After several months of effort by the legion, the Capital One Rocks and Rings (CORR) curling program has come to MacLean Elementary School via the Nelson Curling Club.
“This is the road to the Olympics,” said the legion’s sport coordinator, Ray van den Nieuwenhof. “These are the MacLean kids that may end up curling for Canada!”
The Nelson Curling Club is the first club outside the Lower Mainland to offer the CORR program in British Columbia.
CORR was an initiative of the Canadian Curling Club as part of their goal to help “build healtheir students and schools,” van den Nieuwenhof explained.
Curling clubs offering CORR send instructors to school gyms where they take small classes for 40 minutes at a time. They use various drills, relays, and team-building activities to introduce students to the fun of curling, from throwing rocks to sweeping.
Special floor curling equipment provides a curling experience with no need for ice, such as rocks on rollers and stick-on targets
Preparations for the event began seven month’s ago, spearheaded by the legion’s Don Vinish.
The Nelson Curling Club sent a team of three members to MacLean for both Feb. 24 and 25. The $400 to cover the two days of curling classes was donated by the legion.
Van den Nieuwenhof said the Legion would like to continue supporting CORR at MacLean on an annual basis.
For more information on the program, visit www.rocksandrings.com.