Kids Getting Hooked - On Curling

Rocks & Rings hugely successful in getting youngsters involved in sport of champions

Reprinted from the Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 6/2009

They may be a few years away from mounting the podium, but Adam Norget could be grooming the next crop of future provincial curlingchampions right now in a school near you.

That’s right: in a good old school gymnasium.

Norget, 24, is a Winnipeg-based competitive curler with a successful junior and university curling career under his belt. But as Manitoba’s head instructor for the Capital One Rocks & Rings program – a new school-based, phys ed program aimed at elementary school children – he says it’s more important to get kids hooked on a lifetime sport than it is to worry about tomorrow’s potential champions.

“One of the goals with Rocks & Rings is to get kids interested in curling, for real, on ice,” says Norget, who is currently completing a marketing degree at the University of Manitoba’s I.H. Asper School of Business.

“Clubs are struggling; curlers are aging; the sport’s demographic is changing. Not only do we need to get kids involved in curling, but we need to offer the sport to children who might not normally get to see or experience it.”

And Rocks & Rings is just the program to do that, he suggests.

Launched in Manitoba last September, Rocks & Rings is a joint venture between Capital One, the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) and The Dominion, a Canadian insurance company.

Promoted locally by Curl Manitoba, it was the brainchild of Manitoba curler Chad McMullan, president of Rock Solid Productions. Although Rocks & Rings debuted in Toronto during the 2008-09 school year, McMullan launched it in Vancouver, Halifax and Winnipeg this past September.

Rocks & Rings takes the CCA’s ‘Getting Started in Curling’ program to a whole new level. Gone are the days of using wool socks and dance wax to teach kids curling delivery in the gym.

Using unique floor curling equipment (a pair of plastic targets or ‘houses’, and 16 ‘rocks’ on wheels – check it out at www.kurling.ca – up to 200 students in a day experience organized, high-energy, 20-40-minute workshops, customized to their age levels, on the basics of curling.

Not only do they learn about sweeping, scoring, game lingo and rock throwing, using various relay and team-oriented games, but each participant leaves their session with a Capital One Rocks & Rings certificate, info on getting involved in curling in their area, and a fun tattoo transfer.

An added bonus is that children who’ve had curling instruction in the gym amaze themselves at how easily they can perform the basic skills of the sport on curling ice, Norget says.

Kids and teachers have embraced the program wholeheartedly, McMullan adds. Corporate sponsorship has kept the workshop price tag affordable ($150 per school for the day). Local instructors, specially trained and knowledgeable curlers, share a passion for the sport and aren’t afraid to share it.

National media exposure, including heavy rotation of TV promos aired during televised curling championships, has helped spread program awareness. It’s been win-win for everyone involved, McMullan says.

“We are ecstatic at the response the program has received. It’s beyond my highest expectations. The kids and teachers absolutely love it and all the while, we help address several of the challenges the sport faces.”

Norget says he’s had a similar response from Manitoba schools. The demand for Rock & Rings sessions has been so high here that Norget hired and trained Bunty Rahman and Jenica Lang as co-instructors to accommodate all the requests.

With only a few open dates between now and the end of the school year, Rocks & Rings/Winnipeg also broadened its mandate to include kindergarten-aged kids, and schools within 250 kilometres of the city.

Curl Manitoba estimates that Capital One’s Rock & Rings will have been presented to more than 70 Manitoba schools by the end of June. So go ahead and ask: What’s in your phys ed curriculum?

For more info on or to apply for the Capital One Rocks & Rings program, check out www.rocksandrings.com or visit Curl Manitoba’s website at www.curlmanitoba.org