Curling Canada launches the U-12 RockStars program, benefiting young curlers and coaches
A new youth curling development program focusing on skill development, fun and long-term growth is ready for a national rollout. Youth program developers and coaches at curling facilities in Canada can order the program today, in time for the 2023-24 curling season.
Curling Canada’s RockStars program is a series of lesson plans, resources and training guides for youth under the age of 12. The easy-to-follow program develops youth skills in five key categories – technical, tactical, physical, mental and social – and provides the framework coaches need to deliver a consistent and engaging learning experience for youth. The lesson provides young curlers with the foundation to continue on the path of long-term curler development as recreational and competitive/high-performance curlers such as teens and adults.
“We are very excited to officially launch the RockStars U12 youth skill development program across Canada after a soft rollout last season. Similar to the Red Cross Swim or CanSkate program, RockStars will provide curling centers with specific lesson plans to follow, coaching suggestions, completion reports and other support resources Beth Eskew, advisor to the RockStars developer, said the program will provide consistent, unified programming that combines skills-based teaching with feedback to parents, guardians and youth on how to develop their skills.
The RockStars program includes two 12-week programs for youth coaches to implement at their local curling centres: basicsFor ages nine and under with 1 to 2 years of curling experience Learn trainingFor ages 12 and under with three to four years of curling experience. Each week, lessons progress to include more skills learned in various critical curling skills, such as delivery, release, sweep, communication and strategy.
Each lesson provides clear objectives and divides the one-hour sessions by activity, ensuring that lessons will be fun and consistent for teachers and hair professionals. The 12-week program ends with a skills assessment for all participants. Coaches receive clear objectives to base these assessments on, which are shared with the curlers and their parents/guardians.
Young curlers can show off their on-ice success with the Curling Canada RockStars bag tag. Bag tags display the curler’s progress through the FUNdamentals and Learn to Train programs by earning stars for the tag based on progress and skill mastery.
The RockStars program is for curlers who have completed one year of the Learn-to-Curl program and learned the basics of the sport.
The U-12 RockStars Youth Skills Development Program Manual costs $150 + applicable shipping fees. It includes:
– 12-lesson plan for FUNdamentals (U-9 curlers)
– 12 lesson plans for learning to train (curlers under 12)
– Exercises
– Achievement reports for teachers
– Achievement reports for children and parents/guardians
– Bag tags (additional cost of $5 each)
The program has been in development for the past four years. Two years ago, it was soft-launched and 48 curling centers adopted the pilot program through word of mouth. In a recent survey of participants, 100% of participants were either very or very happy with the results of the program. The commentary included in RockStars is flexible, easy to follow, and the visuals are easy to understand.
Okotoks Curling Club youth coach Tenielle Bachek was part of the pilot program testing and wants other youth curling program leaders to take advantage of the new framework for youth curlers.
“Having this resource made it easier to run the program. It was easy to modify lesson plans to meet the needs of our center. Having the lessons helped ensure that we were able to provide engaging and consistent instruction, even when regular instructors were absent and others had to fill the position,” Bashek said. “Athletes of diverse skills have been appropriately challenged by the proposed amendments. My curlers have enjoyed the workouts and I have more coaches volunteering to help now that they know planning and a bank of workouts is not required.
To order your program today or to ask questions about Curling Canada’s RockStars program, please email [email protected].
