Rob Latimer, also known as “Canada Rob”, is Aksarben’s latest member feature!
Rob is originally from Saskatchewan, Canada and lived in Alberta for many years before moving to the USA in 2001. He has three kids with his wife of 36 years, Tammy. One of his children even did Junior Curling in Canada in 2000!
Today, Rob operates a small consulting business that provides services to a variety of energy companies that deal with landowners for easements, leases, and agreements.
As far as curling goes, you’ll usually see him at Baxter on Tuesday nights and Sundays at 4:30. Rob is the skip for his Tuesday team. He’ll play any position, but tends to throw lead or second on Sundays.
He learned to curl in a small town in Alberta in 1990/91 and curled there for two years before moving to a different Alberta community. He took a break between 2001-2008 and then found Aksarben Curling in Omaha. If you ask Rob about his favorite memory from curling, two come to mind. He had a great time being involved in a game where all 16 rocks were in the house at once (I bet that made for an interesting time when it came to scoring!). He also recalled being on the losing side of an 8-ender (ouch!).
He loves to broomstack at Kinkaider here in Omaha and has fond memories of broomstacking on the road as well. Rob has travelled to several bonspiels and really liked playing in the Bourbon Spiel in Louisville, Kentucky. While the ice might have been lacking, broomstacking was super fun! He also described the St. Paul Men’s International Bonspiel as “...a riot for broomstacking”. His team didn’t play well, but they had a great time regardless.
Rob is always working to grow the sport. Whether directly or indirectly, he’s probably encouraged at least 5 people to try it out and some have even gone on to build their own team! If you’re asking him for curling advice, he’d say that rocks up front will rule the day.
When he’s not on the ice, you’ll find Rob doing handyman stuff that doesn’t require a strict schedule. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, Tammy, and traveling together to see their adult kids.
Pictured: Isaiah Jacobsen, David Hill, Julia Castle, Nic Swiercek, Nic Ridder, Kali Odd, Doug Michel, 'Elvis,' Lois Imig, Buffy Linke, Meredith Daniels
In October 2025, Aksarben Curling had two teams compete in the 2025 USA Curling Arena National Championship at CurlVegas in Las Vegas, NV: Team Ridder on the men's side and Team Linke on the women's side. We're proud to have had Aksarben represented in both divisions at this year's championship!
Team Ridder Doug Michel (lead), David Hill (skip, second), Nic Swiercek (third), Nic Ridder (vice, fourth), and Isaiah Jacobsen (alternate)
Team Linke Ralph Roza (coach), Buffy Linke (skip), Kali Odd (alternate), Meredith Daniels (vice), Lois Imig (lead), and Julia Castle (second)
In August 2025, Team Ridder finished in the semi-finals at MACA Regional Playdowns and later qualified for nationals through the Last Chance Bonspiel at LaCrosse Curling in September 2025. In 2024, Team Ridder won the silver medal at the Arena National Championship in Wausau, WI and was looking to capture another medal in 2025. Team Ridder won all five of their pool matches (two in extra ends!) to finish pool play undefeated and secure a bye into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, they defeated Grand Rapids Curling's Team Shlimovitz to face DFW Curling's Team Myers in the gold/silver game. After a close game tied after 6 ends, Team Myers pulled ahead with a 2-point lead after 7 ends to ultimately prevail with handshakes in the 8th end, securing the gold for DFW (their 6th!) and a back-to-back silver medal for Team Ridder and Aksarben Curling!
Congratulations to Team Ridder's Nic Ridder, David Hill, Doug Michel, Nic Swiercek, and Isaiah Jacobsen!
Aksarben's Team Linke finished third overall in the MACA Regional Playdowns and later qualified for nationals at the Last Chance Bonspiel at LaCrosse Curling in September 2025, going undefeated in their double round robin. While Team Linke did not advance from pool play at natioanls, Team Linke finished with the top DSC scores across all 24 teams in the women's and men's fields!
We're really proud of Aksarben Curling's curlers and all of the work they did to make it to the national stage and represent our club and community! Read more about this year's event at Stones and Stripes.
Special thank you to all of the Aksarben Curling members back home who cheered on Team Ridder and Team Linke remotely from Omaha at home and at our livestream watch parties! We continue to have the gold medalists of cheering back home!
Men's division Gold: Team Myers (DFW Curling, Mid-America Curling Association) Silver: Team Ridder (Aksarben Curling, Mid-America Curling Association) Bronze: Team Spangler (Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Women's Division Gold: Team Weber (Sioux Falls Curling, Dakota Curling Association) Silver: Team Robertsons (DFW Curling, Mid-America Curling Association) Bronze: Team Asis (Silicon Valley Curling, Mountain Pacific Curling Association)
Thank you to all of the amazing hosts at CurlVegas, all of the ice technicians who made the ice amazing all week, and all of the staff and officials at USA Curling for running such a great event!
On April 11-13, 2025, Aksarben Curling hosted its Season Championship bonspiel at Baxter Arena. The event featured sixteen teams including the champions of our 12 fall and winter leagues, our top college league team, the 2023-2024 defending champs, and two wild card lottery teams.
Teams played in 4-team groups that broke into semi-finals and finals. Participating teams included:
Group A Freeze Agents (Fall Sunday 12pm champ) Stone Cold FA (Winter Tuesday 8pm champ) The Long Shots (Fall Sunday 2:15pm champ) Dinosaur Means Stop (Wild Card)
Group B Spice Curls (Winter Sunday 4:30pm champ) One WorldRocks (Wild Card) Stone Cold (Winter Sunday 2:15pm champ) The Rajects (Winter Sunday 12pm champ)
Group C Little Raise of Sunshine (Fall Tuesday 8pm champ) Sweeping Death (Winter Sunday 6:45pm champ) Buff N Stuff (Team Aksarben - Defending Champ) The Ice Is Right (Winter Friday 7pm champ)
Group D Sheets & Giggles (Fall Sunday 6:45pm champ) Leave No Stone Unturned (Fall Sunday 4:30pm champ) Love Hack—Sheet 52s (Fall Friday 7pm champ) UNO Curling Club (College League champ)
Team Freeze Agents advanced out of Group A to play Spice Curls from Group B in the semi-finals, with Spice Curls defeating Freeze Agents to advance to the finals. Little Raise of Sunshine advanced from Group C to face Sheets & Giggles from Group D, with Little Raise of Sunshine besting Sheets & Giggles to reach the finals. In the Bronze match, Sheets & Giggles defeated Freeze Agents. In the Championship match, Spice Curls defeated Little Raise of Sunshine to secure the championship and Katie Beck Cup!
Congratulations to our season champions!
2024-2025 Season Champion Spice Curls John Cherek (skip), Elise Cherek (lead), Katie Ward (second), Jeff Cherek (vice)
2024-2025 Season Championship Runner-Up Little Raise of Sunshine Nic Swiercek (lead), Kaeli Samson (vice), Lisa Truesdell (skip), Matthew Truesdell (second)
2024-2025 Season Championship Third Place Sheets & Giggles Bill Cleary (vice), Brian Cotner (skip), Glenn Prince (third), Jay Johnson (lead)
2023-2024 Season Championship Fourth Place Freeze Agents Eric Newhouse (vice), Stacy Bliss (second), Tiffany Buge (lead), Erin Palmer (skip)
New to curling? We got you covered with what you need to know!
Check out this handy Curling Basics 101from our friends at Cedar Rapids Curling. It provides everything you need to know about the history of curling, game play, scoring, sportsmanship, and key terms.
Always fascinated by curling but never tried it out? Now's your chance!
Rob Latimer, also known as “Canada Rob”, is Aksarben’s latest member feature! 
Teams competed for the Katie Beck Championship Cup, our annual trophy honoring the legacy of Katie Beck, one of Aksarben Curling's most accomplished curlers. 
2024-2025 Season Championship Runner-Up
2024-2025 Season Championship Third Place
2023-2024 Season Championship Fourth Place
