'I love it': CURLSASK hosts youth camp for young local curlers in Yorkton

Yorkton, Sask. -

Over a span of two days, over 150 curlers from in and around the Parkland region got the chance to take to the pebbled ice, and learn from one of Saskatchewan’s best.

The event, “Curling in the Parkland” brought out over 150 youth to the Yorkton Curling Club. Over 80 participated Monday, many with little to no experience with the game.

Kadrick Guthrie was one of those students who had never stepped foot on the ice, let alone use a shoe cleaner. He had a great experience taking in one of Canada’s most popular sports.

“I liked doing the strategy, but learning how to maneuver on the ice was a little tricky,” the Grade 8 student from St. Michael’s School in Yorkton said.

“Right now, I’m deciding what sports I like. I think curling would be one of the top sports … one of the things that surprised me was the amount of strategies you can have to score points and win a game.”

It was more than strategies, out turns and in turns that these students learned Sunday and Monday. It was also a lot about handling yourself off the ice, with Saskatchewan curling royalty quarterbacking the day.

Saint Gregor, Sask. born Kirk Muyres was on the ice — and speaking to the kids off it — looking to share his knowledge of the game, and sharing where the game has taken him during his career.

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His hometown only has about 60 people, yet he and his foursome have played in front of millions and millions on television, and tens of thousands in the crowd.

It’s a big feat for the kid from rural Saskatchewan.

“Just let them know that I’ve been in this exact position, 15-20 years ago, I was going to curling camps like this. Listening to the older curlers talk about the game, that really got me excited about it,” he said.

“It's a matter of instilling in the kids that if they find something they love, they can really pursue it and great things will happen, and lots of success will happen and a lot of enjoyment and happiness will happen. Hopefully that's curling, but at the end of the day, it might not be.”

Muyres has taken a step back from men’s curling this Olympic quadrennial. He is now pursuing Mixed Doubles with Alberta’s Laura Walker. He said with the game evolving and growing, there’s more opportunity for these young curlers than when he started his career.

Students such as Kade Bilokreli appreciated the words from Muyres, and taking a look inside the game of curling.

“Just the amount of respect you can have for a sport and carrying that outside, the friendships that you make and the competition. It's so friendly and amazing to me — I love it,” said the senior from Sacred Heart High School.

It’s reactions such as Kilokreli’s that CURLSASK is hoping to garner across the province, all winter long.

“That's kind of part of our focus this year, is really trying to have more youth clinics across the province. (We’re) hoping to hit 30 to 40 different communities, then keeping them involved with the clubs, and then hopefully those curlers are joining leagues and becoming lifelong curlers in the future,” said Dustin Mikush, CURLSASK’s Community Development Manager.

Monday’s Curling in the Parkland is the second last in the Prairieland Curling Camp Series for 2022. It wraps up on Dec. 3 in Estevan.