Mentors making a difference
When Calgary- born luger Sam Edney won his first World Cup race last December, he did it by following the same goal- setting steps he had been teaching Grade 5 students at Roland Michener School as part of the Classroom Champions program.
Prior to his victory, the threetime Olympian suffered a sports hernia injury that took him out of training for a month and a half. That meant a serious adjustment to how he was going to reach his goal of the winner’s podium.
“It was a very emotional weekend where I won in Calgary ( the first Canadian man to win in World Cup luge). It was clear to me — and I was showing that to the kids — that I had used the tools I was teaching.”
Classroom Champions is a program that pairs schoolchildren in lower income neighbourhoods with sports heroes who help the students develop skills of perseverance, resilience and grit.
Through an in- person meeting with the class, monthly video lessons featuring the athletes and Google Hangouts ( where students ask questions of their mentor), children not only learn the personal stories of their paired athletes, but they also get encouraging feedback and talk about principles of leadership, community and goal setting.
For the first time, Classroom Champions will be one of the charities supported by the Shaw Charity Classic golf event. Through its first two years the Champions Tour golf tournament raised a total of $ 4.7 million for a variety of charities. This year the goal is another $ 4 million.
The Classroom Champions program was founded by Steve Mesler, a three- time Olympian and U. S. gold medallist in four- man bobsled at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He started the program in the U. S with his educator sister in 2010.
“We wanted to make a difference,” says Mesler, who has lived and trained in Calgary since 2003.
“Then, we kept getting hundreds of Canadians emailing us — teachers, athletes — asking ‘ can we join?’”
So in 2012 Classroom Champions came to Canada. The first year it was in 25 Canadian schools; this past year 80 schools were involved; this coming year 90 schools and about 2,500 kids will take part.
With its official charitable status now in hand, 14 or 15 Olympians and Paralympians will partner with kindergarten to Grade 8 classes from Vancouver to Truro, N. S.
A teacher or school must apply to be part of the program which can help with technology upgrades to the classroom, teacher development and mentor support, along with the monthly videos and athlete participation.
In Calgary, 10 different school classes will partner with sports mentors this year, something Mesler hopes to grow to 40 within two years.
Classroom Champions has its largest corporate support in Calgary, including from Shaw Communications. The Shaw Charity Classic money will enable growth in the city.
Mesler emphasizes the need for children to build relationships with those who have achieved big things.
In one talk last November, he summed it up this way: “When kids know people who do big things, they know they can do big things.”
“There are complex problems these kids face, so they get the feeling that if this person can do it — and they’re my friend — then I can, too,” Mesler says.
And kids do see their mentors as friends, according to classroom evaluations.
“They are not friends they go to the movies with, but ones that will listen, that have influence,” Mesler says.
This fall, Edney will take a break from training to let his body completely heal while finishing his bachelor of commerce degree in Victoria. Then he will begin preparing for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.
After that he intends to return to Calgary and Classroom Champions.
What Edney shares with kids are personal experiences that not only translate to athletics, but also to life.
“I’ve had disappointments, including missing an Olympic medal by one- tenth of a second. It is what you turn that into — in my case, into last season when I won a World Cup race,” Edney says.
Mesler says that participating kids are “more likely to get up when they fall down, to set goals, to show up at school, to treat each other better.”