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tbnewswatch.com
FILE -- Al Hackner is seen throwing a rock in this tbnewswatch.com file photograph. Hackner won the Brier in 1985, and his rink was the last to do so for Northern Ontario until Sunday night when the Brad Jacobs rink defeated Manitoba Sunday.
The head of a local curling club hopes Northern Ontario’s Brier win will get more youth on the ice.
Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs won the Brier for Northern Ontario Sunday for the first time in almost 30 years.
“We’re hoping it might spark a few more people to get interested in the sport,” Fort William Curling Club president Rosemary Steadwell said.
With just 75 club members under 20 years old, and nearly 100 at the Port Arthur Curling Club, Steadwell said younger people just don’t play like they used to.
And with current club members getting older, that could put some rinks in dire circumstances in the future unless youth get involved.
“It’s probably going to die in a lot of northern communities,” she said. “I just don’t there’s much interest anymore.”
And that’s a shame because relative to a sport like hockey, curling is inexpensive for kids to get into. Over time, anyone could be the next Brad Jacobs Steadwell said.
“They just practiced and played and practiced and played,” she said of the 27-year-old skip’s team.