The CCA had hoped to have an announcement of the venue for the 2010 Canadian National Championships before the end of the very successful Halifax 2009 event. Come the final banquet, a deal had not been signed and the teams left with the traditional assurance that the 2010 championship would be held "somewhere in Canada."
The venue will be Kelowna, BC from March 16 through 21.
Kelowna CC is a 12 sheet club, recently refurbished with wheelchair access in mind. There is a large elevator to the upper lounge that will allow good spectator access.
The question remains though, with the Paralympics taking place in Vancouver at the same time and probably four and possibly all five of the national team plus the coach coming from BC, will anyone be paying attention?
The delay in announcing the venue would seem to indicate that it has been a struggle finding a club with the facilities to handle 50 plus wheelchair users and to take on the responsibility for moving them between hotels and club.
Kelowna CC has always been supportive of wheelchair curling, and was the venue for the world's first wheelchair Cashspiel featuring the Great Britain Paralympic squad, back in March 2005.
The venue will be Kelowna, BC from March 16 through 21.
Kelowna CC is a 12 sheet club, recently refurbished with wheelchair access in mind. There is a large elevator to the upper lounge that will allow good spectator access.
The question remains though, with the Paralympics taking place in Vancouver at the same time and probably four and possibly all five of the national team plus the coach coming from BC, will anyone be paying attention?
The delay in announcing the venue would seem to indicate that it has been a struggle finding a club with the facilities to handle 50 plus wheelchair users and to take on the responsibility for moving them between hotels and club.
Kelowna CC has always been supportive of wheelchair curling, and was the venue for the world's first wheelchair Cashspiel featuring the Great Britain Paralympic squad, back in March 2005.
6 comments:
Nice to see you can post again without having to have a google account or whatever else. It was just an added inconvenience although I did understand why you were asking for it Eric. As more people become aware that they can post just like they did before you'll probably start to see an increase in activity.
Oh yeah, on the Paralympic/Nationals issue, this should come as no surprise to anyone. Should make for an interesting Nationals though.
My first response to your suggestion of " will anyone care" was a little more colorful and involved a physically impossible maneuver except for maybe those from BC. But I will just remind you that a National championship is a very big deal, yes Jim will be missed but the rest of the National winners from this year may be there , surely with your curling superiority you should have someone who can fill in for your team and throw last rocks for BC. I think Manitoba would be in trouble missing there All Star Skip and having a much smaller pool to draw from. Maybe you feel you can no longer win without Jim? Sad to think that you would be so greedy as to play down the Nationals when you should be excited to have them in your back yard. I feel the other provincial reps. will be trying there best to represent there provincial assoc. The whole w/c curling community will be excited to watch team Canada even if it is represented by a BC coach and BC athletes. I am hoping it will be televised , would that not be great ! Please remember there are w/c curlers trying to represent there provinces and get to nationals its a BIG country and if you want to make this years Nationals less than what they are then maybe your wrong.
I wonder if the National/Paralympics conflict could be a pre-cursor to phasing away from a simple Select Team Canada?
I believe that Jim Armstrong is in favour of a challenge of Team Canada from the National winner, post 2010.
That is in keeping with his sense of fair play, and avoiding the nagging complaints of a select team.
Can you confirm Jim'sposition, Eric?
I would think that Jim has had a bellyfull of controversy from us, and would, or should likely welcome a Team Canada challenge from a national winner.
Does he carry the weight to push it through the CCA?
It would seem that a lot of jobs would be on the line, his included, if he has one.
Team Canada is a self serving entity, and I can't see Jim taking on the CCA.
I do believe that Armtrong will be the only way out of a select team, though
Just let Armstrong make the decisions.....way more fair, anyway, and saves a ton of money.
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