She’s still finding joy and fulfillment in curling
Sitting on Shelley Dropkin’s office shelf, near the silver medal she won in April at the World Senior Women’s Curling Championships in Geneva, is a small, plain ceramic mug.
Both are cherished mementos.
The mugs were presented 41 years ago to Dropkin and three other team members, including her husband, Keith, as winners of the 2nd Event during the Last Chance Bonspiel at Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland.
That club tournament, more a social than a competitive event, “sold me on the sport,” recalled Dropkin, who recently began a twoyear term as president of Broomstones, founded in 1968.
A past president of the US Women’s Curling Association, Dropkin, in addition to this year’s World Championships appearance, was part of the Senior Women’s 2020 national championship team; a bronze medal winner at the World Senior Women’s Championships in 2015; a gold medal recipient at the US Club Nationals in 2005; and a bronze medal winner at the US Women’s National Championships in 2004.
"Although I was a synchronized swim team member in high school and college, I wasn’t a great athlete, and we did not compete against other schools," said Dropkin, who grew up in Rochester, N.Y. "Until I started curling, I had never found a competitive sport I loved and could actually play reasonably well."
Curling pits a team of four players against another and is played on a sheet of ice that resembles a bowling alley with a bullseye painted under the ice. The object is to slide your team’s stones along the 120foot surface and closest to the center of the bullseye (or house). It consists of eight "ends" (innings) with the highest total score winning. Team members, equipped with brooms, are allowed to guide the path of the stone and the distance it travels by sweeping the ice.
"Shelley has put her heart and soul into not only learning to curl, but to curl well enough to compete at the highest levels of the sport after not really having an athletic background. She made the commitment to be successful," said her husband, Keith, chief financial and administrative officer at Hebrew College in Newton.
He is a past president at Broomstones — and a member there since 1978 — who has competed nationally and was a volunteer coach for the US women’s team in Switzerland last spring.
She is president of Dropkin Consulting in her hometown of Framingham and interim head of human resources at Fox Hill Village in Westwood.
The couple met at a dance on Nantucket in 1980 and were married three years later. Their sons, Korey, 27, and Stephen, 32, both reside in Minnesota and also are accomplished in the sport.
Stephen was on the winning foursome at the 2012 US Junior National Championships and Korey is a reigning US men’s national champion.
"Curling has taken our family around the world," said their mom, who added that the sport has instilled in her the traits to "win and lose gracefully and always treat your opponents with respect."
It has been that way ever since her first truly competitive event, a win at the Pine Tree Invitational in Belfast, Maine, in the 1980s.
"That experience of being able to compete was a first for me," said Dropkin, “and it sparked a love of the game, a love of people in it, and constant practice. I am still learning and growing."
She usually throws the lead rock, endeavoring to place it as close to the house without touching it.
"You must be in good shape," she said. "Between throwing the rocks and the sweeping, it’s two hours of competition. The higher level you go the more intense the shots, and the more the pressure. So, it takes a mental and physical toughness."
Team achievements, she said modestly, transcend individual honors, which is why team photos are displayed in her home and awards at her office.
“I consider myself a natural leader and I like solving people issues,” said Dropkin, who finds relaxation and balance through gardening and meditation. “When you see nature’s beauty because of your hard work it’s very rewarding.”
She competes in three leagues at Broomstones, founded by members of Weston and Wellesley country clubs and later joined by Brae Burn Country Club members after their curling rinks were closed.
Aside from family and close friends, Dropkin said curling has brought her the greatest joy and fulfillment in her life.
"I was a non-athlete back in school, so succeeding in this sport and at this level has given me a tremendous sense of pride and confidence in most everything I do," Dropkin said.
"Sometimes it’s mind-boggling."