USA Curling 2004-05 Athlete Biography

CURLING HIGHLIGHTS

• National College Tournament: 2005 (champion)

• U.S. Junior National Championships: 2005 (10th), 2003 (5th)

• Washington State Junior Championships: 2005 (champion), 2004 (runner-up), 2003 (champion), 2002 (runner-up)

• 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials/2005 World Trials Preliminary Round: Qualified for next round

• 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials/2005 World Trials Qualifying Round: 0-3

• Optimist International Juvenile Curling Championships: 2003

• USWCA Junior National Bonspiel: 2002 (champion)

PERSONAL FILE

Curls out of: Granite Curling Club, Seattle

Curling family: "Everyone in my family curls, including my mom, dad, little brother, cousin, two aunts, and my grandmother, Betty Kozai, who continues to win local bonspiels at age 76."

First curling memory: "Sitting on a rock with my dad spinning me down the ice."

Curling regimen: Playing chess and sliding blindfolded without a broom.

Other sports: Bowling, chess

In his own words: "Two years ago, after going to Nationals with the David Booth team, I decided to start curling with the Nordlund team -- not to be competitive, but to simply have fun curling with my friends. I wouldn't have guessed that we would come such a long way in the past two years to beat Booth's team and go to Nationals this year."

Unusual fact: "My dad and (teammate) Bret's dad curled together at Worlds (1989)."

Another unusual fact: "Everyone on my curling team played for their high school chess team."

Yet another unusual fact: "I'm a Dance Dance Revolution fanatic. (Dance Dance Revolution is an arcade dancing game)."

Academic achievements:

• Senior thesis paper on the Physics of Curling
• AP scholar with distinction
• Principal clarinetist in Garfield High School Symphony Orchestra (2004)
• 1600 on SAT

Favorite part of the game: "Talking strategy, especially with experienced curlers."

Career goals: "To one day be a physics professor."