Up, down, stack & bounce

NICOLE ROACHE, MARKETING MANAGER

Embracing challenges and learning persistence is an important part of a growth mindset. We often think about this type of learning happening in the classroom, but some of the most powerful opportunities to grow happen through co-curricular activities.

Each year the College sends a team of skiers and snowboarders to Mount Buller for the Victorian Interschool Snowsports Championships. To select their teams, some schools hold trials, but we have an open entry policy and select team positions based on previous results and knowledge of the students. What this means is that no matter what your ability on the snow, we believe that you can do it and you can learn from the experience.

With specialist coaches, who are all Old Collegians, to help teach required skills for racing or competing in Moguls or Slopestyle events, as well as some outstanding competitors who train with race clubs and specialist programs who help motivate and encourage their teammates, each year we see real improvement and growth in most team members. This improvement can be in year-on-year results in their races, but also in conquering new events or jumping in to try something new to make up a team. What this does for the overall team, is develop depth, which in turn improves the College’s ranking in the state. In 2023 we were the 4th best coeducational secondary school team in Victoria, in a competition that includes all schools in the state.

It was fantastic to see Year 8 student, Henry Cohn put his hand up to complete a team in Slopestyle Ski. For those who don’t know, Slopestyle is an event where athletes ski or snowboard down a course that includes a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. Skiers often go through large portions of the course backward (referred to as “switch”). It is a pretty scary thing to tackle if you are not typically a park skier or rider.

“I’ve taken part in multiple events at Snowsports. I loved doing the Slopestyle this year, it was a bit of a step for me because I had never done it before, and I didn’t know much about it. I also had a big crash in the Alpine. It was, I don’t want to call it embarrassing, but it was kind of embarrassing the fact that I just rammed into the third gate in the course in front of about 150 people” Henry explains.

After his ‘big crash’ in the Alpine, which is your traditional ski race around gates, Henry wasn’t sure that he wanted to do the second run, but after we were sure that he was just shaken and not injured, we suggested that he might just look over the course during the inspection and could then decide how he felt. With a hot chocolate under his belt and some time, he decided that he wanted to complete that course, and he did.

“I kept going and did my second run. I didn’t really focus on my time, I just wanted to get down on the second one. I felt good, and like I had accomplished something after I made it.”

This set Henry up to succeed when facing his next big challenge of the week on the Slopestyle course. He went into the event with one aim, “Don’t crash!” and in the practice session at the start of the event, he did crash.

“I had a big stack on the first jump. I got a good run up from the start but when I went down the rail, I thought I had a bit of speed but I didn’t think I had enough, so I didn’t slow down with a snowplough or any carves or anything I just went straight for it and I overshot the jump massively. I landed about ¾ down the face of the landing, so I didn’t have much time to pull it in. I basically just went up, down, stack!”

But he learned, and adapted his plan during the training session, working with his coach Tyson.

“You don’t carve when you go onto the box, you just need to take some speed off after the box. After you jump off, you just do a quick little turn of the skis and then get yourself lined up, it just gives you a bit more control. You need to get a feel for how the snow actually is, that’s why you get practice time, so you can test everything out. Snow conditions make a big difference, and you need to adjust.”

We talked about how he found the strength and courage to keep going through the challenges and what really helped him to achieve his goals.

“Motivation from my parents was important, I also had a call with my cousin Freddie who is a massive Slopestyle snowboarder, and he told me what I needed to know.

“Tyson was also super fun and awesome. He made sure I knew what I was doing before I started going into the more complicated things. He made sure I knew how to ride the box and clear the jumps before I started attempting spread eagles and twisters. It was so good to have a team of people who believed that I could do it.”

With two clean runs and a best score of 35.67 Henry certainly achieved his goal of not crashing and finished in the top 40 in the state. An additional 10 points would put him into the top 20, not bad for someone who has never tried it before, and deservedly, Henry was thrilled with what he had been able to do.

“I felt like I had definitely achieved something. It was pretty big for me because I had never actually done the jumps before. There were little jumps beside the actual jumps, so I chose to go off those but still I felt amazed by the fact that I’d been able to do that in quite literally a week.”

Over the next year Henry plans to practice his skills and learn some new ones before getting back on the Slopestyle course.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d do it again before I competed this year, but I am going to do Slopestyle next year and try a spin!”

We love to see students learn to adapt, to dig deep within themselves and to develop the confidence to try something new. We can’t wait to see Henry give that spin a whirl next year.