Darren Moulding, the third on Team Bottcher’s curling rink, recently spoke to a group of students at Lacombe Junior High School.
The talk came after Team Bottcher recently won the Meridian Canadian Open, after defeating some of the best rinks in the world including Team Brad Gushue and Team Brad Jacobs.
Moulding spoke about his journey to being on the fourth ranking curling rink in the world.
“What I will be getting at is that having a commitment to something, working hard towards something and having a positive attitude with what you are doing can lead to success,” he said. “We have had a good year all year. We have been very consistent, playing well and it has been a steady rise. Now we up to fourth in the world rankings.
“It feels good to give back to other people and share your experiences.”
Moulding, who is also the icemaker at the Lacombe Curling Club, said his opportunity to play with Team Bottcher came up suddenly.
“I always say I was the shiniest piece of metal on the scrap heap,” he said. “I got a call in the middle of the 2016-17 — their third Pat Simmons had stepped away from curling. It was a little lucky, but I had been competing against these guys for a long time and had earned their respect enough for them to phone me as the replacement.
“When I got the call, I only had nine days to prepare for the first event which was actually in North Battleford. It came quickly and I jumped on the opportunity.”
Since then, Moulding moved to Lacombe to be closer to his teammates in Edmonton. He said playing third is the ideal position for him with the rink.
“I don’t want to skip — I have tried that. Third is definitely my position and I have, who I believe, is the best skip in the world playing with me,” he said. “I am happy in terms of my playing career and this is the best team someone would ever want to be on.”
Following his career, Moulding hopes to continue to support curling in some capacity but for now he is looking to one day take home a gold medal at the Olympics for Canada.
“We played in the Brier final last year, so we want to go one further and win it,” he said. “The Worlds are in Lethbridge, where I had lived for nine years. I would love to go there with the Canadian jersey on my back, but there is a lot of work we have to do before we get there.
“It is a four-year goal, because we are looking at the 2020 Olympics.”
todd.vaughan@lacombeexpress.com
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