A booming voice echoes off the top of Cypress Mountain and rings in Maëlle Ricker’s ears.
“Riders ready!,” yells the race announcer. Maëlle grabs the handles of the start gate, bends her knees and gets ready to fly. “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’s about to start is one of the most thrilling races at the Olympic Winter Games – the snowboard cross. Maëlle and three other women are about to race down a winding, twisting course of jumps, rollers and banked turns…at the same time. It’s also been a wet sloppy day and the course conditions aren’t
ideal.
“You have to be safe so you make sure you always wear a helmet and the appropriate
equipment. You have to respect the mountain, Mother Nature and your competition.The sport can be dangerous.”
Maëlle knows all about that danger first hand. Four years earlier, in Turin, Italy, Maëlle crashed near the top of the race. She had hoped to end that race with a medal, instead she ended it 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 already in training and in her first qualifying run. Maëlle knows that riding in traffic is a big part of the attraction of this event, for the competitors and the fans.
“You have to work hard, dedicate yourself 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 in that situation. We have an agreement on the course that we won’t cheat, we won’t bully someone else just to win.”
Cheating could be cutting off another competitor, pushing them or knocking 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 you can get out in front, you 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
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
Class discussion questions:
- What clues did you use to determine the sport?
- What prior knowledge (schema) did you use to help you?
Watch “Ricker is the best snowboarder” at www.olympischool.ca/podcast
PROCESSING: Using strategies to acquire and use knowledge
Fair Play Discussion
Discuss physical activity games and sports that students are familiar with. What makes them fun? What makes them fair? How is unfair or bullying behaviour dealt with in the game?
Working in small groups, students plan a sporting event (i.e. an obstacle course, game, etc.).
Students must consider the following when planning their event:
- What rules are needed to keep the game fair and safe?
- How can the people playing show sportsmanship during the game?
- What does fair play and sportsmanship look like in the classroom?
As a possible extension, have students come up with fair play awards and a criteria for how they are given out at play and in class.
TRANSFORMING: Showing understanding in a new way
Values in Action Scenario
Working in small groups, students consider the following scenario:
Pretend you are the judge of a sporting event (e.g., the snowboard cross) and you see a competitor behaving in an unfair or bullying manner. Address the following:
- What was the negative behaviour that was exhibited?
- How should the athlete have behaved instead?
- What can be done to resolve the situation fairly for all athletes involved in
the event? Explain.
As a possible extension, students could role-play their scenario for the class. 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
There are 64 women competing in the snowboard cross. If Maëlle reaches the quarter-finals, where there is a total of 8 competitors including Maëlle, determine the probability that she will win the gold medal in her event. Show your work.