Fan of the Month: Rudi Bloomquist
Above: Rudi Bloomquist, from Lake Region Curling Club in Devils Lake, North Dakota, prepping the ice for an event in Fargo, North Dakota.
Above: Rudi at the 2011 Junior National Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska.
About Rudi
From: Starkweather, North Dakota
Home Club: Lake Region Curling Club
Occupation: Farming
Years Curling: 20 years
Question (Q): What has been your favorite Curler Outreach webinar?
Rudi Bloomquist (RB): Anything dealing with providing better ice. Also any information on recruitment and retention of members.
Q: Do you have any special roles at your club, or leagues/spiels you regularly enjoy? Please describe.
RB: I have served as the club vice president for 10 years and retired from that to have new blood in leadership. I always enjoy our year-end bonspiel, it is all about enjoying curling with old and new friends. Often there are team costumes instead of uniforms!
Q: How did you find curling? What was attractive about it?
RB: I was recruited by Dwight Noltimier to try curling- he has always been promoting curling and you cannot talk with him for more than two minutes before he asks if you know about the curling club. I was impressed with the minimum of simple rules and the sportsmanship, also with the ability of all curlers to enjoy the game no matter the experience or age of the participants. I was mentored in ice making by Garland Legacie who got me hooked on ice making.
Q: Best moment of curling in your life- on or off the ice.
RB: Winning the Grand Forks Mixed with Dwight, Jan, and Jesa Legacie. We went undefeated. As an icemaker, being on the ice crew for the 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden, where my grandfather came from.
Q: Do you have any personal curling goals for the future?
RB: Doing this for as long as I can and I have curled with people in their 90’s- I hope to mentor other new ice makers as I was mentored.
Above: 2012 World Junior Curling Championships in Ostersund, Sweden- Rudi and local Swedish club members assisting with installing the carpet, assembling the bleachers, and laying foam bumpers. Rudi and his wife Dianne were part of a team of five that completed the ice installation in three days.
Above: It Takes a Village- The ice installation team works hard at the 2013 US Championships in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Q: Especially in these uncertain times, what does being a curler mean to you?
RB: Keeping our local club strong and recruiting new curlers. It has been hard with the restrictions during the pandemic, yet we were able to have a semi-normal season with social distancing and masks. Everyone knew someone impacted by the virus but we were able to isolate and no cases were traced back to the curling. The impact of the Olympics and the televised events in the USA has been a big help to getting the sport of curling better known. We hope that there will be more televised events in the future, more people watching curling on the Olympic coverage than figure skating.
Q: Anything else you'd like folks to know- about yourself, your club, etc?
RB: Our club has hosted Junior Nationals twice and I have been on the ice crew for 7 Junior Nationals. It was fun watching the junior curlers as they grew in the sport. I also have been on the ice crew for numerous national and playdown events. The camaraderie and teamwork in working with others to make great curling ice is an experience that cannot be explained. The knowledge gained cannot be simply read in a manual. The quality of ice conditions today compared to 15 years ago is remarkable. I always say, “Ice is ice until you make curling ice- then it becomes a surface.” Water makes ice, good water makes good ice, good ice makers make great ice. The art of ice making starts with installing and preparation, saving patterns and reading the blade, pebbling and nipping, controlling ice temperature and humidity, along with rock preparation.
Thank you, Rudi, for your support of the Curler Outreach Program. Good Curling (and ice-making), Rudi, North Dakota, and the cheese heads!
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