Curling in the Netherlands: Dutch-Canadians are bringing it to the Netherlands?
For anyone who is proficient at curling and is Dutch-Canadian, your big break might be here! In order to try and ensure that the sport actually turns into something nice in the Netherlands, the curling federation of the country and a marketing firm will combine efforts.
They plan to engage Canadians who are from Dutch heritage in order to discover the new wave of Dutch curlers in a campaign called “Holland’s Next Gold Medal”. This campaign has been running for less than a year and 68 Dutch-Canadians are in conversation of joining.
Canada is considered to be the Holy Grail for curling enthusiasts. Hence, Norberth Korsmit the scout employed at Triple Double- a sports agency in the Netherlands, is keeping an eye out at the World Championship that is taking place in Lethbridge to find talent that is willing to relocate to the Netherlands in order to increase awareness about curling.
One can even access online sports betting Canada in order to check out the talent in the World Championship and bet on various teams.
Active interest from the Dutch Olympic Committee
Even despite the fact that curling is up and kicking in the Netherlands, the total tally of players who play is very limited. As of now, there are a total of 150 people who take part in the sport. This number is very small compared to other countries around the world.
This implies that there is a dearth of well-rounded professionals who take part in the sport. Thus, the Dutch Olympic Committee has involved itself in trying to increase these numbers. As per the reports of the Dutch Olympic Committee, there is only one curling club that has been designated for the sport, along with three rinks that are on occasion converted into surfaces for curling.
Korsmit’s contribution
Korsmit’s interest for the game was ignited when he first watched a game that was played many years ago at the Olympics in Sochi. This interest was later rekindled when he watched the veteran curling champion Eve Muirhead playing.
Korsmit was involved with many programmes that were aimed at improving curling as a sport in the Netherlands. These programmes were based on three principles that were formulated by him which are: increasing and developing an understanding of various rules that pertain to the game, augmenting the total number of clubs dedicated to the sport, and increased participation by trying to ensure that Dutch people have a go at the game at least once.
The need for funding
Even though there has been a lot of publicity employed to increase the popularity of the game, funding is still very hard to come by. Until last year the team that participated at the World Championship had to fund themselves in order to participate.
The awesome foursome comprising of- Jaap Van Dorp, Wouter Gosgens, Carlo Bergen and Laurens Koekman, who have been involved in the sport for a period of more than ten years have time and again stressed on the need to have more funds provided for by the Dutch Olympic Committee. They are of the opinion that despite the team being at the 30th position all over the world currently, with more funding, there can definitely be a lot of growth in the sport.
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments, below!