Phill Drobnick (born October 8, 1980 in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

) is an American curler who has been involved with curling since 1986.

Curling career

Drobnick won the Minnesota State junior Championship in both, 2000 and 2003, allowing him to advance to the United States Junior National Championships. In 2000, Drobnick won the gold medal and advanced to the World Junior Championships in

Geising Geising is a ''Stadtteil'' (municipal division) of Altenberg in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany.

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, where he finished 6th. He competed in the United States Olympic curling trials for the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, receiving bronze in the trials in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

. At the 2011 United States Men's Curling Championship he played

lead Lead is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metals, heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale of mineral hardness#Intermediate ...

on Tyler George's team and finished 2nd, losing in the final to

Pete Fenson Peter Fenson (born February 29, 1968 in Bemidji, Minnesota) is an American curler. He was the skip of the men's rink that represented the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they won the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal for t ...

Coaching career

Drobnick started coaching the Chris Plys junior rink in the fall of 2006. Since then, Drobnick has coached the team through two Minnesota State junior Championships (2007 & 2008), two United States Junior Championships, and two

World Junior Curling Championships The World Junior Curling Championships are an annual curling bonspiel featuring the world's best curlers who are 21 years old or younger. The competitions for both men and women occur at the same venue. The men's tournament has occurred since 1 ...

. In 2008, they won the World Junior Championships in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön ...

, Sweden, which was the first win for the United States in 24 years. In 2009 the Drobnick coached Team Plys returned to the World Junior Championship in and got bronze. He was the coach of the United States men's team at both the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

and

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

. Both teams were skipped by

John Shuster John Shuster ( ; born November 3, 1982) is an American curler who lives in Superior, Wisconsin. He led Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Wint ...

and in 2018 the team won the United States' first gold medal. In 2018 Drobnick was promoted to Director of Coaching for

USA Curling The United States Curling Association (USCA or USA Curling) is the national governing body of the sport of curling in the United States. The goal of the USCA is to grow the sport of curling in the United States and win medals in competitions bo ...

where he will oversee a staff of six team coaches as well as coaching the men's national team.

Personal life

Drobnick studied at the

University of Minnesota Duluth The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year pr ...

. He still lives in Minnesota, where he is a probation officer in St. Louis County. In 2019 he was appointed to the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drobnick, Phill Living people 1980 births American male curlers American curling coaches