Does your child want to try Curling?
If you have a child or teen interested in curling, Brandon, MB is the place to be! Brandon has two very established curling clubs: Brandon Curling Club and Riverview Curling Club. Both have programs geared to kids.
I had a chance to talk to the Brandon Curling Club's manager, Gil Van Daele, and was very impressed with the programs they had available to kids eight and older and especially the club's commitment to encouraging kids to try curling.
For the 2014-15 curling season, Brandon Curling Club offers three programs:
- High School students - Mondays from 4:15 to 5:30 and $65 per person.
- Youth Curling - for ages 8-14 Thursdays at 4:15pm and $55 a player.
- Junior Super League - for ages 20 and younger. Currently the league has 17 teams from all over the Westman region as well as southeastern Saskatchewan.
The season starts right after Thanksgiving and usually continues until Mid-March. And, what I thought was great about this activity is that you can start mid-season and the club will loan your child a broom and a slider!
Another great way to try curling at the Brandon Curling Club is through an "Activity Day" format geared towards grade 7 and 8 students and arranged by their school.
If you are interested, definitely contact Gil or check out their website.
Also, check them out on Facebook.
Riverview Curling Club
Riverview Curling Club is also very supportive kids' curling! I chatted with Chris Church who runs the Junior Curling League on Tuesdays at 4:30pm. For $35, children aged 6 to 14 can curl for an hour once per week from mid-October to early March! What a great value for 16 weeks of instruction. And, similar to the Brandon Curling Club, the club will provide temporary equipment (a slider and broom) for kids to try it out. If you have any questions, you can call Chris at 204.728.5927 or visit their website.
And, maybe if your kids keep at it, they will end up curling as well as these curlers!
Not sure what curling is about?
If you are not sure what curling is about, there are lots of videos on Youtube describing the basics. Check out the following video, "An introduction to curling" by David Murdoch.
Other Interesting Curling Links
Capital One's Rocks & Rings Program
If a teacher or school is interested in introducing curling to their classes, an interesting program is Capital One's Rocks & Rings. In this program, schools apply via the www.rocksandrings.com website and pay $175 (which is reduced due to the awesome sponsorship dollars). With the use of equipment from www.floorcurl.com, kids get to figure out what curling is all about.
Tots and Rocks
Although not available in Brandon (but in Winnipeg), I thought this looked like an interesting program geared towards teaching curling basics to children ages 4 to 7. Check out this link for more information.
Canadian Curling Association
If you are looking for curling information on a national level, check out the Canadian Curling Association's website.
880 CKLQ's "IN THE HACK with Resby Coutts"
If you are looking for current news in the curling world, you definitely have to check into 880 CKLQ's IN THE HACK with Resby Coutt's program. It is a weekly program lasting one hour featuring a variety of guests from players to authors.
Just For Fun
The following are some fun clips of curling. DEFINITELY DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!! (Not that you have a curling rink at home, but you know what I mean.)
And, something for the kids...
