- Several coaches were able to upgrade their coaching credentials this season. Glenn Paulley is now Level 3 trained and is working towards his Level 3 certification. Geoff Martin completed the Club Coach course from the CCA over the winter. Marc Bernard became Competition Coach trained in the fall, and achieved his Competition Coach certification this spring.
- The Laurier Golden Hawks varsity women’s rink of skip Laura Crocker, 3rd Sarah Wilkes, 2nd Jen Gates, and lead Pam Feldkamp paid a visit to Elmira in early December and ran an instructional clinic that included video analysis and several new drills not previously seen by either our Little Rock or bantam teams. We were delighted to host these talented women as they took the time away from their busy schedules, including practicing for the Karuizawa International Championships that were held in January in Nagano, Japan, in which the Laurier women won the gold medal.
- Elmira hosted a very successful Junior Bonspiel on February 11 with participating teams from Elmira, Westmount, K-W Granite, Brantford, Brampton, Markdale, and Goderich. 11-year-old Tony Domzella skipped his Elmira rink to the championship – Elmira’s first ever, to my knowledge – in the Little Rock event, while Sam Mooibroek of Westmount skipped his rink to first place in the bantam event. Each winning rink had their names placed on new trophies procured for the event, dedicated to Elmira life members Norm Clement and Ted Starling. During the bonspiel we also held a fundraiser for the Shantz family of Elmira with the unexpected passing of Brad Shantz in January.
- Little Rock teams participated in bonspiels at North Halton, Milton, Brampton, Elmira, and Westmount with good success: a second place finish at both North Halton and Milton, and first and second place at Elmira.
- Elmira hosted our first Bantam Interclub event in November, providing an opportunity for Elmira bantam rinks to play against other bantam teams from Orangeville, Fergus, Guelph, Elora, Shelburne, and Alliston. In addition to Interclub, bantam teams participated in bonspiels in North Halton, K-W Granite and Brampton, and Elmira sent two teams to the 2012 TimBits Elementary School Championships in Parry Sound this past weekend (April 12-15).
- An unprecedented number of Elmira Junior curlers earned OCA Skill Awards this year, with many of the bantams earning their Bronze awards and several novice Little Rockers earning their Red awards.
In the fall, the Junior program will get underway in mid-October with our usual Open House where new curlers can try things out for two weeks without cost or obligation. However, before Elmira’s ice is ready there will be opportunities for bantam curlers to hit the ice in September as a number of bantam events are planned to take place at other clubs in the Region and the surrounding area. Curlers should monitor Throwing Stones throughout the summer for news about these upcoming events. In the meantime, have an enjoyable (and active!) summer and we’ll see you in the fall!