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Volume 79 • No. 35
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Curling into a lifelong hobby Kelly Running Observer Staff
Curling across the province has seen a generational gap. People between their 20s and 40s haven’t been too involved in the running of local clubs, but times are changing and this group is being pulled back into the rink via their children who are being introduced to the sport through local clubs drumming up interest and CurlSask focusing on developing youth. The Wawota Curling Club hosted a Youth Clinic with CurlSask’s Susan Lang, Development and Marketing Manager. A total of 21 youngsters from the Wawota area attended the clinic to learn and develop as young curlers. The clinic began at 10 a.m. and the youth learned a lot by the time they left at 4 p.m. With lunch and snacks it was a fun day for local youth to take to the ice to learn the basics or refine their skills. They focused on just over three hours of instruction on the ice, went over strategies and other off-ice information, and then played mini games to end the day. “The day is going really well,” Lang stated. “They’re a very active group and it’s been a good time.” “My title is Development and Marketing Manager, but what that really means is I’m just trying to get people on the ice. And we’re starting to do that at a younger age than we’ve traditionally done. Up until a few years ago grade six was the youngest kids that we’d have out, but now we’re starting in grade one with teaching curling skills and having fun. Parents who didn’t play are now looking at it because it’s introducing the sport to the whole family because we do have that missing generation.” “For the really young kids we do lots of fun things and they learn basic athletic skills in an active and safe manner. It’s a very accessible sport – there are clubs everywhere, it’s rather inexpensive, it’s accommodating of all body types, and it’s a very social sport.” “It’s also a very good physical sport, not as in a contact sport, but physical as in a very good cardio workout.” The missing generation is attributed to the popularity of the sport prior. “There used to never be open ice, there was always so much interest, so we didn’t have the opportunity to really focus on getting younger people into the sport, which is why we had about 10 to 15 years of open ice with not a lot of people going out. This is why it’s so important to run programs like this and help clubs across Saskatchewan plan and grow.” One of the best things about curling, according to Lang, is that it is a lifelong sport which develops friendships.
Staff photo by Kelly Running
Jaydee Drumm and Rory Greenbank sweep a rock down the ice during the Wawota Curling Club’s clinic with CurlSask on Saturday, Jan. 9.
Kelton Ford, Donovan Pryce, Sierra Murray, Susan Lang (CurlSask), and Anna McCarthy discuss tactics as they play a bocce ball style of game with an orange cone and curling rocks.
Staff photo by Kelly Running
See Curling on page 3