teaching olympian lessons – or letting a movie do it for you

Oh, admit it, already. You know you’ve seen The Cutting Edge. You know the one. The ice skating movie where the stuck up figure-skater learns a thing or two from a hockey player about heart and love. “Toe-pick.” It follows the classic hate-first romantic comedy formula within the sports sub-category, within the classic “Underdog” genre of films like Rudy, Hoosiers, Seabiscuit, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Greatest Game Ever Played. The formula looks like this: Losing, a small taste of success, then more struggle, huge failure where it looks near impossible followed by a big finish.

With the Winter Olympics winding down today, here’s a transitional opportunity to discuss perseverance and sportsmanship, among other lessons, with your kids by way of movie and TV selections from Netflix.

If you find you find yourself tuned into the History Channel, The Fabulous Ice Age, a new documentary available only on Netflix that tells the history of Olympic figure skating is likely right up your alley, never mind your kid’s!

I’m actually most looking forward to watching the THE SHORT GAME: Some of the greatest golfers in the world are just 7 years old. Most of them can’t reach a book from the top shelf, but they can rival Tiger Woods’ backswing. Eight junior golfers tee off towards victory at North Carolina’s prestigious Pinehurst golf course in this delightful documentary that reveals what it takes for a grade-schooler to navigate parents, coaches and their pint-size rivals to hit the perfect game and secure a potential future as a professional golfer.

NetFlixKids

1. The Short Game
2. The Kid
3. The Pistol
4. A Mile in His Shoes
5. Winning Favor
6. The Mighty Macs
7. Like Mike 2: Streetball
8. Air Bud: World Pup
9. Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch
10. Air Bud Spikes Back

For the little ones:
NetFlixKids

1. Super WHY!: The Tortoise and the Hare
2. Curious George: George Gets a Trophy
3. Bob the Builder: The Bobblesberg Winter Games
4. Angelina Ballerina: In the Wings
5. Caillou: Caillou Gets Active

*As a side note, I’ve just finished watching all of season 2 of House of Cards. So, so, good. I miss it already and want to watch it again from the beginning. Like, it makes me want to read A Tale of Two Cities good. While on vacation in Florida, we introduced my mother to the digital world by way of an AppleTV, and we quickly hooked her up with a NetFlix account. They’re already hooked on Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards. Big finish baby.

Image
SHARE

COMMENTS:

  1. Are you watching “True Detective”. The best, the absolute frigging best of the best best best.

    1. Author

      Oh, man, did I try. But I couldn’t get through it. Though last night at dinner, my father confessed that he felt the same way. He stuck with it, though, and NOW he says that it’s good, after the third episode, he says, it gets good. So, I am going to try again.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.