Sixteen teenaged curlers, eight from Yorkton Regional and eight more from Sacred Heart, were out on the Yorkton Curling Club ice Saturday afternoon for the opportunity to practice with professional curlers.
The young curlers, ranging in age from 14 to 17, were met on the ice by three members of the Reid Carruthers rink, lead Colin Hodgson, second Derek Samagalski and third Braeden Moskowy as well as P.E.I. skip Adam Casey for their first experience of a professional curling practice.
“It was very educational,” offered Sacred Heart girls’ skip Justine Zarowny following the clinic. “We learnt a lot of things and it was in terminology that we kind of understood better and it was good because they could show us how to do what they were talking about at the time and we could follow along and then do it ourselves so we’re thankful for this chance.”
And while the high school curlers were certainly appreciative of the professionals for taking time out of their day to help make them better, the professionals, too, were also honoured to be there. “It’s definitely not something that I take for granted. It’s a privilege to have kids that look up to you and want to learn some of the tricks of the trade from you, as well as some other things that have helped me get to where I am today,” said Team Carruthers’ third Braeden Moskowy, himself a Saskatchewan born and bred curler hailing, originally, from Regina. “When I was growing up I had lots of help from people along the way, whether it was from guys I looked up to who were competitive curlers or just volunteer instructors.
“I’m more than happy to give back and the fact that it’s in Saskatchewan is just an added bonus for me.”
The high school coaches were also happy with what the professional curlers were doing for their programs. “The timing of this opportunity was really great. We’re not in to our competitions just yet so the kids have time to put in to practice some of the things that they have learned here from these celebrity curlers,” mentioned YRHS curling coach Cindy Smith, continuing, “They were just incredible with our kids and really picked apart their deliveries, went over sweeping strategies, a little bit of game strategy, slides, releases.
“They were very technical and set up some really good drills for the kids that we hope to duplicate in practice.”
In addition to being taught the ins and outs (or rather, in-turns and out-turns) of the game, the students were also given Grand Slam of Curling tour fleeces signed by each curler that took part in the competition and were allowed to view the Saturday noon draw free of charge prior to taking to the ice.
This was after many of the high school curlers were involved in Tuesday’s opening ceremonies, where they carried the signs and escorted the teams as they were introduced.
