.png;w=768)
THUNDER BAY — A city family is in the mix to win a trip for four to the closing weekend of next year's Montana's Brier, the national men's curling championship, in St. John's, Newfoundland.
They're participating in a Curling Canada online competition that requires contestants to submit entertaining or inspirational stories and photos related to their personal involvement or experience with curling.
"We thought we had a pretty good story," said Eric Bron in an interview Wednesday.
He and his wife D'Andrea have two young daughters.
An excerpt from their submission explains what happened when they attended a Curling Day in Canada event in 2019 at the Kakabeka Falls Curling Club:
"The girls were eight and four years old at the time and were warmly welcomed to the ice by the great volunteers at KFCC. We threw some rocks and had a lot of fun before deciding on the ride home to sign Isabella up for the Little Rocks program the following fall...Fast forward six years, and curling has become a huge part of our lives."
The story goes on to describe how, today, they are at the rink four to six times a week participating in adult and junior curling matches.
Curling Canada has chosen it as one of the top 20 stories submitted, which moves it into the online voting round that will finish at midnight on Saturday.
Considering their passion for the sport, it's not surprising the Bron family is spending a lot of time this week at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Fort William Gardens.
Bron said he believes the way his children have embraced curling shows "the whole spirit of the curling game, and what they're trying to do to introduce people to it and grow the sport."
While he's volunteering as a timer in just about every draw at the Scotties, the girls – ages 14 and 10 – are participating in various ways as well.
On Wednesday morning they were on the ice with Team Alberta as part of the Future Stars program.
The older daughter was throwing rocks last Thursday before the tournament started to test out the ice, and the younger girl took part in the hit/draw/tap competition on Saturday.
"So we've been pretty involved in the whole thing," Bron said. "It's been a lot of fun. It's a great event for Thunder Bay and for families to check out too."
He's a strong advocate for youth curling, pointing out that it's relatively inexpensive, and is a sport that families can participate in together for many years.
"My daughters play not only with me when I curl, but they also play with their grandparents. It's kind of a generational sport, which not a lot of sports are. I found that, as a dad, I just kept getting slower at hockey, but with curling I can keep going at it."
