Junior curling is underway at Elmira with both Little Rock and Bantam groups returning to the ice on October 20.
We are particularly pleased that we now have 24 bantam curlers (16 and under) playing at the club, a record enrolment going back at least two decades if not longer. Moreover we have three bantam-aged teams who are interested in playing competitively with the goal of being successful at Zone competitions early in January. Prior to OCA Zone playdowns, a variety of teams from Elmira will be entering competitive events, including the forthcoming OJCT Tour event for bantam curlers being held at Elmira from November 22-24. With sponsorship from Programmed Insurance Brokers of Elmira, Frey Construction of Hawksville, Martin Mills of Elmira and Adventure Guide of Waterloo, sixteen bantam teams from across Ontario will compete at Elmira for approximately $2000 in prize money as one of the OJCT sanctioned Tour events for Junior curlers in the Province. Two rinks from Elmira – Team Anika Molenaar on the girls’ side, and Team Andrew Paulley on the boys’ side, are entered in that event.
Our Little Rock program continues to thrive and we plan to have the children entered in a variety of events through the winter, including events at North Halton, Milton, Westmount, and K-W Granite, in addition to the Elmira Junior bonspiel scheduled for early February.
While our overall numbers continue to remain high, we still have additional room for more youth curlers and we encourage members to pass on this message over the next few weeks. With our increase of numbers, particularly on the bantam side, we are looking for additional coaching assistance each Sunday afternoon. While members with formal CCA coaching credentials would be ideal, we would welcome assistance from anyone with a solid understanding of the game who is interested in working with some our outstanding junior players to improve their skills.