The Winter Olympics for 2010 has just come to an end in Vancouver. It wasn’t a particularly successful event for the British, although traditionally the Winter Olympics is not our best sporting occasion anyway.
But there is no doubt that the skiing events bring new people to the sport every time they are shown. Watching the downhill events and the various other skiing competitions always attracts new people to watch it. When it comes to children it could set off a lifelong attraction and desire to ski themselves.
Even though the main games have now ended the Paralympic Winter Games are about to start very shortly in Vancouver as well. This means we will have another few days of exciting competition to look forward to from various talented skiers and other people who are the best in the world at winter sports.
The Olympics has various cross country, slalom and downhill events to watch, no matter whether you see the traditional Olympics or the Paralympics. But they both have one thing in common – they draw big crowds to the Games. Many of these people love the Games and will watch them whenever they are on. But there is also a brand new generation of children watching every four years, and some of those children will be eager to strap on the skis themselves.
The important thing to remember is that some of them could be medal hopefuls in years to come. If you happen to be the parent of a child who expresses a lot of interest in skiing, be sure to encourage them to work at it and do it as often as they can. The UK has plenty of dry ski slopes and once they have tried the real stuff on holiday they can also think about joining a club or getting some professional advice and support for improving their skills.
It could be that watching the Winter Olympics is what triggers them to start skiing themselves. It looks easy when we see it on television but we all have to start somewhere. It’s good to know that some of the medal winners would have started in the same way as this in the past.
So don’t dismiss any interests in this direction as a passing phase. It could be something very different indeed. Make the most of it and encourage it if you can.