WW-P North senior is top curler
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Cameron Ross plans to be at the Plainfield Curling Club for its Open House from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Ross will be there to help introduce newcomers to curling, but four years ago it was he who was just beginning to get interested in the sport.
”I got into curling when I saw it at the last Olympics,” said Ross, a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North. “I was watching TV and I heard a little about it. I saw it and said, ‘I think that’s something I could do.’”
Four years later, Ross was an alternate for the team that placed fourth at the junior nationals last month in Bemidji, Minn. There, he met one the American curlers that got him interested in the sport, Pete Fenson.
”It’s pretty cool to meet your idol,” Ross said.
Ross watched the competition at the Vancouver Olympics with a new appreciation after his interest was piqued by Fenson and the competition at the Torino Olympics in 2006.
”It’s a lot different,” Ross said. “I’m watching it and I’m really understanding what’s going on. It’s a confusing sport. I’m coming up with things — that’s the shot they should do. I’m kind of more involved in it. I find myself saying, ‘I’ve done that shot before,’ or, ‘I’ve done that.’ It’s a totally different viewpoint.
”Having curling in the Olympics and on TV is neat because we don’t normally get it here. Curling is on all the time in Canada. Our club gets Canadian cable. It’s nice to have it in my house.”
Ross would like nothing more than to have the chance to represent the United States for a television audience in a future Olympics.
”When I saw the Olympics, there was that initial goal,” Ross said. “Once I got into it, I realized it’s not that easy. You can’t just go. I don’t know if when I started out it was a realistic goal, but I think I’ve progressed in four years tremendously. To make it to nationals is quite a pat on the back.
”It was a realistic goal as I grew. When I started out, I was happy people would play with me. Now the skill level has increased. The goals keep changing. I keep setting new goals, more advanced goals.”
Most importantly, Ross continues to hone his skills. He was happy to learn that no ice skating ability was required.
”The reason I decided to pursue curling is it’s very strategy based,” Ross said. “It’s been compared to chess on ice. It’s heavily strategized, which intrigued me. You pick the shot and you know what you want to achieve, but you have to have the skill to do it.
”I think I was hooked from the minute I was out on the ice. I threw a stone and I liked it. As I kept trying it, I became better and it became more interesting. What kind of boosted my confidence was after that first year at my club, they asked me to become a part of this competitive team.”
The Plainfield Curling Club is the only curling club in New Jersey. The curling ice surface is rougher than a skating rink because water droplets are sprayed and frozen onto the surface. Teams of four work together to sweep in front of the stones with brooms without touching the stones. They try to put their stone closest to the center of the large target, called the house.
”When you sweep in front of the stone, it causes the ice to melt,” Ross said. “When you sweep the ice, the stone goes faster and straighter and that lets it curl less.”
There are four positions in curling — skip, vice, second and lead. Each has a chance to throw two stones in the rotational sport, and three of the four positions have a chance to sweep in a game.
”I like to play vice because you get to do a little of everything,” Ross said. “You get to sweep, throw and call shots. I’ve done everything.”
Ross practices at the club for three hours apiece on Saturdays and Sundays. He also curls in the club’s Thursday night adult league. He represents the club at bonspiels, which are curling tournaments. Games take approximately two hours.
”Since I started, I’ve competed three times in the regional tournament,” Ross said. “They have playdowns for a spot at nationals. The last time, my team did not make it, but the team that did picked me up as an alternate, and I went to junior nationals.”
It was his first taste of the highest level of junior curling. At 17, Ross still has another four years in juniors. For now, though, he is focusing on finalizing a college choice. A pair of his choices near Boston would enable him to continue curling; it will be tougher is the aspiring film editor goes to Southern California.
”If I could continue curling, I’d like to get back to nationals,” Ross said. “I’d like to try out for it. I’d like to try out for the Olympics in three years.”
From a far off dream four years ago, Cameron Ross has come quite a ways to position himself to become someday an idol for another young aspiring curler.