Skier speaks out

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
OLYMPIC aerial skier Jacqui Cooper has injured herself 24 times, eaten cockroaches for medicinal purposes and began her career using her parents’ bed as a trampoline.
It was these fast facts that had students at Gruyere Primary School hooked on the sport star’s every word.
The five-time Olympic medalist spent three hour-long sessions telling the students about starting out and how she’d made it in her career, giving the students ideas about their own goal-setting skills.
In their words she was “entertaining, interesting and inspiring”.
Her aerial skiing record is unchallenged by any other athlete in the world, male or female.
A colourful welcome board made by the students even inspired Cooper to take her world cup to the school to show the students, something she hadn’t done before.
Eight-year-old Kiera was so impressed by the aerial skier’s stories she wrote them in her diary.
“She started on the trampoline and someone came up to her and said, what do you want to do with your life?” Kiera said, “She taught different people like Peter Rowsthorn…”
“But he was an epic fail,” 10-year old Alex said.
Alex found it interesting when Cooper spoke about goal setting, having long and short goals and working up to them.
But Amy, 5, found it funny that “she used her parents’ bed as a trampoline at first”.
Principal Michelle Upton said Jackie Cooper was “absolutely brilliant” with the students.
“She kept them all engaged, talking about goal setting and obstacles,” she said.
Kiera said: “It was very nice of her to come to our school, all the kids loved sitting there and she seemed to like it too.”
The most memorable part of the visit, according to the students, was when Cooper brought in her medals.
Tasman was most impressed with her world title cup, his eyes lit up when he said “it was so shiny”.
An avid archer, 11-year-old Tasman said he was keen to work at getting 60/60 on the archery board.
Jacqui Cooper appeared under the SPORT crew program that allows the Victorian Institute of Sport to send elite athletes to schools free of charge.