Curling As A Kid & Beyond! With Monica Walker (Boston, MA)

Send a textTHE "CURLING AS A KID & BEYOND!" SERIES: Episode #3This episode is part of a series where I interview current and former competitive curlers to find out how they grew to love the sport of curling as a young person. In addition, I'll ask some of them what it's like to coach young people. And, in other cases, I'll ask them what it's like having their own children in the sport.Monica Walker is a three-time U.S. national champion and currently the third for Team Jamie Sinclair. In this episode, we talk about her family's history in the sport, why she decided to start curling, and the unique junior development program at her home club (Broomstones CC in Wayland, MA, USA). Monica will be competing in two US Olympic Curling Trials this fall: The Women's Team Trial in November and the Mixed Doubles Trial with partner Alex Leichter in October. Finally, she talks about her involvement with the Global Initiative For DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) In Curling. [NOTE: This interview was recorded in July 2021.]Some of the topics we discuss include:* Broomstones CC in Wayland, Massachusetts (4:00)* Her first time on the ice, being taught to slide by Korey Dropkin's dad, Keith, and the amazing feedback she received about her delivery (7:05)* The "JET" program, a youth Olympic development program at Broomstones, that provided resources such as specialized fitness training, equipment, travel opportunities in Canada, etc. (12:29)* A famous local soccer player that she admired growing up (19:23)* How curling made her self-conscious (20:21)* The most fun part of curling, according to Monica (21:09)* THE BIG QUESTION: How do we get kids to fall in love with the sport of curling and stay with it for the long-term? (24:11)* Her current competitive situation, training in Minnesota (29:05)* The Global Initiative For DEI In Curling (31:47)Links to the resources mentioned in this episode:Broomstones CC Web site:https://www.broomstones.com/Global Initiative for DEI in Curling:Email: [email protected] Newsletter: https://buff.ly/3oscEH7YouTube: https://buff.ly/39kGyZQFacebook: https://buff.ly/36h9zU2Instagram: @GlobalCurlingDEITwitter: @GlobalCurlDEI#changethefaceofcurling Team Sinclair:@teamjsinclair (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)Monica Walker:@monwalkcurl (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)Follow our podcast on Twitter: @kidscurlingGlenn 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 [email protected] intro and outro music is "Golden Sunrise (Instrumental Version)"https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_Woodward/The_Wake_1790/JoshWoodward-TheWake-NoVox-10-GoldenSunriseBy Josh Woodwardhttps://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_WoodwardLicensed under CC BY 3.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Support the show