Curling Stars For Charity

The image of four international curling athletes was posted by U.S. skip Korey Dropkin, and it poses an interesting question: who would be the skip of this theoretical dream team?

Would it be Italy’s Joel Retornaz, fresh off a world bronze medal?

How about Tsuyoshi “Yama” Yamaguchi, who captured the Japanese men’s title just a week ago?

Is that really Kevin Martin, the retired Canadian Hall of Famer?

And how about Dropkin, the “Young Buck” with a bright curling future?

The non-team was gathered this weekend at Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, MN with other celebrity competitors and a pile of enthusiastic recreational players for the Summer Lupus Spiel ’22, which raised funds to fight lupus, the autoimmune disease.

Some charity bonspiels—but not all—have been returning to the scene following the grassroots curling devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oakville’s famed Kurl for Kids hosted their first event in three years in April, whereas the House of Hearts in Dropkin’s base of Duluth, MN hasn’t been able to host their event since 2019.

This marks the second lupus bonspiel hosted in the past seven months, after the Lupus Spiel 2021 was held last December.

Other Canadians on the celebrity skip list include Chelsea Carey, Colin Hodgson and Shannon Kelibrink while a roster of strong U.S. curling names—including Tabitha Peterson, Becca Hamilton and Debbie McCormick—formed the base of skips.

Yamaguchi might be the first representative from the Pacific-Asia region—not hailing from Australia or New Zealand—to compete in such an event.

“I’m enjoying the curling and friendship,” said Yamaguchi. “Sometimes I can’t understand English but everyone is helping me. So I am happy.”

“He’s a good dude,” said Canadian TV curling analyst Mike Harris.

Martin hosted one of his two-day Kevin Martin Academy curling clinics as a prelude to the bonspiel, with Dropkin, Retornaz and Yamaguchi featuring as guest instructors.

“As a result of trying hard to understand English from morning ’till night, I can only hear it as a sound,” Yamaguchi posted online. 

The next day, however, he had made progress. “What I felt today is that when I try to listen to English hard, my brain gets stuck, so I feel I can hear it (better) when I try to be natural.”

Yamaguchi should compare language notes with Retornaz, who speaks no less than five languages, including Mandarin.

Yamaguchi also said he’s had a longtime dream of playing and mixing with non-Japanese curlers, a dream which has been accomplished this weekend.

“I will also add one (life) goal … to hold a charity curling tournament in Japan and invite Americans.”

For the record, The Curling News editorial staff have convened and made our choice of skip, plus the whole lineup, among the superstars in that main photo.

SKIP: Kevin Martin. No matter that he’s been retired for over eight years, it’s a mark of respect for a legend. Plus, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

THIRD: Joel Retornaz. He’s used to playing with a couple of monstrous physical specimens on his front end, and Dropkin and Yamaguchi are extremely fit fellows.

FRONT END: We predict both Yama and Dropkin would politely offer to play lead so the other can play second … and they’d politely argue right up to the start of their first game. They’re both that kind of guy.