Looking for some inspiration

Nikki Kimball showing us how it's done

Every Sunday night I sit down with my husband and 10 year old daughter to watch a movie.  We started “movie” night a few months ago with the realization that the quality of movie selection in Hong Kong is not spectacular, and that we enjoy a good, engaging film every once and a while.  The rules are simple:  each week, the selection rotates amongst the three of us.  If you pick a bad flick, then you can be “voted out” – meaning you lose your turn the next round.  So far this form of peer pressure seems to keep the quality high and the competitive juices flowing.  We primarily choose our movies from Netflix, and they typically are documentaries, independent films and nature based films. 

My themes when choosing movies are either sports documentaries or some mix of culture and history, (note,  I haven’t been voted out yet).  I am constantly looking for inspiring stories, especially stories involving sports.   If there is a female role model in the film, all the better.  But the list of inspiring sport movies involving women is short.  Very short.    We’ve watched  Soul Surfer, the story of Bethany Hamilton, which was good, not great.  The biggest shortfall of this movie was that it didn’t feature Bethany herself.  The lead role was giving to a rail thin blonde who didn’t really look like she could paddle out beyond a break.  We do have Lindsey Vonn’s documentary on our list to watch.  And we’ve surfed up some sport movies about women soccer players.  But that’s about it. 

The list of sport documentaries involving men is long – and interesting.  We laughed hard during Running the Sahara.  Cried at Touching the Void.  Laughed again at Men Who Swim.  Yawned a little bit with a documentary on the Appalachian Trail. 

Point is though, that we are lacking good quality inspirational films about women athletes.  Real athletes.  I want a movie that shows us the level of dedication it takes to be the best.  I want to ride the roller coaster of emotions , see and hear the story of what it is to push the hardest and achieve great things.  Things that men haven’t done.    I want Finding Traction  to, well, find some traction. 

This film is about Nikki Kimball, one of the most successful ultra runners in history, taking on 273 miles of technical and challenging trail, The Long Trail, in record time.  I want to see the story of what makes her tick, of how she trains, of where she finds inspiration.  I want to see it and I want my daughter to see it, and I want my daughter’s friends to see it.  I want my nieces and nephews to see it.   I want them to know that women, real women with jobs and relationships, are out there doing great things.  We all are looking for inspiration.  The story is there, like many of the stories of great women athletes; it just needs to make it to the screen.