Top: Dale Dodge, past president of the Oliver Curling Club, offers pointers to junior curlers. Bottom: Tyler Antunes, left, and Madison Boen-Shekula hold the broom for young curlers looking to improve their game.
Dale Cory photos
We all get our start somewhere.
For me, it was at the Chatsworth Curling Club, located in the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan. I was about five years old.
It was a two-sheeter located about eight miles away from at least six different towns in the Yorkton area.
The only other building on the property was the old school house.
Sadly, neither structure is still around, worn to the ground by cold prairie winters and harsh summer winds.
A man named Moe ran the curling rink which, for the most part, catered to the farmers in the area.
Games were played with a cigarette hanging from your mouth, and a glass of whisky in your hand. Not me of course.
While our parents played during a frigid Tuesday or Wednesday evening, all of us kids would be running around out in the snow, then come in to warm up in front of the huge old wood stove.
It was my first foray into the sport of curling.
I’ve been playing it ever since.
Since arriving in Oliver this past summer, I managed to make my way onto the Dale Dodge rink in the Thursday Men’s League.
I also try to make it down to Eastlink Curling Centre every Tuesday.
That’s when you will witness the spills, the laughter, the exasperation, the new-found skills of a group of young people learning the finer points about Canada’s ‘other’ official sport.
The junior curling program within the Oliver Curling Club has grown immensely in recent years, thanks to the hard work of people such as club president Dale Dodge, Catherine Pidduck, Ray Minshull, and Bruce Ramsey, all regular instructors at the club every Tuesday.
“Each session, the juniors spend a half hour on the technical side of their game, improving their deliveries and learning the rules of the game. Then, they have some fun playing a short game,” explained Ramsey, who has watched many young curlers move on to a higher level. “There are several juniors playing in the men’s and ladies leagues and a few more are ready to make the jump to that next level.”
One of those players is Madison Boen-Shekula, who is now a veteran of the game despite her young age.
“Well, I got hooked on it when I was like five years old. I really liked the sport and kept going with it,” explained Boen-Shekula, one of 30 juniors who regularly attend the Tuesday sessions. “I’m in ladies curling now and I’m really happy about it. I like the sport for the fact you get to play with other people, and just getting involved with it. I like throwing rocks.”
And Boen-Shekula, 12, has been able to glean a great deal of information from the instructors, and from watching the game on television.
“They’ve taught me how to skip, and tips on how to throw the rock, and sweeping-wise,” explained Madison, who attends Tuc-el-Nuit school. “And I like watching it on TV to see their strategies on skipping. It’s really interesting.”
Tyler Antunes got his start through a family tie-in, and has been playing more and more every year.
“My mom curls ladies. I wasn’t too sure at first when she asked me to curl juniors. I tried it, and I ended up really liking it. I like throwing the rock, sweeping it down there, winning for the team,” replied Antunes when asked what he likes about the game. “I’ve learned a lot in juniors, from throwing to sweeping.”
And Tyler, who attends Oliver Elementary School is another one of those up-and-coming curlers who enjoys watching on TV, and picking up as many tips as he possibly can.
He’s always striving to learn more.
“I watch a lot of curling on TV, especially the Olympics; that’s fun to watch,” he said. “I see they do pretty weird things with the broom – how they position it, and their slides are pretty low to the ground, so I always try that.”
Who knows, maybe Oliver’s curling tradition, which includes the rise of such well-known players as Jodie and Julie Sutton, will continue with an Olympic appearance by Tyler Antunes or Madison Boen-Shekula.
In the meantime, the Oliver Curling Club will continue to grow its membership through offering Tuesday instruction to a group of children and young adults who desire to improve their game, and have a lot of fun doing it.
Dale Cory
Oliver Chronicle
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- Dale Cory photos
