By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Northborough/Southborough – For Algonquin Regional High School junior and Southborough resident Korey Dropkin, curling has been a family sport as far back as he can remember. His father, Keith, started curling in college. He introduced the sport to his then-girlfriend, Shelley, whom he later married, and they have been curling ever since. For the Dropkins, Broomstones in Wayland is their home club and their home-away-from-home.
Korey started competing in 2005. Currently, he is a member of two separate teams, both named “Team Dropkin.” One is a Junior Men's Team (U21) and the other is a Youth Olympic team made up of two boys and two girls between the ages of 16 and 18.
Korey's older brother, Stephen, 21, is the skip of the Junior Men's team; Korey is the vice skip. On the Youth Olympic team, Korey is the skip. (The “skip” provides overall leadership and strategic direction to the squad.)
During the curling season, Korey practices or plays games about four or five times a week. His Junior Men's team has tournaments about every other weekend, sometimes multiple weekends in a row. When not competing, he tries to practice once or twice (for two to four hours each session) during the week.
According to Korey, “this year has been truly amazing.” His Junior Men's team won four out of the six tournaments they participated in, bringing in cash winnings of $10,000. Last summer they were selected by USA Curling to participate in the US Olympic Committee High Performance Program (HPP) as athletes in training for the 2018 Olympics. As part of the HPP, the team is instructed by Olympic trainers and given a 12-week workout program to physically train for the curling season.
“The program focuses on working out the chest, core, arms, legs and back. Being well conditioned helps our team maintain good stamina and level of play on the ice,” Korey said.
He also put together a mixed team to try out for the Youth Olympics. Competing against nine other teams vying for the spot, Team Dropkin earned the honor of representing the United States in the First Inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games (16- to 18-year-olds) in Innsbruck, Austria. The competition is a major sports and cultural festival celebrated in the tradition of the Olympic Games and will take place from January 13 to 22.
“My dedication has contributed off the ice,” Korey said, “as it has helped me become responsible and dedicated not just to curling, but academically, as I have to work even harder to keep my grades up. It has also taught me leadership, especially when skipping a team, because I am like the captain of the team.”
Korey has goals beyond the Youth Olympics. He hopes to get to the Men's Junior Curling World's competition sometime in the next few years, possibly even this year. Down the road, he said, he hopes to go to the Men's Curling Worlds and the Winter Olympics.
