Yesterday [Thursday 18 February] I had the honor of introducing curling to a lot of new people [at the Winter Youth Olympic Games’ outdoor Try the Sport rink]. This is vital for our sport that we keep promoting Curling especially midway through an Olympic Winter Games cycle.
One of the great things about curling in my perspective is how easy it is to pick-up when you get the hang of the balance. I'm not saying its easy to master but newcomers to curling can pretty fast grasp the overall concept. Sometimes a future curling prodigy can be recruited in this way.
This is not the story for me. I was dragged into the sport by my Dad. When I was very young I would spend most of the winter at the curling rink. At first I hardly noticed the game and was more concerned with playing with my friends. But, as I grew older the game started to appeal to me and I officially started at the age of nine. Slowly I started to love the sport my Dad had spent most of his life on. I'm still trying to catch up with his nine World and eight European appearances. It might not happen, but at least I'm the only one in the family to make the Olympics.
Rasmus Stjerne, from Hvidovre in Denmark, has been selected as the Athlete Role Model (ARM) for curling at the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Lillehammer, Norway (12-21 February 2016).
Stjerne, who is 27, led the Danish men’s team to a 6th place finish at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games curling competition. He is a World Junior champion (2009) and has skipped the Danish men’s team to silver and bronze medals at the European Curling Championships and qualified Demark for three world men’s championships.
He will be writing a blog for the WCF throughout YOG 2016, geared towards the athletes taking part, sharing the experiences he has had competing at Olympic Winter Games and major international curling events.
Fans at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway can try curling at the Stampsletta Ice Venues, during the day for the remainder of the event, ending on Sunday 21 February. The curling competition at the event also continues, with mixed nationality Mixed Doubles teams, competing for medals. For the schedule visit, www.worldcurling.org/yog2016/schedule
Curling fans can follow all the action from Lillehammer 2016 on social media using the following channels:
Twitter/Instagram: www.twitter.com/worldcurling
Facebook: www.facebook.com//WorldCurlingFederation
YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_Fr_yXnOHvi0qIibzUEUi0EQf4orufXQ
Hashtags: #YOGcurling #iLoveYOG #Lillehammer2016