SPRINGDALE, AR (Nexstar) — Dominik Maerki is a unique guy. He’s from Switzerland where he spent four years in watchmaker school.

Now, he lives and has his own business in Arkansas all while training for the Olympics.

Maerki’s day job is fixing watches and clocks. In his spare time, you’ll find him at the local ice skating rink playing curling – a sport he learned to love at an early age.

“I believe it was 5 or 6 years old,” Maerki said. “My dad, he played curling.”

Maerki got very good at the game and even played for his national team as a teen. He eventually gave up much of that world class competition to focus on his career and business.

But then, he got a call from the Swiss National Team aiming at the Olympics in Pyeongchang.

“‘Do you wanna play with us’, and I was really surprised, couldn’t believe it at first,” Maerki said.

So he started practicing.

“I’ll be ready in February to go to South Korea and play for Switzerland,” Maerki said. “It was my dream to go to the Olympics.”

Maerki is competing with Switzerland in the European Championships. If all goes well, he will likely be heading to the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

In this exclusive web extra below, he talks to reporter Aaron Nolan about explaining his sport to Americans.