Maëlle Ricker hears the race announcer’s booming voice.
“Riders ready!” he yells.
The sound echoes off the top of Cypress Mountain. Maëlle grips the handles of the start gate. She bends her knees. She’s ready to start her race.
“You can do this.” She says to herself. “This is your story.”
“Feeling confident is a huge part of getting ready for a big race.”
The race that is about to start is one of the most thrilling races at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games—snowboard cross. Maëlle will race at the same time as three other women. The race course winds and twists. There are many jumps and turns. It has rained a lot so the snow is very wet and sloppy. That’s not the best weather for a race.
“You have to be safe. You always wear a helmet and the safest equipment. You have to respect the mountain. You have to respect Mother Nature. You have to respect the other racers. The sport can be dangerous.”
Maëlle knows all about that danger first hand. Four years earlier, at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy , Maëlle crashed near the top of the race. . Maëlle wanted to finish the race with a medal, instead, she finished the race in a hospital with a concussion.
“I made a technical mistake and caught an edge. I crashed on a jump.”
There have been crashes and spills during the qualifying runs for today’s final as well. Maëlle has fallen on the course more than once. She fell during practise. She also fell in her first qualifying run. It’s hard to move around when there are four racers on the course at the same time. Maëlle knows the fans like to see all the traffic.
“You have to work hard, and train for it. Each of the racers wants to take the fastest way down the hill. It can actually be fun to jostle around out there, and the fans love it as well. But you have to respect each other. We have an agreement on the course that we won’t cheat, we won’t bully someone else just to win.”
A cheater might cut off a competitor, push them, or even knock them over. Maëlle knows her competitor’s action is a part of the race she can’t control, or worry about.
“It’s extremely rare that someone would cheat. We are like a family in the snowboarding world. But it happens. You have to just let it wash off your back. You can’t retaliate. You want to win by being the best, not by being a bully, even to a bully.”
Maëlle feels at her best today.
“Five seconds warning,” yells the announcer.
Maëlle knows the start is hugely important. If she can get out in front, she will have a huge advantage. So she has trained every muscle to shoot her body out of the start gate and into the front of the pack.
“That allows you to set your own race. You pick the line you want to follow down the course. You decide how you want to take a turn or a jump. It’s about control, taking control of your race and making your own line down the course.”
Maëlle’s start is perfect. She bursts into the front. Now it doesn’t matter as much what the other boarders do. Maëlle will be the first person into the turns, the first to the jumps, and, if she keeps her body and mind focused and in control, first to the finish line.
“Playing fair is also more fun for everyone. At the end of the race you want the winner to be the best person, the fastest person. That way we also stay friends, not just competitors and you can be happy if you win or if someone else wins fairly.”
There’s no catching Maëlle this time. She’s both fair and fast. She keeps her line, and leads the race from start to finish. The hometown crowd erupts with a cheer.
“I can’t describe how happy I felt crossing that finish line.”
Winning the race fair and clean just made it even sweeter.
CONNECTING: Building a foundation for new learning
Context Clues
Watch “Ricker is the best snowboarder” at www.olympic.ca/education//podcast
As snowboard cross is new to the Olympic Winter Games, the students may not be familiar with Maëlle’s sport. Before introducing the story, offer the following quotes to the students and allow them to analyze and take from the quotes to determine the sport with which Maëlle is associated.
- Maëlle grabs the handles of the start gate, bends her knees and gets ready to fly
- You have to be safe so you make sure you always wear a helmet and the appropriate equipment
- It’s about control, taking control of your race and making your own line down the course
As a class, discuss the meaning of respect, fair play, anti-bullying and safety. Identify what Maëlle did to demonstrate each of these. Have the students predict what actions Maëlle would have taken at the Olympic Winter Games to demonstrate each of these qualities.
PROCESSING: Using strategies to acquire and use knowledge
Obstacle Course
Describe and illustrate an example of an obstacle course. Brainstorm some activities that could be included in an obstacle course (ie. bench to jump over, hula hoop to jump through, ball to bounce to finish line, etc.). Have students in groups of three or four design their own obstacle course and draw on chart paper.
Brainstorm with the students what elements would ensure participants where safe and that respect and fair play amongst the competitors was maintained.
Participate in the courses in the gym or the schoolyard. Constructively debrief each course and have each group self evaluate their course and make recommendations where they could make improvements.
TRANSFORMING: Showing understanding in a new way
Values in Action – Obstacle Course
While students are participating in an obstacle course, choose three students to act as judges.
What are judges looking for when observing students?
Fair play, sportsmanship, inclusive behaviour:
- Cheering on all participants
- Helping someone who falls
- Retrieving a ball that goes off course
Students should also note poor sportsmanship, unfair play, and dangerous actions:
- Jumpstarting the race
- Using a ball to interfere with another’s performance
- Unnecessary body contact
Behaviour of audience: shouting, taunting, laughing at others’ performance?
Bring the class together for a group discussion to reinforce the effect fair play has on the participants’ feelings when they win. Re-read Maëlle’s story emphasizing that hard work is important, as is respect for your opponents and peers. Challenge the students to identify ways in which they can be increasingly respectful at school, at home and in their local community.
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
In snowboard cross the sixteen fastest athletes race against each other in the final heats. To qualify for the round of 16, each athlete has two attempts to obtain their fastest time down the hill.
Assume Maelle’s clock time half way down the course was 25 seconds. If she had to beat a time of 46 seconds to qualify, how many seconds would she have to be in the last half of her run to qualify for the round of 16? Half way down the course, what would her preferred “split time” have been?