Dec. 18, 2009

Valley View Elementary School

ASHWAUBENON — Regular kids from the Midwest can chase Olympic dreams, members of the U.S. Olympic Curling Team told about 650 students Thursday at Valley View Elementary School.

"Don't be afraid to try as hard as you can to be great," said team captain John Shuster, who also was on the U.S. team that won a bronze medal in 2006.

Five team members and their coach, all from Minnesota, traded high-fives with the kids and let them try curling in a demonstration in the school gym.

Team members "grew up just like you guys," said coach Phill Drobnick. "We made it our dream to represent the U.S. To do that, you have to set goals and reach for them."

No matter what you do in life, strive to be good at it, said Olympic curler John Benton, 40, the oldest team member. The others are in their 20s.

Most of athletes started curling between ages 6 and 14 and were involved in other sports as well.

Team member Chris Plys, who grew up also playing hockey and soccer, said curling "is a lot more fun than it looks."

They showed students how a player throws, or pushes, a stone across ice, while two others sweep the ice to keep the stone going farther and straighter.

Laura Richmond, 11, who does not weigh much more than the 42-pound stone, tried heaving the rock.

"It was heavy. That's hard," she said.

Skye Vandeleest, 11, whose parents are in the Green Bay Curling Club, said she told friends about the sport.

"They like it too," she said.

Benton also gave the school 10 digital cameras as part of the U.S. Olympic Committee's Team for Tomorrow ambassador program.

The 2010 men's and women's Olympic curlers are holding their last high-performance training camp in Green Bay before heading to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The U.S. teams have made nine training trips this year to the Green Bay Curling Club, which is one of the few American clubs to maintain its ice through the summer.

Valley View physical education teacher Julie Patzke's husband, Rick, is the chief operating officer of the U.S. Curling Association, based in Stevens Point.