in nutrition and began eating better.
“We started skipping fast-food joints at tournaments. Now our first stop on a road trip is the local supermarket where we can choose healthier foods that will allow us to perform to our max.”
John noticed an immediate improvement in his play, and it wasn’t just physical. He could concentrate more. His pre-game workouts helped him calm his nerves. He also started doing yoga which helped his strength, balance, flexibility and also his ability to focus.
“Sports are so important when you are growing up. Playing sports makes you not only more fit but will help you focus better in school and help you grow smarter. Sport also teaches you valuable lessons about fair play, communication, and teamwork. It also teaches you discipline and confidence. It is important that we acquire the skills and sport fundamentals to engage in sport for life.”
All John’s hard work pays off in Vancouver. He and his team don’t fade. They beat Norway 6-3. Millions watch the game on TV. John makes a crucial play late in the game. He knocks out two Norwegian
stones. That keeps his team in the lead. It’s exactly the situation he’s been training for since he stared at himself in the mirror years ago.
“If there’s one hope I have, it’s that kids see how tough and athletic the sport of curling is, how cool it is. I hope they see how important it is that they participate in a variety of sports and engage in healthy living over their entire lifetime.”
The gold medal that he’s earned through sweat and hard work will certainly help.
CONNECTING: Building a foundation for new learning
Healthy Active Living Brainstorm
As a class, create a T-chart on a piece of chart paper listing the outcomes of healthy eating vs unhealthy eating. Make a list of activities that exemplify healthy active living. Discuss why a
healthy diet and regular physical activity are important in our lives.
To familiarize students with curling, watch “Gold Final- Canada vs Norway” at www.olympischool.ca/podcast
PROCESSING: Using strategies to acquire and use knowledge
Physical Activity Directory or Healthy Recipes Cookbook
Working in small groups, students choose one of the following options:
- Create a directory of the places where students can go in the local school community to
participate in physical activities. The directory should include the name, address, phone
number, and e-mail address/website of the facility. It should also list the type of activities
offered at each site, the ages the activities are offered to, and costs (if available). Students
will need to consider how to organize the directory in order for it to be easy for others to
use. Keep this directory as a classroom reference guide. - Create a cookbook containing recipes for healthy snacks and meals that are easy to
prepare. Each recipe should include a list of ingredients as well as instructions on how to
prepare the dish. In addition, each recipe should include a brief explanation of why it would
be a healthy eating choice. Encourage students to include recipes or ideas for healthy
lunches and snacks.
TRANSFORMING: Showing understanding in a new way
Healthy Active Living Log
Inspire students to log their food and beverage consumption and physical activity for a week. Encourage students to try to record quantities whenever possible (i.e., portion sizes, number of calories, etc.). Instruct your students to keep a record of all physical activity they participate in during the week (i.e., playing a game at recess, choosing the stairs over taking the elevator, participating in a sport) and the duration of each activity. Encourage students to utilize some of the recipes and access some of the local opportunities for physical activity in the community.
After one week, or a predetermined amount of time, discuss if the students realized a difference in their lives. Discuss the visible short term difference and identify potential long term differences. Discuss what they enjoyed about this process, what was a challenge, and how they can live a more healthy active life. Challenge them to create one goal about healthy eating and one about physical activity for the next month.
EXTENDING: Making further connections to Olympians
Explore numbers and the Olympic Games by developing numeracy problems from Olympian results and sport specific numbers.
Sample Numeracy Exercise
John Morris releases the rock from the hog line. It travels the full length of the ice and rests on the button at the opposite end. Using the diagram, calculate the distance traveled from where the rock was released to where it stopped. Choose the most appropriate unit of measurement for your answer.
