Inside the head of Team USA skip Goose Perez

 Augusto 'Goose' Perez and Patrick McDonald
[photo - Richard Lam]

Last season the rap on the American skip was that he was a talented thrower  who was perhaps too much of a prima donna for the good of the team.

That seems to have changed this year as he has grown into his role and learned more about the game. The increasing role of no-nonsense Army vet Patrick McDonald in the team may also have had an influence.

It's certainly a more humble Perez who appears in this interview, which gives a good insight into what goes through his mind as he skips his team. Read it HERE.

"If I don’t have headache, I didn’t think hard enough" - Perez

Goose Perez, braced by Jimmy Joseph and watched by lead Jacqui Kapinowski

Team USA's Augusto 'Goose' Perez says he loves skipping. “It makes me think. If I don’t come off the ice with a headache, I didn’t think hard enough,” he told Grant Granger of the Abbotsford News. Read the article HERE.

The USA team trained at the Abbotsford CC at the invitation of Linda Kirton, who will be taking the oath on behalf of the officials at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony tomorrow evening.

Goose took (friendly) exception to my suggestion in the Paralympic preview that he loves the hero shot.


"if we end up wih a tough shot either because of misses or errors in game calling on my part, then i am ready to take responsibility. I have always avoided the hero shot which may win you games but not championships. The fact is that in the past by our own mistakes, probably mostly in errors of mine in calling the game, we have found ourselves in a spot to throw not the shot we wish but the one we had to. One thing is right, if it needs to be thrown i don't shy away if that's the only choice we see. Remember most heroes end up dead!"

USA skip featured in "I compete clean" TV anti-doping campaign

Team USA skip Augusto Perez, and his photogenic family, are part of the US Anti-Doping Agency's latest media campaign.

"Don't hold back," says Team USA skip 'Goose' Perez

Augusto Perez braced by Jimmy Joseph - Feb 2009

Action Online, the magazine of the United Spinal, includes Team USA's Augusto Perez in a group of athletes asked to talk about their outlook on life. As befitting his style of play on the ice, Goose is forthright and positive.

“The first thing is to get over the idea that people look at you because of the chair or any other device. People got better things to do than to worry about how we look, and if they do it is their problem not yours,” Perez says.

Read the rest of his refreshing outlook on life HERE.

USA male curler of the year profiled by News 10 Now, NY

Augusto 'Goose' Perez, skip of the 2009 Worlds bronze medal medalists is profiled in a news and video report. Perez lost a leg to a rare cancer, but his success in skipping Team USA to its first medal was recognised by his being named USA male curler of the year.

"It was happy and sad at the same time. It was happy because I got the award, but at the same time I don't think that they can pick one single person," he told reporter Jim Gibbons, going on to say that it's a team game, not won or lost by an individual effort.