U.S. Curling gold medalist John Shuster to host free youth curling clinic in Detroit Lakes on Dec. 27

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the U.S. Men’s Curling Team failed to make it out of round-robin play; finishing with a dismal 2-7 record in nine matches.

Then, four years later in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the improbable happened, the U.S. team took the top of the podium.

The U.S. Men’s Curling Team, led by skip John Shuster, won the gold medal over what many considered the best team in the world at that time, Sweden, 10-7 in nine ends.

Now, Shuster is coming to Lakes Curling Club in Detroit Lakes to host a free youth curling clinic on Dec. 27 for kids in grades 4-12.

Dustin Richter, president of the Lakes Curling Club, said, over the past couple of years, they’ve been trying to get more young kids into the sport. Part of that youthful push developed into a novice-level league night for kids to learn the techniques and strategy behind the popular Minnesota past time.

“On the greenhorn league, it’s a lot of technique,” said Richter. “It’s kind of teaching technique and then on the league nights, we’re teaching technique and practicing our technique and then learning strategy.”

He also said he thinks curling is appealing to kids because of the social aspect of the sport, which can see opposing players chatting and socializing between shots.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s very social,” he said. “Especially if you go to a bonspiel, you meet curlers from different places and you are able to visit. You are standing next to each other and competing against each other and there’s a lot of etiquette in curling. I think that would be beneficial for youth to understand the etiquette. There are no cocky curlers.”

Free pizza will also be provided to the kids during the youth clinic with Shuster on Dec. 27.

In a social media post, Lakes Curling Club stated that due to space constraints at the club any child wishing to participate will need to register for the event ahead of time.

For more information, or to register your child for the event, visit our station’s website or the Lakes Curling Club Facebook Page.

To sign up, email Lakes Curling Club Youth Instructor Jake Blow at: jakeblow14@gmail.com.