Anyone between 12 and 18 years of age is welcome to participate in our Junior Curling program. Slightly younger curlers are welcome to participate with the approval of the Junior program's coaching staff, with the decision based on the curler's maturity, and his/her ability to use the 42 pound stones.
Our Juniors range in skills from brand new curlers to curlers who have competed in the Junior National Championships. Since there is so much to master in this sport, our coaching staff and more experienced Junior curlers work to improve everyone's skills.
How Does Junior Curling Work?
Junior curling takes place at our club each week on Sundays, from 1-3 PM.
Our goals in Junior Curling is having fun and developing life-long curlers. To meet both of these goals, we use our weekly sessions to develop each participant's skills. This is done through a mix of teaching skills, drills, and coached games. The exact mix of these activities varies during the season with a movement toward more games as everyone's skills improve.
Many of our Juniors take advantage of the opportunities to visit other curling clubs during the curling season. They may travel to Philadelphia and Nashua, New Hampshire and Utica to compete in weekend tournaments against Junior curlers from other clubs. These tournaments range from recreational/ developmental to fairly competitive. We attempt to direct our Juniors to the best tournaments for them to learn from while having a fun time. These tournaments are scheduled so the curlers can travel after school ends on Friday and get home at a reasonable time on Sunday. The hosting club usually provides all meals during the tournament.
Who Coaches the Juniors?
Our Junior coaches are generally parents of juniors who curl themselves. Several are certified Curling Instructors of various levels.
What Equipment do Junior Curlers Need?
The only equipment that Junior Curlers need to get started are a pair of sneakers that are worn only inside the curling club (we need to keep dirt off of our ice) and warm clothing. The warm clothing is ideally several layers of clothing so that some of it can be removed as the players warm up during a game. A hat and gloves are also good ideas.
The curling club has sliders that slip over the sneakers when a player delivers a stone and grippers if the sneakers have a sole that is slippery on the ice. We also have brooms that can be used by new curlers.
As Juniors become more dedicated to the sport, many of them buy their own brooms and curling shoes, but this is their choice and isn't required.
If you'd like to sign your child up for juniors, or if you have any other questions, please contact our youth curling coordinator: Rick Munro
