Rocks & Rings: A young curler helps with the program

In May, I (instructor Nicole Westlund) brought the Capital One Rocks & Rings program to King George VI School in Chatham, Ont. As I was getting all the equipment set up, the teacher who had contacted me asked if I would like a helper for the day; it turns out one of his students is an avid junior curler who just loves curling. Daniele watched during the first few classes, but once she got comfortable, she ran some of the activities with the students – including helping to teach sweeping and organizing a mini-game. She even helped explain some of the rules and names of the various playing areas. Here is her story about helping with the Capital One Rocks & Rings program. “My name is Daniele and I’m a Grade 6 student at King George Elementary School. When my teacher asked me to help out with the Rocks & Rings program I was so happy. I’ve been curling for eight years and thought it would be fun to help introduce my peers to the great sport of curling. I helped Nicole instruct the grades 3 to 6 students and teach them all of the rules of the game. We played fun warm-up games like ‘Hurry & Whoa’ and an obstacle course where students had to run through hula hoops and ‘sweep’ between the pylons. The thing that I enjoyed the most was at the end of each session when the students tried to ‘draw’ to a button. It was so cool to see all the kids so much into curling because I never realized that they would like it so much. None of my classmates had any intention of going curling but now a lot of them say they want to come out to the Granite Club with me! I enjoyed helping and hope to get the chance to do it again.” What a great experience to see a young junior curler share her love of this sport with her peers. The highlight of the day, in my opinion, would be the final class where Daniele’s own classmates came down to learn about curling. I am confident that she has recruited a few new teammates for this season. All in all, I had a fantastic day and think we have an instructor in training on our hands! Nicole Westlund Rocks & Rings Instructor