Canada begin Worlds title defense against China

Team Canada begin their defense of their 2009 Worlds title in Prague 9.30AM local time Tuesday February 22 against China, one of the two teams that a gained a spot through the Qualifying tournament in Finland last November.

With not much activity this season to guage how Canada might fare, I asked the CCA's Program Director, Gerry Peckham, for his assessment. That the team would do its best and hope for a place on the podium was a given.

Here's what he had to say:

This is a new quadrennial but 2014 is not that far away and this will be our first real opportunity to compare our current performance levels against the old and new line ups from other countries.


We'll be analyzing current and potential levels of play among the other countries; in particular those that have challenged for the podium in the past along with those we expect to challenge going forward. We're oredominately interested in execution percentages and score board management.

We'll also be establishing what the current performance standards are internationally as they relate to draw execution, take out execution, strategy, managing playing conditions and ice reading skills. Are there any new techniques or approaches being employed?

We're hopeful Team Canada can maintain their form and achieve new performance benchmarks individually and collectively. This will, however, be influenced by ice conditions.
 
This Championship will be a very challenging time for Jim considering his personal circumstances. Hopefully this will provide him with the opportunity to focus on the task at hand, which is also his passion. He will be well supported by team mates and coaches.

You can follow the Championship at our special Worlds section on wheelchaircurling.com, with the schedule, scores, tables and regular reports.

The schedule is available for download HERE. The sheets do have webcams, though we'll have to see whether they are operating. Line scores are promised HERE.

Paralympic success brings funding increase

Against expectations. the CCA says funding from both Own The Podium and Sport Canada will increase for the coming season.

"This means," said a very happy Gerry Peckham, the CCA high performance coach in overall change of the program, "that we will be able to enhance both grass root and high performance development via expanded programs and services."

No details as yet.

The top six wheelchair athletes at the end of the assessment year in June receive funding for the following year through the carding system; a monthly training stipend. The five members of the gold medal team receive full cards: Jim Armstrong, Darryl Neighbour, Ina Forrest, Sonja Gaudet, and Bruno Yizek. Bruno trades places with Chris Sobkowicz who now receives funding at "development" card level.

Sport Canada will monitor Jim Armstrong's future eligibility as events relating to his upcoming trial unfold.

The man behind Armstrong's re-emergence

Gerry Peckham

Canwest's Kent Gilchrist adds a twist to the now familiar story of Team Canada skip Jim Armstrong's return to the ice, suggesting Gerry Peckham, an old teammate and now CCA High Performance Director, will deserve a medal for recruiting Armstrong to the program.

"He may not be on the podium with Armstrong .. but he won't be far away with a block-wide grin pasted on his face. For Peckham, who hooked up with Armstrong to win back-to-back B.C. men's able-bodied titles in 1973 with Jack Tucker skipping and in '74 with Armstrong on the teeline, is as responsible as anyone for getting Armstrong out of his easy chair and into wheelchair curling."

Read the article HERE

When it was announced that Jim would join the training squad, initially as an on-ice consultant, Peckham expressed surprise that any Canadian would object. Two year's later Peckham can indeed take credit for persevering past initial eligibility doubts, and injecting 40+ years of experience at skip, in a sport not yet a decade old.

Team Canada 2010 (almost) set

It has been a fairly safe assumption for some time now that Canada's team for the 2010 Paralympics would include Jim Armstrong at skip and Darryl Neighbour at 3rd. Coach Wendy Morgan's confirmation that the team would include two women, left just one slot open for speculation.

High Performance Director Gerry Peckham confirmed last night that failing injury or unforeseen circumstance, or a catastrophic loss of form, Ina Forrest and Sonja Gaudet would join Jim and Darryl on the team.

"Their performance within the selection process over the past few years and their gold medal achievement at the 2009 World Wheelchair Championships has placed them in excellent stead to be selected to the 2010 Team," he said.

"We felt it made sense to let the athletes know their relative status as early as possible, to help each of them plan their year. We have added Jackie Roy, an accomplished curler, as a backup to Ina and Sonja, as we are committed to having two females on the team. Chris Sobkowicz, Bruno Yizek and Gerry Austgarden will compete for the remaining slot.

"The carded athletes for the yearly cycle beginning this July are the five members who won the 2009 Worlds, plus Bruno Yizek on a "D" (development) card. Cardings are always a lagging indicator, based on past performance. Bruno was carded as he was 6th on our depth chart, though with everyone so close, that doesn't imply he is favoured to make the team over Gerry and Chris."

The squad will play in Norway and Scotland between October 12 and 23, and Peckham says selection of the 2010 Paralympic team will occur that month.