(by Charles Reid) There wasn’t any curling ice on the Sherwood Elementary School gym floor in Charlottetown, but the students curled anyway.
That was courtesy of 16 rocks on wheels, a roll-out house made of vinyl and 200 or so willing participants.
Throw in a relay race with hula hoops and curling brooms and a stop-and-go sweeping drill and it proved a fun break in the school day.
Wednesday, the Capital One Rocks and Rings, a national curling program designed to introduce elementary students to the sport, landed in Charlottetown for a one-day visit.
Guardian photo by Heather Taweel
Grade 4 students at Sherwood Elementary School practised their sweeping skills when the?Capital One Rocks and Rings program visited the Charlottetown school on Wednesday.
Nolan Ryan, for one, was happy it did, at least for part of it.
“(The best thing) was when we did the running thing,” said Ryan, referring to the relay race which split his Grade 4 class into two groups.
So will he try curling on ice when he gets older?
“Yeah,” he said, nodding.
That’s music to Amy Duncan’s ears.
The executive director of the P.E.I. Curling Association ran the presentation and the drills, all in the hopes of keeping her sport on the front burner and attracting new recruits.
“We’re bridging the gap between the schools and the clubs. We’re here to introduce them to the sport. Spark that fire. The next step is to bring it to the ice,” said Duncan. “They can touch the rocks, even though they aren’t real rocks, (the students) can feel the excitement.”
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Guardian photo by Heather Taweel