When my girls first started school they came home wondering why so many of the boys in their classes had the name “Tebow.”
It was then I realized I had shortchanged them in cultural currency by not exposing them to football.
In the six years since, they’ve occasionally watched bits of the fourth quarter, but not enough to Monday-morning quarterback with their classmates on the school playground.
But just because they don’t follow our country’s favorite sport doesn’t mean they aren’t sports fans. November to March, they can tell you generally how the U.S. Ski Team is faring in Europe — and specifically how Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn are doing.
Oh sure, they know of Ted Ligety, Bode Miller and the rest of the U.S. Ski Team roster, but it’s only when Vonn and Shiffrin are in the start gate that they hastily leave their dolls, drawings and Legos behind to check out the TV.
Just like some boys see themselves in a quarterback’s cleats, my daughters see themselves in a female ski racer’s boots. The day after the Super Bowl, the ski-racing world’s biggest competition began at Colorado’s own , which is in the U.S. again for the first time since 1999. You’ll probably be able to hear cheering for hometown heroines Vonn and Shiffrin all around the state.
The world was awed by 18-year-old Shiffrin at the Sochi Olympics when the Vail native became the . When I watched her doing practice runs on Beaver Creek’s Grouse Mountain I was so struck by her lithe athleticism my eyes filled with tears, and all I could manage to say to her at the bottom of the run was, “You’re awesome.”
For ski-race fans, the teen’s win offered solace in the heart-wrenching absence of the veteran Vonn. We had watched in horror as Vonn was airlifted off the course after shredding her knee at the 2013 World Championships in Schladming, Austria. Her cries of pain were audible even though the nearest microphone was half a mountain away.
We cheered in disbelief when she returned to racing nine months later. And then, when she reinjured the same knee, we feared hers would be a career cut short. At the time she was just three wins short of becoming the “winningest” female ski racer of all time. But flash forward to Jan. 18 and not only was she back, but also just as fearless as before she got injured.
Downhill is the fastest, longest and downright scariest of the alpine disciplines. It is not unusual for racers to fall at such high speeds that they are thrown into the safety nets that line the course. Fans cringe as the racer often lies unconscious or in so much pain that rescuers must free them from the tangles.
Yet since her comeback this World Cup season, Vonn has thrown herself at the mountain at speeds of more than 70 mph.
On the 19th, my girls watched Vonn get her 63rd win, breaking the record and becoming the — officially.
In addition to her epic trophy case, Vonn has also been a winning role model to girls like my daughters. She showed them perseverance when she vowed from her hospital bed in Austria to do everything in her power to return to the sport. She showed them poise when she brushed off snide comments made by the European media about her weight. She showed them compassion when she adopted a 9-month-old shelter puppy that “no one wanted” because his knee had been injured when a car hit him.
To reach back and help girls gain confidence and inspiration on the slopes, Vonn started Ski Girls Rock, a program for girls age 7 to teens. The , Vail and Beaver Creek this winter.
Long before becoming the sport’s greatest, she had already showed young girls how a woman can be strong, fiercely competitive and good-hearted.
And if they are selling any clothing during the championships with “Vonn” on the back, I’m buying three — two for my daughters, and one for me.
Chryss Cada is a freelance writer and a journalism instructor at Colorado State University. chryss.com.
