In early February, Curling Canada announced their schedule of youth events for the next several years. In this episode, I speak with Curling Canada's Manager of Youth Curling and NextGen, Helen Radford, about the new U15 "Rockfest" as well as two other programs targeted to U12 curlers. Helen will also be presenting a session at the upcoming "Adapting Thriving" Curling Coaches Conference in March titled "Growing The Sport - Youth Feeder System & NextGen Programs."
Some of the topics we discuss include:
* Why the "Triples" game is important in a young curler's development (4:35)
* What is "Singles"? And how does it fit into "Rockfest"? (9:56)
* A preview of the U15 "Rockfest" weekend agenda (13:35)
* Helen's role as Youth Curling Manager at Curling Canada (16:05)
* Revamping the skills awards system (aka "badge system") into the "Rock Stars" system (22:28)
* Update on the "Hit Draw Tap" Kids Skill Challenge (28:40)
* What attendees can expect at her session on March 21st at the "Adapting Thriving" Conference (32:02)
Links to the resources mentioned in this episode:
Curling Canada's Youth Events Announcement (Feb 5/21)
https://www.curling.ca/blog/2021/02/05/youth-plans-set-for-next-season/
Triples Curling Guide on CC Web site
https://www.curling.ca/files/2020/08/Curling-Canada-Triples-Final.pdf
"Stay Safe With Singles" article on CC Web site (Nov 18/20)
https://www.curling.ca/blog/2020/11/18/stay-safe-with-singles/
"Hit Draw Tap" Web site
https://www.hitdrawtap.ca/
Adapting Thriving 2021 Conference Web page (NOTE: URL no longer exists)
https://ontariocurlingcouncil.com/blog/adapting-and-thriving-2021/
Helen's e-mail address: helen.radford@curling.ca
Follow our podcast on Twitter: @kidscurling
Glenn Gabriel is an NCCP-certified curling coach who lives in Pickering, Ontario, Canada. He has been the coordinator of the Little Rocks (U12) program at East York Curling Club in Toronto since 2011. If you have a question or feedback on the podcast, send us an e-mail at coachingkidscurling@gmail.com
The intro and outro music is "Golden Sunrise (Instrumental Version)"
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/The_Wake_1790/JoshWoodward-TheWake-NoVox-10-GoldenSunrise
By Josh Woodward
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward
Licensed under CC BY 3.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/