WEBVTT - An Episode of Olympic Proportions! 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:07.560 The men have a small hill event, a big hill event, 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.200 and a team event, so they have three chances for medals, 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:20.520 and we were just asking for one. Hi. Everyone, today, 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.320 I'm bringing you something a little different, because this winter 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.880 I'm doing something a little different. I'm super excited to 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:30.080 be reporting on the two thousand eighteen Olympic Winter Games 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.600 for NBC. I was sent all the way to pyeong Chang, 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.280 South Korea to co host the opening ceremony. Did you 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.040 see it? Did you like it? Anyways, because there are 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.760 so many interesting stories coming out of the two thousand 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.640 eighteen Games, I knew I wanted to share at least 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.960 one of them with you on our podcast. So I 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.800 teamed up with another podcast called The Podium. It's the 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.480 official podcast of the Olympic Winter Games from NBC Sports 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.600 and Vox Media. And hey, just a little slice of 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.320 the Katie Current podcast for good measure. Now by design, 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.480 this is an episode of Olympic Proportions. It's also the 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.720 latest chapter in our Wonder Women's series. So in that 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.399 big league spirit, we're not highlighting just one woman this week, 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.400 but an entire team, the American women's ski jumping team 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.440 that is these amazing athletes have had to fight for 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.720 recognition and resources. So, with a hat tip to our 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.120 friends over at the Podium Podcast, here's the story of 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:39.120 the scrappy, resilient US women's ski jumping team. This week, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.160 women from around the world soared above the crowd at 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.880 the Alpensiest Ski Jumping Center. This is just the second 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.280 time in Olympic history that women could compete in ski jumping. 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:53.440 The first was in two thousand fourteen. Getting the women's 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.440 event into the Olympics took a lot of work, and 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.320 not just physical training. Men have competed in Olympic ski 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:04.440 jumping since the international competition began way back in nineteen 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:10.280 and the International Ski Federation started sponsoring additional competitions for 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.040 them the following year. Women had to wait for nearly 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:18.279 eighty years until two thousand three. That's when the International 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.679 Ski Federation finally sponsored their first women's ski jumping competition. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.840 The worldwide spotlight raised the profile of their sport, and 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.680 women hoped that would give them a shot to compete 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.880 at the two thousand ten Winner Games in Vancouver. All 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.840 the girls got together and we were at my house. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.200 That's Jessica Jerome. In two thousand and six. She was 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.600 nineteen years old. She had been competing in ski jumping 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:46.200 for years, but not at the Olympic Games. We called 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.880 into this conference call and it was at night because 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.880 it was in the morning in Europe, and they said 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.000 that it was not going to be considered, and we 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:59.360 we were piste. Jerome grew up in Park City, Utah. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.360 When It's g Jumping Club came to her elementary school, 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.880 she begged her parents to let her sign up. Initially, 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:13.680 my dad was not having it. He remembered the agony 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.160 of defeat in the wide world of sports. For you 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.560 young in's out there. That was a sports broadcast that 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.960 aired regularly on ABC. It's this awful clip of a 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:29.680 guy crashing on a ski jump. Then the Yugoslabian youngster's 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:39.440 gonna experience you're telling his first jump, looking at whoa baby? 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.400 What a terrible fault. And so he said, there's no 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.320 am letting my daughter do that. And my mom was like, 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.720 hold up, this is this is a great opportunity to 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.720 get them involved in the local community, and it's cheaper 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.119 than babysitting, so let's do it. Her mom went out 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.360 and Jerome fell in love with the sport. She got 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.720 really close to her teammates. From the beginning. Her club 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.920 included boys and girls, all training together. We were on 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:10.440 the hill together, we were in the gym together, we 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:13.760 were doing field exercises, in playo metrics together. We had 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:18.039 the same coaches, we we all did everything together. But 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.640 that change when Jerome started competing. Her male counterparts just 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.960 had more opportunities. There were all these levels of international 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.200 competition for men, so the way the competition's work and 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.719 ski jumping is. The highest level is obviously the Olympics, 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.040 but there is a World Cup circuit that goes on 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:41.080 every year, and then there were a bunch of competitions 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.760 for less experienced mail jumpers. But for women there was 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:50.720 just one international competition. It was just the only opportunity 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:54.760 we had to compete against women from other countries. But 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.160 to get to that one competition, Jerome and her teammates 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.200 had to overcome another obsta coal funding. The boys got 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.960 to focus on training, but the girls were scrambling to 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.040 fundraise and ask for donations. Everything was coming out of 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:14.320 pocket from either ourselves or our parents, or donations to 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:21.000 try to cut costs. My father is an airline pilot, 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.200 so I had flight benefits. He did, my my mom did, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.640 and then we would give my teammates buddy passes and 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:34.799 we would fly stand by to competitions in Europe, which 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:39.240 is not ideal because there there was an instance where 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.320 we were stuck in the Munich airport for five days 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.520 because we couldn't get home, but it was the cheapest 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.760 way that we could do it. The standby flights save 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.200 the team a lot of money, but they also cause 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.960 some problems because when you fly stand by, your baggage 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.080 is not a priority. So when we would fly with 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:02.760 our skis, if anything happened to our skis or any 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:07.599 of our bags, our equipment, it was gone. Jerome remembers 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:11.080 this one competition in Slovenia when she and her teammates 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.480 were left in a tough spot between the American girls. 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.400 We were all missing something, so I was missing a 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:20.800 bag with my skis in my suit. A teammate of 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.599 mine was missing a bag with her boots and her helmet. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.719 And we got together with the girls from the other 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.720 countries and they all loaned us stuff and we ended 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:34.839 up being able to compete in almost any other sport. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.159 This would be crazy, think about it. The American team 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.280 was going to their rivals and asking for help before 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.839 a major competition. But Jerome says this was the Norman 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.720 women's ski jumping. They had a larger purpose. They all 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.080 wanted the sport to succeed. We had this mindset within 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.719 women's ski jumping, despite being competitive with these other countries, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.480 we were all friends and we were all always trying 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.120 to help each other are out because we all had 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:05.960 one common goal, which was growing the sport and being 0:07:06.000 --> 0:07:10.160 recognized to be in the Olympics. And we knew that if, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.840 for example, the Norwegian girls couldn't compete that weekend, it 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.960 looked bad across the whole sport. It wasn't about personal results. 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.800 Part of trying to get this sport into the Olympics 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.880 is there needs to be more competitors and there needs 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.640 to be growth. So even still today, I see this 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.400 camaraderie among women ski jumpers that I have never seen 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.120 in any other sport. It might seem obvious why athletes 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:41.960 would want their events in the Olympics, right, the medals, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.160 the glory, the chance to represent their country, but it 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.440 can mean much more than that. Going to the Olympics 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:53.360 gives athletes all these other opportunities for sponsorship, so getting 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.800 women ski jumping into the Games would mean that Jerome 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:00.240 could concentrate on training instead of fundraising. Jo Home and 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.600 her teammates hoped their sacrifices would pay off for the 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:07.360 two thousand ten Games, but when the International Olympic Committee 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.840 announced the new events for that year, women's ski jumping 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.680 was not among them. We weren't asking for something that 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:18.840 was ridiculous and would have cost millions of dollars. The 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.520 venues were there, the ski jumps were built, the events 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.000 for men, they were happening, and we just wanted one 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:32.480 day where we could have our event as well. The 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.400 women decided to take their case to court. The Winner 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.240 Games were in Vancouver that year, so their case ended 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.800 up before a panel of judges in British Columbia. We 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:48.840 were in Vancouver within ten days of the beginning of 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:55.360 our winter competition season, so while everybody was at home 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.360 training and getting ready to compete, we were sitting in court. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.520 And at the time, I was really annoyed about it 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:09.840 because I wanted the luxury of just being an athlete 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:15.040 and focusing on being the best at ski jumping that 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:16.760 I could be. I didn't want to have to deal 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:20.280 with all this other stuff, and I was very envious 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:27.000 of people in other sports who could just do that. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.200 They could just focus on what they needed to do 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.920 and they didn't have to be involved in the politics 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:36.120 of everything. The Canadian court actually ruled in the women's favor, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.600 sort of. The judge agreed that having the ski jumping 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:44.200 competition for men and not women was discriminatory, but the 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.240 judge also decided that Canada didn't have jurisdiction over the 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:52.440 International Olympics Committee. The court couldn't tell the IOC what 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.640 to do. Jerome and her teammates had to wait and 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.120 see if the IOC would change its mind for the 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.280 next Winter Olympics. So on April six, two thousand and eleven, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.800 they gathered together to listen in on another conference call 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.000 to see if they get their shot in Sochi. Sarah 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.280 Hendrickson was there at just sixteen years old. She was 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.320 a rising star in women's ski jumping, and she knew 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.040 her older teammates had been through a lot to get 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.880 her sport to that point. You know, we could feel 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.360 the tension in the air just because they had been 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:28.439 told though so many times, so you could almost feel 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.120 that they were just expecting that, like they were never 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:33.400 really getting their hopes up anymore because they had been 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.800 shut down so many times. When they started to announce 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.840 the new sports that would be added into SOCHY and 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.320 heard women's ski jumping, I mean, it was just I 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.640 think it was relief more than anything, just to finally 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:48.640 see that green light. Jerome was actually away from her teammates. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.120 That day, I was in Thailand in an internet cafe, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:57.360 and I didn't deliberately planned this vacation over this time, 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.920 but it worked out that way, and I wasn't upset 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:07.640 about it. And I went to this internet cafe and 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:11.640 I called in and I listened and they said the 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.720 following sports will be added to program and they said 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:21.200 women's ski jumping, and I smiled and I hung up, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.880 and then I went about my day because it wasn't 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:29.280 like this huge moment for me where I thought, Okay, 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:34.199 it's finally done. It was like, all right, it's about 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:40.000 time Jerome and her teammates had done it. Women's ski 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.920 jumping would be part of the Winter Games, but then 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.080 Jerome still had to make the team. More on that 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.640 in a moment. We'll be right back after this word 0:11:48.720 --> 0:12:01.840 from our sponsors and out back to Jessica Jerome and 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:10.600 her Olympic dreams. We had Olympic trials in Park City 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.640 at the end of December, and it was made for 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.520 TV event that the Americans did, and we had a 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.360 competition for men and women and it was winner gets 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.680 an automatic spot in the Olympics, and I won. It 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:27.439 didn't really sink in, and I think a couple of 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:29.880 days later, you know, I was probably driving where I 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:33.720 was in the shower doing some mundane task and I went, 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:40.600 oh my god, I'm going to the Olympics. Jerome came 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.120 in tenth and so chy. She didn't meddle, but she 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.520 did leave a much bigger legacy for her younger teammates 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.160 like Sarah Hendrickson. I'm just so overly thankful for those 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:54.080 older girls. Hendrickson competed with Jerome is so chy and 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:58.400 she's representing Team USA once again here in pyeong Chang. 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:02.160 I was really fortunate with my age and my timing 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:07.080 and everything coming together perfectly that I almost I don't 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.120 want to say guilty, but I guess there's a little 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.240 bit of guilt that it's like I took something away 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.040 from them that they put so much work into so 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.560 I'm religious and saying that I'm so thankful for those 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.320 girls because they are the ones that you know, paved 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.680 the way for me, and um, that's why I take 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.160 pride in pushing the sport even further so that girls 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.360 behind me can practice more on the hill rather than 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.440 focusing on the politics side of things. But Hendrickson says, 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.200 there are still some battles to fight now. It's kind 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:41.120 of hitting me harder, how frustrating it is, like our 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.200 prize money is thirty three of men right now, and 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.280 they actually have more competitions than us, and that differential 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.480 is pretty substantial. And you know, we trained just as 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.800 hard as them, and you know what, it's not our 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:57.040 fault that we were born female. Hendrickson will have plenty 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.880 of help in the fight. Jessica Jerome says that when 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:03.040 she started competing back in two thousand two, there were 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.679 just a few dozen young women from across the world 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:12.680 competing and ski jumping. Today in the US alone, right now, 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.000 there are about twenty five girls who are eligible to 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:22.000 compete in international events. At a club level. There's something 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:25.040 like two d and twenty now, and that's that's from 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.520 Park City to Steamboat to Lake Placid and all throughout 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.440 the Midwest and even Alaska. And I remember growing up 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:38.680 and my idols in the sport were all men, and 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:44.400 recently there's this new wave of young women coming up 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.800 into the sport and they say things like when I 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:54.000 was a kid, I idolized Danielle or Ashco or I 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.200 idolized a Net Sagin And I just think it's so 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.920 cool that these young women who are starting ski jumping 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:03.880 have the option they have girls and guys to look 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:13.280 up to. That's really cool to me. For our second 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.680 and final chapter, today, I sat down with Karen Krauss 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.480 and pyeong Chang. Karen is a New York Times reporter 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.560 who covers sports, and she's out with a new book 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.000 about how Norwich, a tiny Vermont town that is thought 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.920 to have produced more Winter Olympians per capita than anywhere 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.920 else in America has done it. So when Karen and 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:38.560 I sat down in this beautiful library that's part of 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.880 the hotel I'm staying in in pyeong Chang, the first 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.120 question I asked her was how did she find this 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:52.760 town of Norwich? How did she discover this story? So 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.360 I was at the soci Olympics four years ago, and 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.200 I got a random reader email saying, I noticed you're 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.880 covering the Olympics. You should check out Hannah Carney's story. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.200 She's from the small town in Vermont that is an 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:12.680 Olympic pipeline. Hannah is the most successful in the conventional sense, 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.120 of all the Norwich Olympians, of which there are eleven, 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.360 by the way, in this town of three thousand. She 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.200 won the gold and the women's moguls in two thousand 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.320 and ten, and then the bronze in defense of that title, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:29.000 and sochi and so that was how it started, through 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.760 just a reader email, and when I went to the 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:37.080 town and started interviewing people what became a parent. I 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:43.160 understood without knowing really anything about Vermont, actually the athletic 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:45.800 piece of it, because I grew up in Santa Clara 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.480 in the seventies when it was the epicenter of swimming 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.400 in not only the United States but the whole world. 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.560 And so I understood how when you have one or 0:16:56.600 --> 0:17:01.760 two or three really exceptional performers, they can light a 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.960 fire under an entire community and get a lot of 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:09.159 people inspired and involved. So that piece I sort of 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:13.280 could understand. What I didn't expect was the parenting piece, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.840 because what I found with these parents and it was 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.760 so heartening for me because I've become a little disillusioned 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:26.760 by how much money is just permeated every aspect of sports, 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.480 not even at just the Olympic level, but all the 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.520 way down to the youth level. That it was nice 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.639 to find this community where the parents seem to see 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.159 the bigger picture and pay more than lips service to it, 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.560 so they get their kids in sports and they almost 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.960 have become Olympians by accident. Before I hear more about 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.840 sort of the parenting philosophy, and I really think it's 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.920 a community wide philosophy. It's not just fathers and mothers. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.320 But it seems to me that it takes a village, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:18:00.399 as Hillary Glinton would say, to create these athletes who 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.520 are really you know, stellar individuals as well. But tell 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.200 me a little bit before we talk about the philosophy 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.520 of Norwich, tell me a little bit about the demographics 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.359 where the town sits. You know, who lives there, etcetera. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.840 So it's one of the more affluent cities in Vermont. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.879 It's across the Connecticut River from Dartmouth, which is another 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.920 huge piece of it because it's been able to make 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:32.240 use of Dartmous resources, its facilities. It's excellent coaches, the 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.800 kids who play sports at Dartmouth will volunteer in the community. 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:41.680 But it's interesting because for all of its affluence, Norwich 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:46.760 has this communitarian spirit and this generosity of spirit, and 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.680 this feeling that your child is my child, and one 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:55.280 child's successes, everyone success. And when I was talking to 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.160 social scientists about that, they said, you know, it's really 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:03.000 quite extraordinary for a down that is a fluent to 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:07.040 have that, because when you get a measure of wealth, 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.200 you tend to become more isolated. You are behind um 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:16.240 gated communities, and maybe you are giving your children private 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.119 lessons so they're not in and around their peers. Maybe 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:24.080 you're taking them out of local schools and putting them elsewhere. 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.200 So the social scientists I talked to said, this is 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.280 really actually amazing that this town, as it's outgrown its 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.440 agrarian roots, has been able to maintain the agrarian ethos 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.240 of you know, we're all in this together. What do 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:41.000 people in Norwich do for a living. So when the 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.439 first Olympian, Betsy Snipe, came along. In the fifties they 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:50.240 were mostly farmers, and it has since changed where the 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:53.760 people in Hanover will refer to Norwich as the bedroom 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:57.840 community for Hanover, which the Norwich people do not look 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.040 kindly upon because they see themselves as wholly separate. And 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.879 I lived there for six months and can speak to that. 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.920 It is not a bedroom community of Hanover. Even though 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.359 many of the adults in Norwich now are employed by 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:16.240 the Teaching Hospital or Dartmouth, so the demographic has shifted, 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:20.479 although you still can find some farms, all organic of course, 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:24.240 and so they seem to have the best of both worlds. 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.960 I talked to people who live in yurts, I talked 0:20:26.960 --> 0:20:32.159 to people who live in Norwich and don't have indoor plumbing. Um, 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.000 so you let professionals, you have farmers. You have a 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:41.840 real mixture. Everyone is united in their belief in you know, 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:44.480 we're all in this together. One of the Olympians, a 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:49.320 summer Olympian, Katie and eight hundred hundred renner Um Andrew Wheating, 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.000 gave me a quote that I thought summarized the town 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:57.480 so well. He said, most people it's survival of the fittest, 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.400 and Norwich it's survival of all of us. Reading this book, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.719 it made me want to move to Norwich. And I 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.399 know somebody wrote a blurb on the back saying, you know, 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.399 be careful, Norwich, everybody's could be moving to your town. 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.560 But it sounds extraordinary. Let's let's get to sort of 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:18.040 the where sports and community meet. How have they really 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.560 encouraged these Olympians, because, as you said, they have this 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:29.480 incredible track record of building great athletes without really making 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:33.959 them be singularly focused on one sport or their sport. 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.520 So it starts so early. They have a no cut 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:42.560 recreational league, which I didn't really realize until I started 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.439 researching this book how increasingly rare that is. So it 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.919 starts with that their parents, from a very young age, 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:54.359 try to temper it by letting them know that being 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:58.680 the best isn't everything. There is that it's more important 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:02.320 to show good sportsman ship, to be empathetic for those 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.880 who aren't as good as you, to even recognize that 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.919 you have a gift that some aspect of this sport 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:13.160 comes easy to you and maybe not as easy to others. 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.000 And um, Hannah told me this great story that what 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:20.080 these no cut leagues did for her was give her 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:24.040 a friendship group that she would not have otherwise come 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.440 in contact with. These girls that she grew up with 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:31.320 from kindergarten through sixth grade, who would not have made teams, 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.879 they were not athletically inclined, but she got to know 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:37.720 them and do you know they're her best friends to 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:41.159 this day. And when she was in the Olympic bubble 0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:45.880 and struggling and you know, around people who were myopically 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:51.240 focused on winning and second places, the first loser, these 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.840 women that she had met and these no cut leagues 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:55.959 were there to pick her up and give her that 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.920 outside perspective of Hannah, you're great, we're proud of you 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:03.240 that you're even at this level and representing our town 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:06.280 and just you know, chill out and we'll take you 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:09.480 to dinner when you get home. And so she said 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:14.479 that because of this unconditional support, not based on you know, 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.399 how well she was doing, that it enabled her to 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:21.560 get over disappointments so much faster than she normally would have. 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:26.159 Let's talk about sort of the parenting philosophy. Obviously you 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:30.200 can't generalize for every parent in the town, but how 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:34.720 that creates excellence because you know, the big beef these 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:39.320 days is parents are too coddling. They're too almost too supportive, 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:43.240 if you could say, towards their children and not letting 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.840 them understand disappointments. So how do how do the parents 0:23:46.840 --> 0:23:50.600 in this community balance at well? And it's tough and 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.960 and their helicopter parents in Norwich don't get me wrong, 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.280 And I totally understand how tough it is for parents. 0:23:57.400 --> 0:24:00.199 It is hard to see your child suffer. It is 0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:04.399 hard to see your child face disappointment. But the thing 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:07.600 with the Norwich parents is they see sports as a 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:11.600 piece to the larger puzzle of developing into adulthood. And 0:24:11.680 --> 0:24:14.680 so they see that there are all these life lessons 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:21.480 to be learned um discipline, delayed gratification, teamwork, taking direction well, 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:27.520 um perseverance, persistence, resilience, and so they're really committed. I 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:31.280 they are supportive, but in a hands off way. They 0:24:31.480 --> 0:24:35.359 very much let their kids. The kids are behind the wheel, 0:24:35.720 --> 0:24:38.639 in the driver's seat on this journey. They're writing shotgun. 0:24:39.240 --> 0:24:42.080 That brings me to my next question, Karen, because I 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:45.320 remember when my girls were little, I talked to someone 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:48.320 who was a physical education teacher at their school and 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:52.320 I said, gosh, I think my kids are pretty athletic, 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:55.680 but I don't know what to do in terms of sports. 0:24:56.119 --> 0:24:58.679 Should they be well rounded and play a lot of 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:02.080 different sports or would you recommend I really focus on 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:05.000 one And she said, oh no, I think you should 0:25:05.000 --> 0:25:07.359 do a lot of different sports. Who knows, my kids 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:10.040 might have been Olympians if I hadn't listened to her. Garrett, 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:13.159 I'm kidding, But I guess the question is what about 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:17.680 this multi sport approach, because that is highly unusual. There 0:25:17.680 --> 0:25:21.440 are so many studies saying that you know, kids when 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:23.880 your bones and joints are developing, and by the way, 0:25:23.960 --> 0:25:26.439 they all develop at different rates, so it's not like 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:30.360 your joints and bones are all developing together. That if 0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:34.240 you are just doing one sport, a repetitive motion, it 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:38.280 is causing such a glut of overuse injuries, not to 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:42.919 mention the emotional, you know, burnout. Um. I was reading 0:25:42.960 --> 0:25:46.640 about doctors who are saying they're doing Tommy John surgery 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:50.639 on twelve year olds now because kids are pitching and 0:25:50.680 --> 0:25:54.000 pitching and pitching at such a young age. So all 0:25:54.040 --> 0:25:59.680 the scientific research suggests that a multifaceted approach and sports 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.600