Thanks to everyone for your patience concerning the receipts for the youth in the Junior program, whose fees can be applied against the sports activity tax credit on your 2013 income tax return.
I now have the receipts in my possession, and I will be mailing them out to everyone this week.
Program by .
At a well-attended end-of-season “Shindig” on Saturday, the first annual Junior Curling award nominees and winners were announced to a full house at the Elmira and District Curling Club. Each of the winners was presented with a tabletop glass plaque, engraved with the club logo and their name. In addition, a large plaque of all of the winners’ names has been purchased and will hang at the club beginning next season.
Nominees and winners
The Ken Watson Sportsmanship Award, presented to the player in each age category that exhibits the highest levels of sportsmanship both on and off the ice.
- Little Rock nominees: Linden Jorna, Cameron Olmsted, Thomas Kraemer, Nathan Wells. Winner: Thomas Kraemer.
- Bantam nominees: Anika Molenaar, Quentin Mayer, Ryan Paulley, Cheyenne Shantz, Kate Martin. Winner: Cheyenne Shantz.
The Sandra Schmirler Rookie of the Year Award, presented to the Little Rock and Bantam/Junior player who exhibit the best mastery of the skills of curling in their first year in the program.
- Little Rock nominees: William Henry, Corrine Hoover, Karah Hamelin, Jeffrey Rolson. Winner: Corrine Hoover.
- Bantam nominees: Louis Ditner, Natalie Mayer. Winner: Louis Ditner.
The Vera Pezer Most Improved Player award, awarded to the player who in the view of the coaching staff improved their curling skills the most during the past season.
- Little Rock nominees: Fiona Bernard, Connor Stone, Johnny Ortleib, Cameron Olmsted. Winner: Connor Stone.
- Bantam nominees: Kate Martin, Andrew Paulley, Cheyenne Shantz, Quentin Mayer, Natalie Mayer. Winner: Quentin Mayer.
The Russ Howard Most Valuable Player Award, given to the player of each age group who, in the opinion of the coaching staff, is the most valuable to their team or to bonspiel teams that are formed during the season.
- Little Rock nominees: Thomas Kraemer, Nathan Wells, Connor Stone, Linden Jorna. Winner: Nathan Wells.
- Bantam nominees: Anika Molenaar, Kate Martin, Andrew Paulley. Winner: Kate Martin.
Congratulations to all nominees and the winners of each award!
Program by .
We are heading into the last two weeks of the curling season with one remaining practice on Sunday, April 7 at 3:00pm, one remaining bonspiel on April 13th, and our year-end banquet also on April 13. Here are the details:
- Our last regular Sunday practice will be held on Sunday, April 7 at 3:00pm for both Little Rocks and Bantam curlers – a final preparation for the K-W Granite Monkey bonspiel on the following Saturday. Note that our start time on Sunday is 3:00pm – the club hosts the BF Goodrich bonspiel earlier in the day.
- The K-W Granite’s Monkey Bonspiel is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 and Elmira has entered two Little Rock and two Bantam teams. Teams are still being organized for the bonspiel – if your child is interested please contact me as soon as possible. The bonspiel’s draw times are 9:00am for the first Little Rock game, and 10:30 for the first bantam game.
- Our year-end banquet and awards presentation will be held on April 13, immediately following the Monkey bonspiel, in the lounge at the Elmira club as part of our club’s annual year-end “Shindig”. Doors will open at 4pm for children who wish to play some party games (including Angry Birds) and we will be having a pot-luck dinner as well; if you are coming please bring a dinner item to share. For hot items, we will be able to use the club’s kitchen facilities for keeping things warm in the oven or heating to serving temperature.
The awards presentation will take place at 7:00pm on April 13. All Little Rock and Bantam/Junior curlers in attendance will receive a memento from the Junior program. In addition, we will start a new tradition at Elmira by presenting four special awards to youth in each age group. Each award honours the history of the game by being named after a famous player who no longer curls competitively. The awards are:
- The Ken Watson Sportsmanship Award, which will be presented to the player in each age category that exhibits the highest levels of sportsmanship both on and off the ice. The award is named after Ken Watson, three-time Brier winner from Manitoba in 1936, 1942, and 1949. Ken Watson is credited with the invention and championing of the slide delivery and, on his own initiative, started Schoolboy curling championships in Manitoba that were eventually adopted by all other provinces and became today’s provincial and national Junior championships. His contribution to curling is remembered each year during the Canadian Junior Championships, where a sportsmanship award is made to the most sportsmanlike player of each gender of the teams playing for the National junior title.
- The Vera Pezer Most Improved Player award, which will be given to the player who in the view of the coaching staff improved their curling skills the most during the past season. The award honours Vera Pezer, currently the Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan, four-time Canadian Ladies’ Curling champion, and the author of Smart Curling.
- The Sandra Schmirler Rookie of the Year Award will be presented to the Little Rock and Bantam/Junior player who exhibit the best mastery of the skills of curling in their first year in the program. This award honours Sandra Schmirler, Olympic gold medalist in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and three-time Canadian Women’s and three-time World Champion.
- The Russ Howard Most Valuable Player Award goes to the player of each age group who, in the opinion of the coaching staff, is the most valuable to their team or to bonspiel teams that are formed during the season. This award honours Russ Howard, who with 14 Brier appearances, an Olympic Gold Medal in Turin in 2006, and two Canadian and two World Championships to his credit, is arguably one of the most successful Ontario curlers ever to play the game.
Parents of the nominated players will be informed by email, with the winners announced at the Shindig at 7:00 pm on 13 April.
Club events Program by .
12-year-old skip Nathan Wells led his 3-person team to two solid back-to-back wins and first place in the Little Rock draw of the annual Elmira Junior Bonspiel held on Saturday, February 9.
Nate, assisted by third Cameron Olmstead and lead Thomas Norcott earned the Norm Clement Trophy by leading a field consisting of four teams from Elmira along with two teams from K-W Granite, a rink from Milton, and another rink from the Ilderton Curling Club in Ilderton.
Runner-up in the Little Rock draw was the Connor Stone foursome, with Linden Jorna at third, William Henry at second and Fiona Bernard at lead. The Elmira bonspiel represented Connor’s debut at the skip position and the entire rink played extremely well, also finishing with back-to-back wins.
On the bantam side, the Sean Hastie foursome from the Maitland Curling Club in Goderich finished first and captured the Ted Starling Trophy. Hastie, along with third Kyle Smith, second Joel Delburgue, and lead Ocean Hussey led a field consisting of teams from Elmira, Milton, K-W Granite, Fergus and Listowel. The Goderich rink finished just ahead of the second-place rink from Elmira, skipped by Andrew Paulley with Sam Domaratzki at third, Ryan Paulley at second, and Tony Domzella at lead.
Congratulations to all the teams for an outstanding day of competition!
Bonspiels by .
We in Ontario will be treated to some great curling on TV over the next few weeks:
- Sunday, January 6: Rogers TV stations on cable throughout Ontario will present coverage of the 2013 Ontario Junior Curling Championship from the Highland Country Club in London on Sunday, January 6th. Rogers TV will broadcast coverage of the Junior Women’s Final at 7:00pm and the Junior Men’s Final at 9:30pm.
- From Thursday, January 9 through Sunday, January 13, TSN will broadcast various draws of the 2013 Continental Cup of Curling from Penticton, BC.
- Saturday and Sunday January 19-20: TSN broadcasts The Dominion Skins Game. Players include:
- Skips: Glenn Howard, Jeff Stoughton, Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe
- Third: John Morris, Jon Mead, Pat Simmons and B.J. Neufeld
- Second: Marc Kennedy, Carter Rycroft, Brent Laing and Reid Carruthers
- Lead: Ben Hebert, Craig Savill, Steve Gould and Nolan Thiessen
- Rogers Sportsnet covers the 2013 Ontario Scotties Women’s Curling Championships from the Kitchener-Waterloo Granite Club from January 21-27.
- In addition to the Ontario Scotties, Rogers and CBC are also covering the next Grand Slam event on the World Curling Tour, The National, live from the Civic Centre in Port Hawkesbury, NS from January 23-27. Coverage begins on Thursday, January 24 with two games, the first at 3:30 and the second at 7:30 (all times Eastern).
Curling on TV by .
This past Sunday both the Little Rockers and bantam/juniors at Elmira got an opportunity to draw-to-the-button for a Canada Grade “A” turkey from The Poultry Place on Three Bridges Road in St. Jacobs. Congratulations to William and Quentin for winning the first-prize turkeys and to Brittany, Michael, Sam, and Andrew for placing second and third in their respective competitions.
Club events by .
On Sunday, November 25 Kevin Garrett of PKG Photography in Breslau will be at Elmira to photograph all of the children at the curling club. Various packages are available for purchase, including packages that include buttons, player cards, and composite portraits.
Extra Elmira club jackets will be available for your child to wear for individual portraits.
On November 6 2012 the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC) published an article entitled “Get the Warm up Low-down for Kids” that highlights the importance of warm-up activities even for younger children. The need for a warmup is particularly true with curling as youngsters typically lose a substantial amount of body heat while on the ice, and cold muscles fail to respond well to the stretching and sliding motions that we do in curling.
The SIRC article contains a link to a 39-page document that outlines a variety of warmup activities suitable for young children. While many of the ones listed in the SIRC document will work well only on a playing field, others can be adapted for use on the ice and I hope to try some of them here at Elmira. Our typical warmup currently includes activities such as running on the spot, X-C skiing movements, jumping jacks, balance exercises, and both static and dynamic stretching, designed to both warmup and improve the children’s physical literacy, specifically balance. The SIRC document is a great starting point for coordinators of junior curling programs who want to include warmup activities for their athletes.
A second team is needed to even out the draw for the forthcoming Little Rock bonspiel in Milton on December 8, 2012. Elmira is already confirmed with an entry of Linden, Connor, Thomas (Kraemer) and Matthew.
If your child is available to play on a second team, please let me know as soon as possible.
Bonspiels by .
This weekend Rogers Sportsnet carries live action of the Masters of Curling from the Gretzky Centre in Brantford, Ontario. Top rinks from the men’s side include Kevin Martin, Jean-Michel Menard, John Epping, Mike McEwen, Thomas Ulsrud, Jeff Stoughton, Niklas Edin, Brad Jacobs, Brad Gushue, David Nedohin and Glenn Howard. On the women’s draw, rinks include Rachel Homan, Amber Holland, Tracy Horgan, Marie-France Larouche, Cathy Overton, Shannon Kleibrink, Mirjam Ott, Kelly Scott, and Laura Crocker, two-time Canadian University champion from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Games will be broadcast both afternoons and evenings, with two draws today at 12:00 and 3:00 EST. Check the Rogers Sportsnet web site for schedules and channels.
Curling on TV by .