Cameron Penney
Seven local curlers recently returned from the “Amethyst Junior Curling Camp” held July 3-8 in Sudbury, where they gained plenty of curling knowledge while meeting new people.
“[The camp] teaches them more skills and gives them an opportunity to better their existing skills during the summer,” explained Tirzah Keffer, a local curler who attended the camp as an assistant instructor.
“It started to get more curlers involved with high performance, and more coaching,” Keffer added.
She noted many of the coaches on hand had experience on the national and world stages.
“So just to give them that experience, and figure out if they wanted to do the high performance of curling or just recreational curling,” Keffer said.
The camp, which celebrated its 20th year in 2016, originally was founded in Thunder Bay.
But it moved to Sudbury 13 years ago so it could be located in a centralized location for youth in the Northern Ontario Curling Association.
Keffer believes this year’s batch of curlers from Fort Frances and area is the largest that ever has attended the camp.
“I feel like [the curlers] didn’t know what to expect because it’s not highly-advertised in our town,” she noted.
“You can teach a curler, or any athlete, certain things,” she added. “But it’s their job to take that in, soak it up like a sponge, and implement that into their curling.
“I think every single one of them did that,” Keffer said.
“It benefit them hugely and I was really proud of them.”
Keffer said some great curlers have come out of this area, citing Devlin native Jenna Walsh (nee Enge) as an example.
Chris Silver, one of the local curlers at the camp, wanted to attend so he could refine some of the technical aspects of his game.
“Coming out of the season, I knew I had things to work on such as my grip of the rock and tweaking the position of my sliding foot as I was coming out of the hack,” he admitted.
“This week gave me the opportunity and the one-on-one time to improve these skills,” he enthused.
“I feel like an improved curler compared to where I was before the camp started.”
Fellow Muskie curler Erin Tomalty was determined to attend the camp this year after missing it last summer.
“I had wanted to attend ‘Amethyst’ last year but since it’s such a popular camp, it filled up too quickly and I wasn’t able to get in,” she lamented.
“But this year, I made sure I was able to go because it is such a great opportunity with national level coaches to help,” Tomalty added.
Keffer said it’s important for youth to attend curling camps such as this one so they can be exposed to different perspectives from coaches.
“When they experience coaching from a different person, a different perspective, they have a better appreciation for it and a different perspective on it,” she reasoned.
“They’re more willing to try new things.”
“When you have the same coach for a while, obviously you respect your coach but … when you get a national coach teaching you something, you’re more likely to listen to them because it’s a different status.”
While at the camp, local curlers also had the chance to meet other curlers from the province, along with those from the U.S. and as far away as Scotland.
They were able to build connections and even add their name to a list of curlers interested in forming teams in the future.
“If you want to have a curling career, these camps help a lot—and it takes your game to the next level,” Silver remarked.
“‘Amethyst’ was so much fun,” he added. “I found myself laughing almost the entire time.
“Meeting so many people with so much experience was very motivating, and I was honoured to work with these amazing coaches,” echoed Tomalty.
