Clintonville man to compete with Paralympic Curling Team
By Bert Lehman
When Clintonville’s Steve Kettenhoven first started curling around eight years ago, he never imagined he would have the opportunity to compete nationally, and possibly internationally.
That is exactly what happened, as Kettenhoven competed in the 2022 U.S. Paralympic Curling Pre-Trials Selection Event at the Stevens Point Curling Club April 28-30, for an opportunity to advance to the U.S. National Team Trials in Denver, Colorado, June 7-9.
Kettenhoven competed against nine other athletes from around the United States, with the top six advancing to the U.S. National Team Trials.
The Pre-Trials in Stevens Point consisted of five individual skill sets.
Participants were assessed based on their curling abilities, on and off the ice behavior, team dynamics, fitness level and endurance.
“You had to basically do the same skill sets and you had to do five of them over the three-day period. It was 200 shots over that three days,” Kettenhoven said. “Just meeting everyone from around the country and the camaraderie and the competition, it was really good.”
Prior to competing in the Pre-Trials event, Kettenhoven said he did not know what his chances were for advancing to the competition in Denver.
“I was really nervous about it because obviously they (other competitors) had good scores too, otherwise they wouldn’t have been chosen to compete at the Pre-Trials,” Kettenhoven said. “And anytime you get on new ice anything can happen. The Stevens Point ice was a lot different than what I was used to at Green Bay. And they really don’t give you any time to practice. We did set up some time monthly, but when it’s time to do your skill set you get to throw two rocks (curling stone) one way, and two rocks back on the ice and then you start.”
Overjoyed
As one would expect, Kettenhoven was “overjoyed” when he found out he was selected to advance to Denver.
“I was really hoping to be selected because I wanted to experience the trials out in Denver,” Kettenhoven said. “One of my teammates from Green Bay is already on the U.S. Paralympics squad, so I was hoping to be able to join him.”
Even though curling is done inside, it is mostly a winter event, and it is difficult to find curling clubs at this time of the year that have ice available to practice curling.
The closest curling club Kettenhoven found where he could practice was in Chaska, Minnesota.
He said he traveled to Minnesota about four weeks ago to practice, and is scheduled to travel there again.
That will be his last practice before heading to Denver.
Kettenhoven said the Denver competition will be quite different than it was in Stevens Point, as there will be more skill sets required.