GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT // YOUTH CORNER What sports teach us By Dave Jensen, Chairman, USCA Youth Committee


I will never forget. T e past few seasons haven’t been all that memorable. In fact, being an Irish fan can rank right down there with being a Cubs fan on the disappointment scale. In addition to making a couple of home games this year, I was lucky enough to get tickets to the BCS National Champion- ship game in Miami. It was a fantastic experience to attend an event of that magnitude. T e game… well it didn’t go so well. Still, what a season! Aſt er the game my wife and I boarded a bus bound for our hotel. Ex-


I


hausted, we sat in our bus seats quietly contemplating what had happened in the game when through the background noise, I started to pick up on the not-so-subtle conversations of those in the four or so seats around us. Yes, it was a humiliating defeat, but the fans around us were downright cruel. Frankly, I was surprised by the nasty comments. Yes, it was a bad game, but Coach Kelly coached the Irish to the National Championship game in his third year. Come on! T e worst part for me was that, sitting quietly next to one of the most vocal guys was his high-school aged son. Kids are great observers but generally poor interpreters. I cringe when


I think about that dad and others like him molding the attitudes of our young people toward sport. I guess I should not have been surprised given pop culture’s attitudes about sports and athletes today. It’s not limited to


Six teams headed to BC for U18 championship


By Dave Jensen, Chairman, USCA Youth Committee I am pleased to announce that the following teams have either been se-


lected or have won a playoff to attend the Optimist International U-18 Curl- ing Championships in Langley, British Columbia, March 27-31. Here is a look at the six competing teams:


Girls Wisconsin: Madison Bear, Leilani Dubberstein, Leah Harvey, Annmarie


Dubberstein Michigan: Alexis Schroeder, Sidney Schroeder, Kayla Beauregard, Kaely


Harmer Pennsylvania: Sarah Anderson, Taylor Anderson, Emily Annand, Chris-


tina McMakin Boys


Minnesota: Josh Moore, Matt Carlson, Derek Moore, Eric Jaeger Washington: Evan McAuley, Luc Violette, Nicholas Connolly, Kyle Lor-


vick, Blake Sweet Pennsylvania: Cody Clouser, Cameron Vike, Hunter Clawson, Caleb


Clawson USA Curling (( 5


t’s been over 1,100 hours since Notre Dame lost the National Cham- pionship football game. If you follow college football, you know that Notre Dame had a pretty good year. As an Irish fan, it will be a season


football, or Notre Dame fans, but pervasive across all sports and their fans. Fortunately, those attitudes don’t permeate our sport as they do most


others. Still, they do exist. Some junior teams, their coaches, and parents have used mental tactics against other teams and coaches in an eff ort to dis- rupt their focus during games. It’s not good enough to merely hang our hat on the “Spirit of Curling” in its written form. As parents, coaches, and ath- letes, we need to pass it on by being real life examples. If we are complacent, we risk losing the opportunity to use curling as a learning tool for all those life lessons that can be gleaned from playing sports. Curling and a few other sports are uniquely situated to combat those attitudes if we are vigilant. T e word “winning” has become a catch phrase obfuscated by the actor Charlie Sheen. We need to make sure winning remains the sum of passion, com- mitment, eff ort, respect, and trust. Hopefully, curling will continue to be a torch bearer for those ideals. Want to learn more? Check out what the Positive Coaching Association


has to say. http://www.positivecoach.org/our-story/the-pca-story-video. Let’s go; we have work to do. ■


// DIGITAL BONUS


Searching for a Cure For more than 10 years now, the Rice Lake Curling Club has been rais-


ing money for cancer research. T is has become a commond trend in the curling and sport world. Find out more about Rice Lake's annual event in the digital edition of the Curling News with six BONUS pages of content.


Curl for a Cure


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38