Curling in Lithuania w/ Tadas Vyskupaitis

January 27, 2025Curling Around the Worldrocksacrossthepond

Despite not having any dedicated curling ice in the entire country and very little funding, Lithuania is heading to the 2025 World Women’s Curling Championship. How did a country about the size of West Virginia with a population less than Mississippi accomplish this? A lot of it has to do with their skip, Virginija Paulauskaite. The president of the Lithuanian curling federation, Tadas Vyskupaitis, joins us to tell us about his country, how their national team was able to qualify for worlds and the future of curling there.

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Your 2025 Duke’s Mayo Bowl Preview

December 31, 2024Uncategorizedrocksacrossthepond

Jonathan’s Minnesota Golden Gophers and Ryan’s Virginia Tech Hokies are finally going to meet on the gridiron. If you can get through 15 minutes of Gopher-Hokie talk, we will also cover Jonathan’s experience at the 2024 European Curling Championship, what under-the-radar player impressed him most, our futures in curling and Christmas presents.

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Good luck to our own Jonathan Havercroft and Team England at Euros

November 12, 2024Uncategorizedrocksacrossthepond

The 2024 European Curling Championships take place Nov. 16-23 and our very own Professor of Peel, Jonathan Havercroft, will be there in the A division representing England. Here we take a moment to wish Jonathan and the rest of the team good luck!

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Should curling’s world championships determine Olympic berths? w/ Scottish champion Ken Horton

March 13, 2024Uncategorizedrocksacrossthepond

Curling nations will earn points toward Olympic qualification based on how they do at this year’s (and next year’s) men’s and women’s world championships. But should that be the case? Scottish curling champion Ken Horton presents his plan for determining Olympic berths without any points coming from worlds. Hear why he believes this plan will benefit not only the high-performance teams battling for Olympic spots, but even more so the grassroots and competitive club curlers.

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How the England men won Euro-B gold

January 25, 2024Uncategorizedrocksacrossthepond

Jonathan and Ryan are back to talk about Jonathan’s experience representing England at the European Curling Championships. His English men’s team not only secured a spot in next year’s A-pool for their country, but captured the gold medal.

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Curl Runnings: Jamaican Curling w/ Ian Robertson and Husani Blaze

October 23, 2023Curling Around the Worldrocksacrossthepond

Curling Jamaica is scheduled to make its competitive WCF debut at the Pan-Continental Curling Championships. Hear about the origins or this federation and how it’s inspiring a new face of curling in our interviews with Ian Robertson and Husani Blaze.

Curling Jamaica
Follow Jamaican Curling on Facebook
Brooklyn Curling Center

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What was it like coaching in China’s curling program?: Marco Mariani part 2

July 24, 2023Uncategorizedrocksacrossthepond

Marco Mariani is back to tell us about his experience coaching China’s women’s curling team at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. First, we learn why his lineup changed so much going into the Olympics and the one thing he thinks would have allowed Han Yu’s team to make the medal round. Then, we hear about his interactions with Chinese officials and his relationship with his fellow coaches, Peja Lindholm and Sören Grahn. Finally, he tells us what he thinks the future holds for curling in China.

Marco Mariani part 1: Italian curling
Our interview with Marco leading up to the 2021 Worlds

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How is Italy preparing for the 2026 Olympics?: Marco Mariani part 1

July 6, 2023Curling Around the Worldrocksacrossthepond

This is the first of a two-part interview with Italian curling coach and Olympic curler Marco Mariani. In part one, we focus on the current state of curling in Italy as they prepare to host the 2026 Olympics. Marco is not only currently coaching the Italian junior teams, but is also on the committee responsible for setting up the curling competition in 2026. He also tells us how curling has changed in the country since he represented Italy at the 2006 Olympics and what programs have allowed the sport to become more professional there.

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Curling in Nunavut w/ Peter Van Strien

May 31, 2023Curling Around the Worldcurling clubs, grassroots curlingrocksacrossthepond

This episode takes us near the Arctic Circle, but not quite North of it. We talk to Peter Van Strien from Iqaluit Curling Club, who volunteers there and has represented Nunavut nationally. Peter tells us about living in Nunavut, the unique obstacles his club faces for regular ice time and the progress they’ve made growing the sport with the territory’s youth.

Nunavut Curling Association
Iqaluit Curling Club

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Curling DEI initiatives in action with Melvin Lee

May 9, 2023Uncategorizedgrassroots curling, korean curlingrocksacrossthepond

Melvin Lee, a curling consultant from Ottawa, joins us once again to talk about his recent curling experiences. Melvin is trying to grow the sport within the BIPOC community of his hometown and tells us about his experience hosting a learn to curl at his home club. He also discusses his recent trip to Korea where he curling with 2018 Olympic silver medalists Team Kim.

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