// DEVELOPMENTAL COACH OF THE YEAR A highly successful curler with many national
titles and world championship medals, Brown also was inducted into the USA Curling Hall of Fame in 1998. Brown has been an integral part of the U.S. wheelchair curling program since 2005, including two Paralympic Winter Games (2006, 2010) and countless camps and practice sessions. “From a performance point of view, the high-
light of the season was to have them play so well at the worlds in South Korea and qualify for the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, as that was our primary goal from the start of the season,” Brown said. “But, my highlight was knowing that this really happened because of hundreds of hours of hard work and dedication from my en- tire staff of Marc DePerno, Rusty Schieber, vol- unteer help from Tony Colacchio, and my wife, Diane, who supports me being gone much of the season, as well as the five team members and all the other wheelchair athletes that did not make the world team. Tis team had far less world ex- perience than some of our prior teams, and were major underdogs going into the season. By pull- ing together, staying positive at all times, and believing in each other, they proved they were winners and a team to be reckoned with in the future.” Dropkin, 55, was nominated for his work with
Stephen Dropkin’s junior team as well as Korey Dropkin’s team for its successes at the inaugu- ral Winter Youth Olympic Games. Te Drop- kin brothers and teammates Tomas Howell III (Brick, N.J.), Derek Corbett (Rochester, N.Y.) and Cameron Ross (Princeton Junction, N.J.) went on to finish fiſth at the 2012 World Junior Cham- pionships in Sweden. A Developmental Coach of the Year nominee
is coach of a youth club, high school or junior- level coach, or a coach directly responsible for coaching athletes to the junior and/or elite level. A current member of the Broomstones Curl-
ing Club in Massachusetts, Dropkin began curl- ing in 1975 in Schenectady, N.Y., while attending Union College. Te sport was offered as an in- tramural activity and was created from a dona- tion by Laurence Achilles, who had contributed funds for the school to build a hockey arena. As a longtime curler, Achilles included a require- ment in the giſt that the college provide curling facilities as part of the new construction, Drop- kin said. “I was among the first on campus to take an
interest in the sport and benefited greatly from the encouragement of an experienced junior curler, Stephen Breitenfeld, then a freshman (and now a Broomstones member) who took it
upon himself to support the school and sport by providing instruction to all of us newbies,” said Dropkin, who works as chief financial officer at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, a small nonprofit college in Boston. “In hind- sight, Steve demonstrated all the civic qualities at a young age that my wife, Shelley, and I would go on to teach to subsequent generations of new curlers of all ages.” Te Dropkin rink experienced a high degree
of success in 2011-12, highlighted by the team’s championship title run at the 2012 Junior Na- tionals and Korey Dropkin’s bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2012 Winter Youth Olym- pic Games in Austria. Korey Dropkin also was honored as USA Curling’s Male Athlete of the Year for 2012. “Te past year was so full of incredible ex-
periences. It really began with the guys being selected into the high performance program. A friend remarked that teams gain new confidence when others take notice. And did the guys ever gain confidence … from their first time at an HP camp being told that they should consider them- selves members of Team USA and representing their country every time they step on the ice,” Dropkin said about the team. “Having them achieve repeated success in winning a series of events through the fall training season, includ- ing being ranked number one on the Ontario Junior Curling Tour for more than two months, was incredibly rewarding. Having the team win the junior national championship with an unde- feated record and qualify for Junior Worlds was the storybook culmination of a 10-year journey.” Te junior men’s team started its competitive
season by winning the Fort Wayne Summerspiel in Indiana and sped forward quickly with key wins on the Ontario Junior Curling Tour and then on to Junior Nationals and Junior Worlds in Sweden. “Of course, that was only half the story of our
season to remember. Woven into the fabric of our training schedule were a series of prep events for a junior mixed team aiming to qualify for the inaugural Youth Winter Olympics,” Dropkin said of Korey’s team, which included Howell and the Anderson twins – Sarah and Taylor from the Philadelphia Curling Club. “By the time we got to the U.S. Trials, the team
was gaining confidence that they could achieve their goals. Winning that playdown was per- haps the greatest feeling these athletes had ex- perienced in their young lives up to that point, and being there for them each step of the way as their coach was every bit as wonderful. I believe
2012 USA Curling Coach of the Year Steve Brown (back) is a pivotal part of the U.S. wheelchair curling program.
putting on the USA jacket for the very first time is such a special moment for any athlete, and it is just as special for a coach. And, doing it in an Olympic environment makes it an experience that they, and I, will never forget.” Having the opportunity to coach two sons to a
high level of curling is something Dropkin cher- ishes. “We have been so fortunate to share in this experience as a family,” he said. “To find an activ- ity in which we all have a common passion for has been a rare opportunity. Te extent of travel has indeed been grueling at times, but wonderful nonetheless because we’ve done it as a family.” n
National Wheelchair Team to be
selected this fall Te individual tryouts for Team USA
for the 2013 World Wheelchair Cham- pionship will take place Oct. 18-21 at the Madison Curling Club in Wisconsin. Stop on by and check out this great event, meet our Paralympic hopefuls, and see Coach Brown in action!
USA Curling (( 15
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