FORT FRANCES—He’s passionate about the sport—and it shows.
Renowned Canadian curler Guy Hemmings used his enthusiasm and sense of humour last week to encourage students in schools across Rainy River District to give curling a try.
“How many people think it is a sport for old men?” the former Quebec skip asked youngsters at Donald Young School in Emo last Wednesday afternoon during a stop on his “Rockin’ The House” tour.
After a sea of hands were raised, he told them they were right.
“It is a game you can play all your life,” he remarked. “And there’s not many sports you can play all your life. Golfing is one of them, but curling is a simple game that everyone can play.”
DYS principal Lucinda Meyers, who curls herself, was glad Hemmings stressed this point.
“It think it’s a great thing the Canadian Curling Association has done, especially when he [Hemmings] brought up that this is an old man’s sport,” Meyers said after his presentation.
“This is a life sport for everyone who wants to get involved.
“I think that’s key about curling—that’s the one thing about the sport that it does offer over a lot of other sports, that it is a life-long sport,” she added.
Hemmings showed the students a short video of kids curling and explained the game to them.
“In order to score points, you have to get your stone closer to the centre [of the ring] than your opponents’ stones,” he noted, adding that sweeping is a method to make the rock go further and straighter.
He then had the students rub their hands together to understand the friction caused by the broom on the ice.
“And all you need to curl is ice, the stones, and a broom—the biggest expense is a pair of fancy curling shoes,” Hemmings indicated, showing his shoes and passing them around the gym.
“There’s a gripper foot to push and the other shoe is really slippery.”
But Hemmings didn’t just want to students to understand the game of curling—he wanted them to think it is exciting, so he showed them a clip of a shot he once made.
“There was 15,000 people watching,” he remarked. “Pay attention and you’ll see how exciting it is—people were jumping out of their seats like they do for hockey.”
And what he likes best about curling is it’s a non-violent sport.
“We don’t fight,” he said. “We shake hands before and after the game and it’s very friendly, even at the highest level. . . .
“Everyone has respect for the game and the rules. Curling is a gentlemen’s sport.”
Hemmings encouraged the kids to give it a try.
“I guarantee you’ll enjoy the experience, even if you don’t continue to curl,” he remarked. “It’s important to find a sport you do like if you don’t like curling—it’s important to be active.
“And with a team sport, you learn so much more.”
Meyers said the students enjoyed the presentation, as well as getting some instruction by Hemmings on the ice afterwards.
“They were very excited when they came back from the curling rink after spending the afternoon with him,” she noted. “They were quite pumped. A number of them came back and asked if they could join curling.”
While Meyers acknowledged not all the students knew who Hemmings was, some of them did.
“For those who have a little bit of curling knowledge, it probably solidified the game for them a little bit more and made them want to get involved,” she said.
“I think it was a great experience for the kids,” she stressed. “We don’t often get a celebrity of that sort or a sports figure of that calibre who comes into the schools, so it was really nice for them.”
Meyers also said it was a perfect time for Hemmings to speak in Emo.
“When the club folded initially, which we figure was probably seven or eight years ago, we had about 25 kids in our junior curling program,” she noted. “And we lost those kids because they never came back to curling.
“Coming back as the club has opened again, there’s about 35-40 kids signed up for junior curling this year. And that’s awesome.
“Having him come at this point really promotes it—it was very good timing for our club.”
Meyers also said the response to Hemmings’ tour right across the district was been wonderful.
“There’s been a good turnout at the curling clubs to see him and he has had a really positive influence on curling because he gives the appearance that he’s not that really intense curler that we see on TV,” she noted.
“He has a really positive attitude towards the sport.”
Hemmings’ tour began last Monday (Nov. 6) at the Atikokan Curling Club with an open house aimed primarily at young curlers. He then gave a keynote speech at a social that evening and played in some exhibition games.
He spoke at the schools there the following morning before heading to the Fort Frances Curling Club, where he will met with junior curlers.
A celebrity curling game featuring Hemmings then was played, with curlers being drawn at random to play with or against him, before a prime rib banquet was served.
Hemmings also visited Robert Moore, J.W. Walker, and St. Francis schools in Fort Frances on Wednesday morning before heading to Emo. He then stopped at Our Lady of the Way and Sturgeon Creek schools.
A potluck dinner and mini-spiel also was held at the curling club in Stratton.
The “Rockin’ The House” tour then concluded with a visit at Riverview School in Rainy River on Thursday before moving on to the Rainy River Curling Club for a dinner and another celebrity game.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
