The San Francisco Bay Area CC is looking for volunteers to assist at their forthcoming wheelchair curling clinics in San Jose: October 14 and October 28 from 10am to noon. Contact Brian at bayareacurling.com for details.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
London (Ontario) Calling - any wheelchair curlers?
Coach Ernie Comerford, who established the wheelchair curling program in Alberta, is now living in London Ontario and is hoping to re-establish wheelchair curling there. Contact him if you want to play or help out.
You can read about his approach to coaching and download his drills HERE.
You can read about his approach to coaching and download his drills HERE.
USA clinics in Laurel MD and Cape Cod MA
The USA wheelchair curling program has two clinics coming up; October 15th at the Potomac CC in Laurel MD (outside Baltimore) and October 23rd at the Cape Cod CC in Falmouth MA.
BC Provincial Championships January 17-18, 2009
Vernon will host the first ever BC Provincial Championships. Selection for Team BC had previously been the responsibility of a CurlBC coach, and CurlBC will be appointing a coach and alternate to accompany the winning team to the Nationals in Nova Scotia.
Deadline for applications to be received by the CurlBC office is December 22nd and participation will be limited to 8 mixed gender teams. In the unlikely event that more than 8 teams apply, there will be a playdown. Contact Heather Beatty for more information.
Sonja Gaudet is trying to arrange accessible accommodation, Contact her for information.
Deadline for applications to be received by the CurlBC office is December 22nd and participation will be limited to 8 mixed gender teams. In the unlikely event that more than 8 teams apply, there will be a playdown. Contact Heather Beatty for more information.
Sonja Gaudet is trying to arrange accessible accommodation, Contact her for information.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
WCF's Kate Caithness interviewed after Beijing Paralympics
photo courtesy CurlingToday blog
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Norway pick up where they left off with win in Denmark
Norway won the season's opening international event, beating out host Denmark in a five team field. The Czech Republic, Germany and Scotland also competed.
With the cancellation of the Norwegian Open because of construction delays, Team Canada will make their first international appearance at the Kinross Invitational in Scotland, October 21-23.
The five members of Team Canada 2008 (Darryl Neighbour, Gerry Austgarden, Ina Forrest, Sonja Gaudet and Gary Cormack - all from BC) will be joined by Alberta's Bruno Yizak, Manitoba's Chris Sobkowicz and ex-Brier BC skip Jim Armstrong.
Canada is still hopeful that the WCF will change their mind and decide Armstrong is eligible for the Worlds and the Paralympics. He will have his status reviewed by an WCF eligibility assessor during the Scotland trip.
With the cancellation of the Norwegian Open because of construction delays, Team Canada will make their first international appearance at the Kinross Invitational in Scotland, October 21-23.
The five members of Team Canada 2008 (Darryl Neighbour, Gerry Austgarden, Ina Forrest, Sonja Gaudet and Gary Cormack - all from BC) will be joined by Alberta's Bruno Yizak, Manitoba's Chris Sobkowicz and ex-Brier BC skip Jim Armstrong.
Canada is still hopeful that the WCF will change their mind and decide Armstrong is eligible for the Worlds and the Paralympics. He will have his status reviewed by an WCF eligibility assessor during the Scotland trip.
Friday, September 12, 2008
USA skip Perez profiled as keynote speaker at Syracuse
In a profile at Syracuse.com, Rita Paniagua, executive director of the Spanish Action League, said: "His story shows a lot of courage and definitely, he is a very focused individual in terms of reaching his goal," she said. "He has a great message for our children, no matter what life gives you, you keep moving." [read full profile]
(Team USA lead Jacquie Kapinowski has her own website.)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Team USA return from Lake Placid
Team USA and the US High Performance squad have just completed their first visit to the U.S. National Olympic Training Centre at Lake Placid, NY. Coach Steve Brown told WCAX-tv reporter Jack LaDuke, "We like to fine tune their technical skills and find out the best place to put their stick and get the power they need and feel and touch and do a lot of off-ice strategy sessions."read full report
Team Canada athletes released to play in Provincials
The five BC athletes on Team Canada 2008 can compete in the 2009 provincial playdowns - with one proviso: no more than two members on any one team. This avoids any embarrassment were they to all play for a team that did not qualify for, or win the national title.
British Columbia's laudable decision to scrap selection camps in favour of a provincial playdown is running up against a harsh fact plaguing all provincial programmes - too few female participants. Going into its sixth season, BC has just five women with any playing experience, and two of those are Team Canada members.
WCF rules define wheelchair curling as a mixed gender sport. This is of little consequence to the rest of the world who (apart from Scotland) have just enough participants to qualify for the Paralympics. In Canada, with potentially thousands of participants at hundreds of clubs, ambitious curling teams must include 25% women, even though women comprise far less than 25% of the potential athlete pool.
If the idea is establish curling in Canada as the primary winter recreation for wheelchair users, there should no impediment to team formation. As present CCA policy precludes the national champions from representing Canada in WCF events, then it shouldn't matter if provincial teams are mixed gender or not.
If on the other hand, the idea is to encourage women to play a mixed gender sport, then present athletes, coaches and provincial bodies need to do a far better job at outreach if overall growth is not to be stymied by a lack of women.
British Columbia's laudable decision to scrap selection camps in favour of a provincial playdown is running up against a harsh fact plaguing all provincial programmes - too few female participants. Going into its sixth season, BC has just five women with any playing experience, and two of those are Team Canada members.
WCF rules define wheelchair curling as a mixed gender sport. This is of little consequence to the rest of the world who (apart from Scotland) have just enough participants to qualify for the Paralympics. In Canada, with potentially thousands of participants at hundreds of clubs, ambitious curling teams must include 25% women, even though women comprise far less than 25% of the potential athlete pool.
If the idea is establish curling in Canada as the primary winter recreation for wheelchair users, there should no impediment to team formation. As present CCA policy precludes the national champions from representing Canada in WCF events, then it shouldn't matter if provincial teams are mixed gender or not.
If on the other hand, the idea is to encourage women to play a mixed gender sport, then present athletes, coaches and provincial bodies need to do a far better job at outreach if overall growth is not to be stymied by a lack of women.
Experience shows at the Osoyoos 2-on-2
Six pairs competed in this B.C. event, sponsored for a second year by Olsen. Four members of Team Canada competed, with Darryl Neighbour and Gary Cormack beating the round robin winners, Gerry Austgarden ad Sonja Gaudet, in the final.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Pre-season news from British Columbia
The International Curling Club, in the border town of Osoyoos in the Okanagan valley is hosting the 2nd Annual 2 on 2 bonspiel this weekend (click for details).
Abbotsford CC hopes to start a new league on Monday evenings open to wheelchair users plus family and friends. There will be a 'give-it-a-go" session on October 6th at 7.30pm, which will be followed by 4 session "learn to curl from a wheelchair" program. Contact the club (604-859-9244) for more details.
On the Island, Quesnel is hosting a "Have-a-go" day on October 25th. Contact Dave Plante at the Quesnel Curling Club: qcurling@quesnelbc.com
Wheelchair curlers will again be active in Kelowna and Vernon, Prince George and at Marpole and Richmond on the Lower Mainland, as well as the Juan de Fuca centre near Victoria. BC are hoping that enough teams will form to allow a playdown for the right to represent the province at the 2009 Nationals next March near Halifax NS.
Abbotsford CC hopes to start a new league on Monday evenings open to wheelchair users plus family and friends. There will be a 'give-it-a-go" session on October 6th at 7.30pm, which will be followed by 4 session "learn to curl from a wheelchair" program. Contact the club (604-859-9244) for more details.
On the Island, Quesnel is hosting a "Have-a-go" day on October 25th. Contact Dave Plante at the Quesnel Curling Club: qcurling@quesnelbc.com
Wheelchair curlers will again be active in Kelowna and Vernon, Prince George and at Marpole and Richmond on the Lower Mainland, as well as the Juan de Fuca centre near Victoria. BC are hoping that enough teams will form to allow a playdown for the right to represent the province at the 2009 Nationals next March near Halifax NS.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
International season starts in Denmark
Six national squads will be competing at the 2008 Danish International Wheelchair curling Cup this weekend in Taarnby, Denmark. The Curling Today blog reports Scotland are taking four of their six member national squad; Michael McCreadie, Angie Malone, Jim Sellar and Rosemary Lenton making the trip. They will compete in a round robin against teams from Germany, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia and Denmark.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Norwegian Open cancelled
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Brits looking beyond 2010 for high performance squad
If you are committed to individual selection for the national team, how do you keep your top athletes motivated when you choose the team 2 years before a major competition? If you are in charge of British curling you offer those who didn't make the cut a clear and public path to future selection.
Experienced curlers are invited to apply for invitations to up to 5 British ranking events where individual assessments of accuracy and weight control will be made using cameras and laser timers. Perth, Braehead, Ross and Aberdeen will host the assessments between this October and March of next year.
The application deadline is September 30th, and the top 14 curlers will form a high performance developmental squad, and qualify for financial support, that will be looking to 2014 and beyond. There's no mention of whether exceptions might be made for curlers of proven ability unable to participate in at least 3 of the 5 assessments.
Read more at Bob Cowan's Curling Today blog and the RCCC website.
Experienced curlers are invited to apply for invitations to up to 5 British ranking events where individual assessments of accuracy and weight control will be made using cameras and laser timers. Perth, Braehead, Ross and Aberdeen will host the assessments between this October and March of next year.
The application deadline is September 30th, and the top 14 curlers will form a high performance developmental squad, and qualify for financial support, that will be looking to 2014 and beyond. There's no mention of whether exceptions might be made for curlers of proven ability unable to participate in at least 3 of the 5 assessments.
Read more at Bob Cowan's Curling Today blog and the RCCC website.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
USA top ten to train at Lake Placid Olympic Training Centre
Team USA's ten member high performance athlete pool will be training at the National Olympic Training Centre in Lake Placid NY the first weekend in September. The group includes the five who won Bronze at the 2008 Worlds, plus Patrick McDonald, Roy Heathcoat, Tammy Delano, Danell Libby and Ellie O'Neill.
The USA trials will again be held in Utica the weekend of November 11-14.
The USA trials will again be held in Utica the weekend of November 11-14.
Manitobans compete against 3 all-time greats
photo courtesy TheCurler.com
Chris Sobkowicz led his Manitoba champions against Kerry Burtnyk, Jeff Stoughton and Vic Peters in an awareness and fundraising matchup on arena style ice at the Monsanto Sliding In Summer Bonspiel in Warren, MB.
"Our goal is to play as many games as possible against able-bodied teams, provide awareness to the curling public, and of course, become better curlers," says Sobkowicz.
Read reports from TheCurler.com and the Winnipeg Sun.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Who should be eligible to curl from a wheelchair?
This deceptively simple question proved controversial, at least in Canada, during the 2007/8 season. Jim Armstrong, a 6-time Brier competitor whose curling career ended through injury, was declared eligible for wheelchair curling by a Canadian sports classifier perhaps more familiar with wheelchair basketball.
Opposition to that decision appeared to surprise the CCA, and ended in a rebuke by the World Curling Federation, who felt their eligibility rules requiring wheelchair use for daily mobility, clearly disqualified the ambulant Armstrong. Although presently ineligible for international competition, Armstrong was chosen by CurlBC coach Melissa Soligo to skip the BC team that went on to win the 2008 Canadian National Championships.
This summer the CCA has adopted several major WCF rules of competition changes, and has solicited advice on a definition of athlete eligibility that strikes a balance between inclusion and maintaining the integrity of the sport.
National champions in wheelchair curling (unlike regular curling) do not become Team Canada so WCF eligibility rules need not apply (although different eligibility rules would be an additional impediment to equal treatment in the future.)
Different wheelchair sports adopt different procedures, but a general principle is to provide opportunity for participation that would be impossible without a wheelchair. Is wheelchair curling merely curling from a wheelchair, or should it be limited to those reliant on a wheelchair, and if so, to what degree? And where does the increasingly popular stick curling format come in?
Where is the optimal eligibility setting on the continuum between "anyone sitting in a wheelchair" and "person requiring a wheelchair for daily mobility"? The former eliminates the temptation to stretch the rules, while possibly discouraging those who after all are the target audience - wheelchair users. The latter excludes those denied the opportunity to participate in organised curling by virtue of their physical circumstances, but who are not technically "wheelchair-based."
I would exclude those ambulant enough to participate in stick curling, but include those using braces and crutches, or who have an unsteady gait necessitating a wheelchair on-ice, but who chose not to use a wheelchair in their daily lives.
These distinctions only matter when deciding criteria for the Canadian National Championships. Play at local and club level can and should answer to the desires of those willing to be involved. For a national championship there has to be clear eligibility rules to ensure fairness.
Here then is my suggestion for eligibility to play in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships:
To be eligible to play in competitions leading to participation in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships, a player must be restricted in their mobility such that they are unable to deliver a curling stone without the use of a wheelchair.
Interpretation: Although wheelchair curling is intended to be played by people who use wheelchairs for their daily mobility, it should not exclude those unable to participate in stick curling because they are unable to safely deliver a rock while standing.
What do you think? You can contribute to a discussion on this topic by adding a comment to this entry at the Wheelchair Curling Blog.
Opposition to that decision appeared to surprise the CCA, and ended in a rebuke by the World Curling Federation, who felt their eligibility rules requiring wheelchair use for daily mobility, clearly disqualified the ambulant Armstrong. Although presently ineligible for international competition, Armstrong was chosen by CurlBC coach Melissa Soligo to skip the BC team that went on to win the 2008 Canadian National Championships.
This summer the CCA has adopted several major WCF rules of competition changes, and has solicited advice on a definition of athlete eligibility that strikes a balance between inclusion and maintaining the integrity of the sport.
National champions in wheelchair curling (unlike regular curling) do not become Team Canada so WCF eligibility rules need not apply (although different eligibility rules would be an additional impediment to equal treatment in the future.)
Different wheelchair sports adopt different procedures, but a general principle is to provide opportunity for participation that would be impossible without a wheelchair. Is wheelchair curling merely curling from a wheelchair, or should it be limited to those reliant on a wheelchair, and if so, to what degree? And where does the increasingly popular stick curling format come in?
Where is the optimal eligibility setting on the continuum between "anyone sitting in a wheelchair" and "person requiring a wheelchair for daily mobility"? The former eliminates the temptation to stretch the rules, while possibly discouraging those who after all are the target audience - wheelchair users. The latter excludes those denied the opportunity to participate in organised curling by virtue of their physical circumstances, but who are not technically "wheelchair-based."
I would exclude those ambulant enough to participate in stick curling, but include those using braces and crutches, or who have an unsteady gait necessitating a wheelchair on-ice, but who chose not to use a wheelchair in their daily lives.
These distinctions only matter when deciding criteria for the Canadian National Championships. Play at local and club level can and should answer to the desires of those willing to be involved. For a national championship there has to be clear eligibility rules to ensure fairness.
Here then is my suggestion for eligibility to play in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships:
To be eligible to play in competitions leading to participation in the Canadian Wheelchair Curling Championships, a player must be restricted in their mobility such that they are unable to deliver a curling stone without the use of a wheelchair.
Interpretation: Although wheelchair curling is intended to be played by people who use wheelchairs for their daily mobility, it should not exclude those unable to participate in stick curling because they are unable to safely deliver a rock while standing.
What do you think? You can contribute to a discussion on this topic by adding a comment to this entry at the Wheelchair Curling Blog.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Mark your calendar for 4pm March 20th, 2010
The Vancouver Sun reports that's when the wheelchair curling gold medal game in the newly built facility at Hillcrest Park, will begin.
Friday, August 1, 2008
CurlBC abandons selection camps for playdowns
In another sign of the maturing of the sport, CurlBC has just announced their April 24th decision to abandon selection camps in favour of a playdown to choose who will represent the province at the 2009 Canadian National Championships in Halifax NS.
From an enthusiastic start in 2003, and despite success at the National Championships with a selected team, participation in wheelchair curling in BC has stagnated over the past 5 years, culminating in a humiliating withdrawal from the 2008 BC Winter Games because of lack of athletes. It is to be seen whether finally rewarding team formation will be the catalyst for renewed enthusiasm.
The change is designated a "one year pilot project" but it is unclear what criteria will be used to determine its success. BC already has the best record of any provincial team at the Canadian Nationals, having won the past two years, and coming second to Team Canada when the (selection based) national team competed the previous three years. If growth in participation is the criterion, then it may take more than a single year to undo the disincentives to team formation of the past five.
The CurlBC wheelchair curling committee, whose members are listed on the CurlBC website, invite suggestions for rules of competition.
From an enthusiastic start in 2003, and despite success at the National Championships with a selected team, participation in wheelchair curling in BC has stagnated over the past 5 years, culminating in a humiliating withdrawal from the 2008 BC Winter Games because of lack of athletes. It is to be seen whether finally rewarding team formation will be the catalyst for renewed enthusiasm.
The change is designated a "one year pilot project" but it is unclear what criteria will be used to determine its success. BC already has the best record of any provincial team at the Canadian Nationals, having won the past two years, and coming second to Team Canada when the (selection based) national team competed the previous three years. If growth in participation is the criterion, then it may take more than a single year to undo the disincentives to team formation of the past five.
The CurlBC wheelchair curling committee, whose members are listed on the CurlBC website, invite suggestions for rules of competition.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Collingwood CC gets big grant to "break down barriers"
The Enterprise-Bulletin reports that Collingwood Curling Club in northern Ontario has received a $141,000 grant from the Trillium Foundation. The facility has been extensively remodelled to make it accessible, and will now become the central location of the Sports and Leisure Network for the southern Georgian Bay region. [more details]
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