Laughing at Ourselves

I was referee at our last slalom race at Mont Cascades, QC. My job was very easy because the ROC at Cascades is top notch and the course sets were also excellent. After the first run, we had one controversial DSQ. I will try to get video of the incident but for now an explanation and a diagram will (have to) suffice.

The athlete's line is in red, the "normal line" in grey, the imaginary lines that must be crossed in single-pole slolom are dashed, and the imaginary line that I marked as not crossed is traced in green.

The athlete in question fell inside on the gate before a hairpin (or "vertical combination"). He got up and skied the hairpin as though it was an "in pin" (which means entering the hairpin below the control gate). I marked him down as missing the gate before the hairpin because, in my view, he was in violation of rule 804.3, which applies to single-pole slalom. I have highlighted the important part of the rule in yellow:

P 90 in the ICR

To explain, single pole slalom rules require the skier to cross an imaginary line from turning pole to turning pole. The wording of this rule makes it seem as though there is only one "normal" race line, which in this case did not include skiing the hairpin as an "in pin".

In the end, the jury decided that a "normal" race line varies from one run to the next. Since this racer fell, his normal race line became the in-pin line, even though he would not have skied this under normal circumstances. After a very convincing argument from the coach, we decided that the skier was not at fault and so he was no longer be DSQ'd.

Laughing Officials

I have attended countless protests, usually as the coach protesting, less often as the referee. Most of the time, protests are stressful. Sunday's protest could have also been stressful because it was particularly complex set of circumstance with rules that are unclear. What exactly is a "normal race line" and can there be multiple "normal race lines"? Despite the possibility of confusion and stress, everyone remained in good humour. Looking back on it now, I think the reason for this is an unspoken acknowledgement of the arbitrariness of things that brought us together. Here we are, three people that are otherwise friends, facing off in a room behind closed doors, debating the normalcy of a ski race line. We never did so explicitly, but I think we were laughing at ourselves.

Laughing Athletes

Coaching this season, laughter has been a reoccurring area of concern. I am coaching a group of girls that not only like to ski but also like to laugh, sometimes uncontrollably. Generally, I have nothing against laughing but, from the coach's perspective, it can be frustratingly counter-productive when it happens all the time.

Lately, there has been much less "out of control" laughter. Everyone is in good humour but the athletes are making extremely productive use of their training time, the coaches are working together to provide high-quality training environments, and the parents are supporting the athletes and coaches every step of the way.

It's Funny!

There is something ridiculous about sport, something that keeps me coming back. I'm thinking about the far-reaching, global networks that have evolved over time, all based around made-up games and arbitrary rules. So much passion and energy is devoted to these activities, and people's livelihoods depend on them, in very real ways. But they are just games.

I think when we are very serious about improving the roles we play in sport (as athletes, coaches, officials, parent/organizers, researchers, etc.), than we are on the right-side of the joke. We contribute to the joke by weaving our biographies into the joke, which has been going on for centuries. We can laugh at the joke because we are part of it.

When we become so serious about the roles we play that we lose sight of the arbitrariness of it all, and the privilege it is to be given a part, than "the joke is on us." The moment we lose the ability to laugh at ourselves is also the moment we become "the butt of the joke." Its like the spotlight comes on and reveals to the crowd that are pant's are on backwards.

Similarly, if we are laughing all the time and not taking our roles seriously, than the joke is also on us. Athletes or coaches that don't play their roles to their best of their abilities are ruining the whole production, but the show still goes on. In this case, the spotlight comes on a reveals that you forgot to put on your costume and you are wearing no pants at all.