PROVIDENCE BAY—A group of junior curlers from the Providence Bay Curling Club had an incredible experience recently, having attended the inaugural Under 15 (U15) Rockfest East event held in Niagara Falls March 22-24.
“Seven of our junior curlers attended the inaugural U15 Rockfest East in Niagara Falls on March 22-24,” said Angela Johnston. “This was one of four regional Rockfest events put on this year by Curling Canada.”
Ms. Johnston explained the Rockfest “is brand new this year. There is a new app from Curling Canada in place for singles competitions, where each of the junior curlers must throw 12 different shots and their results are scored. The top nine male and top nine female competitors from Northern Ontario get invited. In the end, we were the only club in Northern Ontario who were involved.”
The event held in Niagara Falls included curlers from Northern Ontario, southern Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut. “It was a great experience for the junior curlers,” said Ms. Johnston. “These events are designed to provide young curlers with opportunities to develop their skills and compete against curlers from neighbouring provinces and territories in singles and triples format curling.”
“There were 64 kids there. I was impressed that there were two curlers from Nunavut who took part,” said Ms. Johnston. The event was fun for participants and, “While at the event, the curlers also participated in skill development clinics with national level curlers.”
The local junior curlers who attended Rockfest included Amber Ducharme, Silva Verboom, David Joyce, Parker Johnston, Shawn MacKelvie, Devon MacKelvie and Spencer Johnston.
Next year Rockfest will take place in Northern Ontario.
