We’ve got stuff on the Ontario men’s Tankard, Brazil, Teams of the Year nods, the Jolly Grain Giant and more, but first ...
The new school curling program Rocks and Rings was launched Monday morning at Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park, merely the largest elementary school in North America with a stunning 1,900 students.
Attendees included Ontario Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne, chief sponsor Ian Cunningham of Capital One, Greg Stremlaw and Fran Todd of the Canadian Curling Association, Leigh Armstrong from associate sponsor The Dominion of Canada, representatives from the Ontario Curling Association, various media (including The Curling News), ace curling photog Anil Mungal (image above) and even a film crew from TSN.
But the real stars of the show were the kids... but of course. The program instructors had them bouncing off the walls with excitement, even standing in a special circle to do their “happy dance” when they managed to draw the rings. We particularly liked the session where a small army of kids, each clutching a pint-sized brush, responded to green (“Hurry”) and red (“Whoa”) flashcards shaped like a stop sign.
It was wild, and noisy, and the purpose is crystal clear: get kids moving, and give them an introduction to curling they might not otherwise receive.
“For years, curling has been under-represented in large urban markets and inner-city jurisdictions,” said Stremlaw.
“This program goes after the root of this problem by allowing the sport of curling to be exposed to school children throughout the Greater Toronto Area and, in due course, other major urban centres.”
It was great fun to see all the formal speakers address the children, who sat cross-legged in front of the podium before they engaged in their “gym floor” curling sessions.
“There’s a guy who works in our office who loves to curl,” Minister Wynn quipped to the kids. “I think he would rather curl than come to work.”
That fellow, who was present, is Ken Thurston, a Senior Policy Advisor to the minister who has curled for no less than 40 years.
“Watching the students made it evident that Rocks and Rings is a fun and motivational way to build physical activity into daily routines,” said Thurston.
“The equipment is fairly simple, but the potential is great. I see this as a great way to get more volunteers into our schools – including parents, grandparents and community members who are fellow curling enthusiasts.”
Rocks and Rings maestro Chad McMullan was there too – of course – and said there has been great response to the program, which targets 30 schools in the greater Toronto area (GTA) through the remainder of the curling season.
“The kids and teachers absolutely love it and all the while we help address several of the challenges the sport faces,” said McMullan.
“We’ve had requests from schools and instructors in Vancouver, Kelowna, London, Halifax, Ottawa, the list goes on.”
After the launch, McMullan drove straight to Woodstock in time for his first match at the Ontario TSC Stores Tankard. And speaking of Woodstock, here cometh the links ...
• Here’s Tankard competitor Peter Steski with a zinger about his Brier-competitor grandfather, the legendary Rudy Steski. And we thought Peteski saves his best stuff for TSN’s Off The Record!
Speaking of Steski, the team that is actually now skipped by Heath McCormick held a 6-2 lead over Rob Lobel in Monday night’s seventh end... whereupon the Lobel brothers scored two, stole four in the eighth, dropped a deuce in the ninth and then scored another four coming home. That’s a surrender of 10 points in three of the last four ends for an epic 12-8 loss and an 0-2 start (McCormick is now 1-2). Yoinks.
Meanwhile, Glenn Howard ran into a Joe Frans roadblock last night but, hey, all is not lost... Howard is still leading his local Midland Major League, and if we remember correctly, that’s the one where he plays with his wife and both Wayne and Sherry Middaugh ...
Hey... where’s Pat Ryan? Well, given the initial flurry of excitement over a possible Ryan appearance this week, we must point out that this chance is now remote, seeing that Peter Corner welcomed his second child into the world last week.
By the way, you can also follow the Tankard action via this blog and also a photo gallery... geez, nice broom bag, Savs ...
• Speaking of Sherry, it’s bad enough she made an early exit at last week’s Ontario STOH... but couldn’t her own hometown newspaper find a better photo of her? Sheesh ...
• New Brunswick youngster Andrea Kelly is back in the Scotties show, after a 5-4 win over an even younger Mary Jane McGuire in the provincial final... and play is finally underway in Manitoba to declare the final STOH team for Victoria ...
• All we’ve seen from Brazilian media so far is this columnist’s blog page, which does have 14 comments posted to it. The World Curling Federation has a summary report here, plus a photo from the action. The story goes on to tell the tale of the teams that have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Colorado in a couple of weeks, and one big name that’s missing is Pete Fenson ...
• Speaking of the WCF, a couple of weeks after their story on the death of legendary curling builder Elizabeth Paterson-Brown, this piece has now appeared in Edinburgh’s Evening News ...
• Here’s another fellow – U.S. sports marketing pundit Joe Favorito – who approves of USA Curling’s recent promotional efforts ...
• DID YOU KNOW: that the Saskatchewan men start today, and the Jolly Grain Giant is trying to turn back the clock? And that Newfoundland and Labrador, featuring Brad Gushue, started yesterday ...?
• Remember the Yukon’s Orest Peech? Well, his 0-11 record at the 1999 Brier actually did him some good, once ...
• In this story on the Vancouver 2010 curling legacy, the CCA’s Warren Hansen grumps about the 10,000-seat permanent venue that eventually became a 6,000-seat “multi-purpose community recreation centre” ...
• Canada’s double world champions – Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones – are both up for Team of the Year honours at the upcoming Canadian Sport Awards ...
• mandy is raving about the illustrious language of curling, which includes her own impressive linguistics on the sport’s “enthusiastic stick-to-it-ive verve” and, of course, “the icy cool in your loins” ...
• And finally... Happy Birthday Bob!
The new school curling program Rocks and Rings was launched Monday morning at Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park, merely the largest elementary school in North America with a stunning 1,900 students.
Attendees included Ontario Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne, chief sponsor Ian Cunningham of Capital One, Greg Stremlaw and Fran Todd of the Canadian Curling Association, Leigh Armstrong from associate sponsor The Dominion of Canada, representatives from the Ontario Curling Association, various media (including The Curling News), ace curling photog Anil Mungal (image above) and even a film crew from TSN.
But the real stars of the show were the kids... but of course. The program instructors had them bouncing off the walls with excitement, even standing in a special circle to do their “happy dance” when they managed to draw the rings. We particularly liked the session where a small army of kids, each clutching a pint-sized brush, responded to green (“Hurry”) and red (“Whoa”) flashcards shaped like a stop sign.
It was wild, and noisy, and the purpose is crystal clear: get kids moving, and give them an introduction to curling they might not otherwise receive.
“For years, curling has been under-represented in large urban markets and inner-city jurisdictions,” said Stremlaw.
“This program goes after the root of this problem by allowing the sport of curling to be exposed to school children throughout the Greater Toronto Area and, in due course, other major urban centres.”
It was great fun to see all the formal speakers address the children, who sat cross-legged in front of the podium before they engaged in their “gym floor” curling sessions.
“There’s a guy who works in our office who loves to curl,” Minister Wynn quipped to the kids. “I think he would rather curl than come to work.”
That fellow, who was present, is Ken Thurston, a Senior Policy Advisor to the minister who has curled for no less than 40 years.
“Watching the students made it evident that Rocks and Rings is a fun and motivational way to build physical activity into daily routines,” said Thurston.
“The equipment is fairly simple, but the potential is great. I see this as a great way to get more volunteers into our schools – including parents, grandparents and community members who are fellow curling enthusiasts.”
Rocks and Rings maestro Chad McMullan was there too – of course – and said there has been great response to the program, which targets 30 schools in the greater Toronto area (GTA) through the remainder of the curling season.
“The kids and teachers absolutely love it and all the while we help address several of the challenges the sport faces,” said McMullan.
“We’ve had requests from schools and instructors in Vancouver, Kelowna, London, Halifax, Ottawa, the list goes on.”
After the launch, McMullan drove straight to Woodstock in time for his first match at the Ontario TSC Stores Tankard. And speaking of Woodstock, here cometh the links ...
• Here’s Tankard competitor Peter Steski with a zinger about his Brier-competitor grandfather, the legendary Rudy Steski. And we thought Peteski saves his best stuff for TSN’s Off The Record!
Speaking of Steski, the team that is actually now skipped by Heath McCormick held a 6-2 lead over Rob Lobel in Monday night’s seventh end... whereupon the Lobel brothers scored two, stole four in the eighth, dropped a deuce in the ninth and then scored another four coming home. That’s a surrender of 10 points in three of the last four ends for an epic 12-8 loss and an 0-2 start (McCormick is now 1-2). Yoinks.
Meanwhile, Glenn Howard ran into a Joe Frans roadblock last night but, hey, all is not lost... Howard is still leading his local Midland Major League, and if we remember correctly, that’s the one where he plays with his wife and both Wayne and Sherry Middaugh ...
Hey... where’s Pat Ryan? Well, given the initial flurry of excitement over a possible Ryan appearance this week, we must point out that this chance is now remote, seeing that Peter Corner welcomed his second child into the world last week.
By the way, you can also follow the Tankard action via this blog and also a photo gallery... geez, nice broom bag, Savs ...
• Speaking of Sherry, it’s bad enough she made an early exit at last week’s Ontario STOH... but couldn’t her own hometown newspaper find a better photo of her? Sheesh ...
• New Brunswick youngster Andrea Kelly is back in the Scotties show, after a 5-4 win over an even younger Mary Jane McGuire in the provincial final... and play is finally underway in Manitoba to declare the final STOH team for Victoria ...
• All we’ve seen from Brazilian media so far is this columnist’s blog page, which does have 14 comments posted to it. The World Curling Federation has a summary report here, plus a photo from the action. The story goes on to tell the tale of the teams that have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Colorado in a couple of weeks, and one big name that’s missing is Pete Fenson ...
• Speaking of the WCF, a couple of weeks after their story on the death of legendary curling builder Elizabeth Paterson-Brown, this piece has now appeared in Edinburgh’s Evening News ...
• Here’s another fellow – U.S. sports marketing pundit Joe Favorito – who approves of USA Curling’s recent promotional efforts ...
• DID YOU KNOW: that the Saskatchewan men start today, and the Jolly Grain Giant is trying to turn back the clock? And that Newfoundland and Labrador, featuring Brad Gushue, started yesterday ...?
• Remember the Yukon’s Orest Peech? Well, his 0-11 record at the 1999 Brier actually did him some good, once ...
• In this story on the Vancouver 2010 curling legacy, the CCA’s Warren Hansen grumps about the 10,000-seat permanent venue that eventually became a 6,000-seat “multi-purpose community recreation centre” ...
• Canada’s double world champions – Kevin Martin and Jennifer Jones – are both up for Team of the Year honours at the upcoming Canadian Sport Awards ...
• mandy is raving about the illustrious language of curling, which includes her own impressive linguistics on the sport’s “enthusiastic stick-to-it-ive verve” and, of course, “the icy cool in your loins” ...
• And finally... Happy Birthday Bob!
How do we get this Rocksand rings program to northern Ontario
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