Event on this morning - give curling a go! More details at the bottom of the story.

Four young curlers from Central and Wanaka are stepping up next month to compete in the World Junior Championships in Jönköping, Sweden.

The team consists of Will Becker (Patearoa),Sam Flanagan (Naseby), Darcy Nevill (Poolburn) and Hunter Burke (Wanaka).

A few members of the team have travelled overseas previously for both curling and luging, but this will be Darcy’s first time travelling overseas to compete.

Sam said the team are definitely one of the underdogs in the tournament as they’ll be facing ten of the best junior teams in the world. 

"I'm excited, more than anything. I know what it feels like to be going over.... Maybe the nerves will kick in a bit closer to the time."

Naseby's Sam Flanagan will be curling with the best juniors from across the globe, mid-May in the World Junior Championships. PHOTO: Supplied

Alongside the Kiwis, teams from Canada, Sweden, Scotland, United States, Norway, Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Italy will be participating.

Coach Nelson Ede also from Naseby will be travelling with the team.

Sam said the team have been all been curling for several years, and they have in between seven and 13 years of experience honing their skills. 

"In Naseby there are Friday night curling coaching sessions. I started going to those when I was about six years old," Sam said.

The foursome have only been together as a team since February this year but are working hard, training together despite living in different places.

"This will be our first tournament together as a team... We've been meeting in Naseby and training every weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Sam said

The championships take place May 15 -22 and there will be ten men’s and ten women’s teams competing. The NZ U21 team leaves our shores on May 10 to travel to Sweden.

Russia was set to send teams to this event but following the decision of the Board of the World Curling Federation to remove the teams from the Russian Curling Federation from the remainder of the championships in the 2021–2022 season, replacement entries for three championships have been announced.  

Scotland will send a womens team and Korea a replacement mens team in place of the Russians for the World Junior Championships. 

The NZ U21 team is holding a fundraiser at Ice Inline in Alexandra this morning called ‘King of the Ice’. They’ll be there to share some tips and meet people who want to give curling a try. For details on the event click here: King of the Ice – NZU21 Fundraiser

The NZ U21 team in action on the ice. PHOTO: Supplied