BY LAUREN KOTAJARVI | The Statesman In the summer you might find UMD student Korey Dropkin climbing the Manitou incline or running through the Garden of the Gods, all a part of a High Performance Program hosted by the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
During the school year, you can find him on campus or at the Duluth Curling Club.
Dropkin, a 20-year-old Boston native, is currently a Youth Olympic curler. He’s been hard at work, training and curling, with his sights set on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
The High Performance Program (HPP), put on by the Olympic Training Center, is an organization that chooses athletes of different competitive levels to team up and train to excel in their sports. The ultimate dream for many of these athletes is to make it to the Olympics.
Dropkins biggest triumph to date was competing at the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. The cherry on top of the Winter Youth Olympics was his leadership on Team USA in the mixed doubles curling event, which earned him a bronze medal.
“The success comes from hard work and determination,” Dropkin said. “I’m going to work until my dreams come true.”
This is why Dropkin has ramped up his training as the 2017 Olympic trials draw closer. He curls 3-5 times per week at the Duluth Curling Club for about two hours a session.
Practices are pinpointed on various parts of the game including the release of the stones, line of delivery, strategies, form, technique or throwing stone after stone to maintain a good sense of weight control.
In addition to skill-related practice, Dropkin lifts and exercises to condition for curling, but also to maintain his physiological health.
To some, curling seems like a sport that doesn’t require the extensive practice and training that other sports, like football or hockey, do.
In order to compete at the highest level in any sport, an athlete must commit his or her life to perfecting his or her game to succeed. Dropkin is no different.
"You have to increase the intensity of practices to succeed when competing," Dropkin said of his intense training regimen.
Of course, in order to be successful in a given sport—or anything in life, for that matter—one must love what they’re doing.
"Curling on the ice gives me a sense of freedom to do what I do best," Dropkin said.
"I love the uniqueness of the sport. It's not every day where you go and meet a curler."
His intense training regimen isn’t just for the Winter Olympics. Dropkin is also preparing the U.S. Junior Nationals and subsequently the World Junior Championships. Winning or medaling at both of these events would put Dropkin in a excellent position for a spot on one of the HPP men’s teams. This would provide Dropkin the opportunity to push himself while competing against other curlers. Getting a spot in the HPP would increase his chance at getting into the 2018 Olympics.
“You have your goals and then you have the process towards those goals,” Dropkin said.
Dropkin continues to juggle competing at an elite level, academics and a job. However, in the near future the benefits of his determination could be shining, like that of an Olympic gold medal.